Following the method employed in the conducting classes of the High School for Music in Berlin, the author has found the use of Bach’s chorales with each of the four parts written in a different clef, most effective in imparting the ability to transpose. These chorales should be taken from the various two-line editions (Peters, Breitkopf & Härtel, C. C. Birchard) and copied by the student on four separate lines, using the Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass clefs for the respective parts.
| The Soprano clef, |  |
| Alto clef, |  |
| and the Tenor clef, |  |
| are C clefs, i.e., the note on the staff indicated by the clef is | |
| middle C; |  |
with the Soprano clef this is the first line, with the Alto clef the third, and with the Tenor clef, the fourth. Knowing the position of middle C it should not be difficult to trace the position of the other notes of the scales. The following is an example of the old and new vocal scores:
Passion Chorale (Bach)
For variety, the student might make use of ordinary four part hymn tunes in the same manner. These chorales and hymn tunes in the old clefs must not be merely played through a few times, but are to be practiced daily until the process of playing the old clefs has become as automatic as playing in the treble and bass clefs. This will give the student the necessary mental gymnastics and make the reading and playing of the various transposing instrumental parts comparatively easy.
So much for the purely technical preparation in the process of learning to read and transcribe scores.
The following headings are descriptive of a method of score preparation generally used by modern conductors: