I don't think there was ever a time with Band-in-a-Box when you could not easily produce a useable lead sheet in bass clef. Take it from a trombone player who also produces lead sheets for his band from a single file without having to make time-consuming changes to that file. The whole idea of using BiaB for this purpose is to do it quickly. So, whilst the Piano Roll has some very useful features, I do not think it is practical for producing bass clef versions of lead sheets.

The best way is to use 'Notation Window Options', 'Transpose Options', 'Trombone (bass clef)' or 'Melody on Bass Clef -12'.

As far as trombone players are concerned, these days we tend to use a much higher range and I much prefer to have my lead sheets in the same octave as the trumpet player. Yes, that means that most trombone parts have nearly all of their notes on ledger lines. Most of us play at least up to D6, which requires 5 ledger lines. Have a look at any pro standard big band 1st or 2nd trombone part and you will see what I mean. Yes, it takes up less room if you use the 'Melody on Bass Clef -12' and that is fine if you are only using the melody line as a guide for solos. If it is a line you will be playing, most of us prefer to have it shown correctly on the ledger lines above the staff.

When I am producing arrangement parts or leadsheets for my band, I need three parts in concert (piano, guitar and drums), three parts in Bb (trumpet, clarinet and tenor sax), one in Eb (alto sax), and two in bass clef (trombone and bass) - sometimes only a chord chart for the bass. It takes me about 15 minutes to make the necessary changes in the Notation Window Options and Print Options window (sometimes the Leadsheet windows) and print the parts, but you do have to keep your wits about you because there are several alterations to settings you have to make. Such as positioning lyrics and chords, or the -3 for Eb horns that Philly Jazz mentioned. There are still a few notations items in BiaB that need improving (particularly in bass clef) but it gets better all the time and it is by far the fastest way to produce leadsheets or small arrangements for your band. I construct proper harmonised parts when necessary using the BiaB Harmony feature and freezing the parts on the Soloist and String tracks so they are there to be used at some later stage.

Last edited by Graham Martin; 10/21/15 01:53 PM.
Grah Jive Talk
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