"all American Concertina Album"

[Dan Worrall]

I saw an ad the other day for a new anglo concertina book from Mel Bay Publications...."All American Concertina Album" by Alan Lochhead. It only costs 10 bucks, so I sent for it.

 

I don't know anything about Alan...never met him. I have a vague memory of this book being originally published back in the 1980s, and advertised in the old C&S magazine. There is precious little information besides music inside the book, other than that there is a thank you expressed to Paul Groff.

 

The book consists of arranged music for the 30 button anglo, in the harmonic style (chords left, melody right). Some interesting tunes....ragtime pieces, marches, some English Music Hall; I've copied the advertizing blurb from www.melbay.com below. All the notes are shown, with press and draw symbols, but no button tablature.

 

It looks quite interesting, and I may try out one or more of the tunes, but it is a pity that more was not done with this. Few of us anglo players, I would guess, are so adept at reading combined treble and bass clef arrangements that we would put the effort into reading full arrangements without having a sound track (CD) to show what the author himself has done with it. Alternately, the button tab could be shown; that would make it a bit easier. But without either, it looks to be a fair amount of effort to sight read (at full arrangement) what an unknown player has put together. There are arrangers and then there are arrangers...how to know whether it is worth the effort to struggle with reading it on an anglo? Andrew Blakeny Edwards did a marvelous job with Maple Leaf Rag on Anglo International, and Lochhead has a version of that rag in this book too. Given a choice, I think I'd rather try to learn from Andrew's recording than the dots written by someone I haven't heard. If anyone knows Alan Lochhead, try to get him to post some recordings so that we can see what he is up to with this music.

 

From time to time, folks on this Forum are looking for arrangements for the anglo. This is an interesting one, regardless of these issues. How many times, after all, have you heard anyone tackle the Stars and Stripes Forever or the Washington Post March on an anglo? Amaze your friends (...and scatter your enemies)!

 

Cheers,

Dan

 

Product Description, from www.melbay.com :

This is the Concertina book for anyone who wants to play Classic Ragtime, Marches, and popular themes, arranged for the 30-button Anglo Concertina. "The Maple Leaf Rag", "The Liberty Bell March", and more classic selections are presented for musical enjoyment. Each piece is carefully chosen for its playability on the Anglo-Chromatic concertina. Players with a "duet system" may also want this music for their repertoire. The arrangements are fully voiced, between the right and left hands to create a piano-style approach to concertina playing.

 

* The "All-American" 30-button Anglo Concertina Book

* Classic Ragtime - Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, etc.

* Patriotic Marches - The Liberty Bell March, The Radetzky March, etc.

* Popular themes

* Encompasses two-handed "piano-style" playing.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Dan Worrall

[Daniel Hersh]

I know Alan, though I haven't heard him play in several years. We live in the same area but our paths don't often cross. His background is in classical music, which may explain his preference for disseminating these arrangements via sheet music rather than recordings. His arrangements have always blown me away. I now feel my chordal-style technique might finally be at the point that I could try them, so I've ordered the book too. Info about it, including some sample pages, is here.

 

Some biographical info: "Alan Lochhead is an accomplished classical musician who appears in concert with several bay area orchestras playing with his 5 string German bass literally older than America. He earned his master in music at the San Francisco conservatory and has taught string bass at U.C. Berkeley. He is known internationally for his Adaptations of a variety of pieces for the concertina. He has published two collections of his works."

 

And I like Andrew Blakeny Edwards's playing very much too, but isn't he playing a 50-button Anglo?

 

Daniel

 

I saw an ad the other day for a new anglo concertina book from Mel Bay Publications...."All American Concertina Album" by Alan Lochhead. It only costs 10 bucks, so I sent for it.

 

I don't know anything about Alan...never met him. I have a vague memory of this book being originally published back in the 1980s, and advertised in the old C&S magazine. There is precious little information besides music inside the book, other than that there is a thank you expressed to Paul Groff.

 

The book consists of arranged music for the 30 button anglo, in the harmonic style (chords left, melody right). Some interesting tunes....ragtime pieces, marches, some English Music Hall; I've copied the advertizing blurb from www.melbay.com below. All the notes are shown, with press and draw symbols, but no button tablature.

 

It looks quite interesting, and I may try out one or more of the tunes, but it is a pity that more was not done with this. Few of us anglo players, I would guess, are so adept at reading combined treble and bass clef arrangements that we would put the effort into reading full arrangements without having a sound track (CD) to show what the author himself has done with it. Alternately, the button tab could be shown; that would make it a bit easier. But without either, it looks to be a fair amount of effort to sight read (at full arrangement) what an unknown player has put together. There are arrangers and then there are arrangers...how to know whether it is worth the effort to struggle with reading it on an anglo? Andrew Blakeny Edwards did a marvelous job with Maple Leaf Rag on Anglo International, and Lochhead has a version of that rag in this book too. Given a choice, I think I'd rather try to learn from Andrew's recording than the dots written by someone I haven't heard. If anyone knows Alan Lochhead, try to get him to post some recordings so that we can see what he is up to with this music.

 

From time to time, folks on this Forum are looking for arrangements for the anglo. This is an interesting one, regardless of these issues. How many times, after all, have you heard anyone tackle the Stars and Stripes Forever or the Washington Post March on an anglo? Amaze your friends (...and scatter your enemies)!

 

Cheers,

Dan

 

Product Description, from www.melbay.com :

This is the Concertina book for anyone who wants to play Classic Ragtime, Marches, and popular themes, arranged for the 30-button Anglo Concertina. "The Maple Leaf Rag", "The Liberty Bell March", and more classic selections are presented for musical enjoyment. Each piece is carefully chosen for its playability on the Anglo-Chromatic concertina. Players with a "duet system" may also want this music for their repertoire. The arrangements are fully voiced, between the right and left hands to create a piano-style approach to concertina playing.

 

* The "All-American" 30-button Anglo Concertina Book

* Classic Ragtime - Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, etc.

* Patriotic Marches - The Liberty Bell March, The Radetzky March, etc.

* Popular themes

* Encompasses two-handed "piano-style" playing.

[Dirge]

Do 30 key Anglos really go down to the C below the bass stave, because there's lots of them in the samples? Most of them are just octave bass notes so I doubt it's a problem, you just ignore it, I'm just curious.

[Paul Groff]

What a coincidence!

 

I just got a copy of the new (Mel Bay) edition of Alan Lochhead's book and came here to announce it.... but I am late.

 

Dan has done a good job of describing the book, so I will just answer some of his questions about it.

 

This book has gone through a number of editions. The earlier versions included some other pieces which Alan couldn't get permission to arrange and re-publish.

I am not sure when the first edition came out (I loaned my copy to another concertina professional who promised to mail it back to me.....), but I know Alan had already done it when I met him in the mid 1980s.

 

Alan has a background as a double-bass player in symphony orchestras. He is a brilliant musician and arranger. He got interested in the concertina quite a few years before I did (1985 in my case) and by the time I met him he had learned a lot of Irish music, been to Ireland and met John Kelly and others of my heros, and there is a story that he was broadcast on Irish television PLAYING AN INTRICATE PIECE WITH THE ANGLO HELD UPSIDE DOWN (HANDS REVERSED), one of his many unusual accomplishments.

 

It was always a show stopper at any musical gathering in the San Francisco area to hear Alan play his remarkable arrangements of the Looney Tunes theme, the Radetsky March, Sousa marches, etc, on his 1960s Mateusewich Wheatstone 40 key C/G Aeola. Later on, he commissioned a nice G/D from Steve Dickenson and generously loaned it to me for a recording session -- a session that he also gave me.

 

When Noel Hill first visited San Francisco, Noel met many fine players, also friends of mine whose music I still admire very much. But Noel was particularly impressed with Alan's playing in a "Paddy Murphy" style ("There is great tradition in Alan's music, great tradition," he told me) .... as well as Alan's more virtuousic arrangements.

 

Dan, I have to agree with you that the book may seem at cross-purposes relative to most of today's anglo players. What Alan chose to publish was not created to fill any "ready made demand." It is not a tutor in any way (at the time I am replying to this thread, the subtitle indicates that this book is a tutor). It documents a series of very well crafted arrangements for 30 key anglo, of pieces not usually associated with that instrument in our present time. Though Alan has a 40 key instrument and uses every button, he made the arrangements for 30 keys so that more players could potentially play them.

 

I often suggested to Alan that he would find a wide (well, wider) market for a cd of his beautiful performances of these arrangements. Then thousands of concertina enthusiasts could enjoy them..... whereas, very very few anglo players today would have the chops or the patience to learn these from the book. But Alan, like many individualists, has done what he wanted, not what he thought others want... and he has done it to a very high level. Perhaps he is communicating with players of some future time who may discover and appreciate this book. As much as I love orally transmitted, musically nonliterate, traditional music on the anglo, that is not this instrument's only possible use. I am very glad Alan's approach to the concertina is more original, more disciplined, and more musically informed, than just another amateur's attempt to imitate the currently popular player of the year.

 

Who might use this book, today? I think someone interested in arranging complex music for the anglo could learn a lot by working (probably for weeks at a time) with any one of Alan's arrangements. That is the context in which I discussed the earlier edition of Alan's book when teaching "american music on the anglo" a couple of years back, and when mentioning the book in a thread on this website that was begun by Craig Wagner, about a book Craig wanted to write. Possibly Craig, like Alan, discovered he was writing the book that documented his own personal journey in creating an anglo style.

 

I actually think it is just as well that the arrangements are not cluttered with tab notation. There is a fingering chart at the beginning of the book (though since concertina systems differ, I would prefer that any serious student create her/his own chart with the exact layout). Before tackling this book, you had better know where all the notes live on your concertina, and you had better learn to read music. That does eliminate many concertina hobbyists today (including many fine players), but the book is just not addressed to them. It would be an insult to concertinists though to suggest that (unlike so many other musicians) they can't learn the note layout of their instrument and to read standard notation. The anglo concertinists who can and will do so (and yes, there are some), or who want to learn these skills, may be few but they will appreciate Alan's accomplishment.

 

Finally, my only contribution to this book was to encourage Alan, a humble man who has profited far less from his work and achievements as a musician than many with a fraction of his talent, to keep his book in print *just in case* his musical ideas might someday find "fertile soil in which to germinate." I mentioned above that I often asked him to make a cd of these (and other) arrangements. If he can ever do this I hope every anglo player will give it a listen.

 

Peace,

 

PG

[Dan Worrall]

Paul, Daniel,

 

Wow! Sounds like this is a guy the concertina world SHOULD know about. Since you both know him, is there any way either of you could convince him into recording a tune or two, either for the recordings page on the Forum, or perhaps for You Tube? It is a pity not to be able to hear someone with this much talent. I was blown away when I first heard Andrew Blakeny Edwards recordings of ragtime tunes....Alan seems like he is cut from the same cloth, and should to be encouraged to connect with the worldwide anglo tribe of today.

 

Here, by the way, is a picture I found of him: http://piperhq.com/ceilidh-music.htm

 

How about a techie question on this. If his sheet music were in a digital music-writing software (which it undoubtedly was before the publisher got it), it could be played back....not as good as hearing him, of course, but much better than just sight reading those arrangements. Does anyone know how to scan sheet music to get it 'automatically' in a software form?

 

Now I shall add my little bit about writing complex arrangements for anglo. Alan used the standard treble and bass clef two-staff approach, which is of course the way to go for anyone with piano and/or classical background. The unfortunate thing about that for anglo sightreaders is the bass clef...we are used to reading in treble. Maybe it is a small thing, but some notes (like C above middle C) are on both the left and right hands...so that the same exact note 'looks' completely different on the left hand staff than it does on the right hand staff (and, also a bit peculiar, all notes are written an octave lower than they sound). To get around this, I usually put my two staffs both in treble clef, and never mind the fact that some get a bit high or low relative to the five lines. Classical types may well recoil, but I find it much easier to sight read. A small matter, perhaps, but one that works against anglo players in reading fully arranged music, in my opinion...or am I a minority of one in this? I suppose I could just get over it!!

 

Regardless, the arrangements are quite an achievement, especially given the high praise from Paul and Daniel. I'd like to hear him play...they and the book have whetted my interest.

 

Dan

 

PS to Dirge: The notes are all intentionally written an octave lower than they actually sound...one of the problems I was mentioning above.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Dan Worrall

[wntrmute]

The bass clef is exactly like the little lines that you use to extend below the staff anyways. Middle C has its own line is all.

[Dan Worrall]

The bass clef is exactly like the little lines that you use to extend below the staff anyways. Middle C has its own line is all.

 

Do tell!

 

The point here is that the 'standard' for anglos since Hoeselbarth's tutor in 1840 through Minasi in 1846 is to write for the CG anglo completely in treble clef (see figure, from Minasi 1846). Minasi, by the way, was a classical composer of impeccable standing in his day, and did not feel he had to use 'standard' classical (piano-style, double clef) notation for this instrument, even when writing 'full' arrangements as in the attached example. Double clef (treble and bass) notation is of special utility for the piano and harpsichord...that scheme, which classical music lovers seem to consider the 'standard', can alternately be considered as a useful 'tab' for piano...but not necessarily for other instruments. Pianos have a single keyboard running the length of the instrument, through many octaves. Both the left and right hands migrate all over the keyboard during use. An anglo, on the other, has TWO keyboards, each a fifth apart, and each of which is halved, with each half restricted to one hand or the other. THis is very regimented, and means that a tab scheme for a piano would not necessarily be the best way for the anglo....as we anglo players all know. For Irish style players, there is no big problem...they only care about the notes, not which hand plays them. A single treble clef is used, just as in the Minasi example, and just as a classically trained violinist would use.

 

The rub comes for players who treat the anglo essentially as a duet....chords principally on the left, and melody on the right. This has different requirements for sight reading. Alan's solution reflects his classical background....he prefers the look of a 'standard' classical piano notation. But the only way he can keep it from looking messy is to drop every note down an octave....a decidedly non-standard approach for anglo sight readers. There is nothing wrong with it, and it would work just fine...but we shouldn't call it 'standard' notation, at least for an anglo. And it can cause confusion....note Dirge's post above. Nearly every anglo tutor I have seen (maybe all of them, and I've seen scores of them of all ages) use strictly treble clef for a CG instrument.

 

The second picture compares his notation (from his book) with 'standard' anglo notation for left and right hands (from Bertram Levy, for example). Note the circled D and E notes. See how the D and E 'look different' in the treble and bass clef in Alan's notation? Minor, you may think, but some times the right hand melody drops down into the left hand....they are not completely segregateable, of course....and if you are sight reading up to tempo, it is disorienting to the eye to have that same E note appear different in the upper score as in the lower. We are not talking of a single continuous keyboard here, but two separate hands each playing halves of two keyboards. More complicated for sight reading. Hence I follow the standard, time-honored anglo practice of using two treble clefs....note that in Levy's notation system, the D and E look exactly the same on both left and right hands. An additional benefit is that a fiddle or flute player reading with me can readily read the notes of either hand, as they also use treble clef. A final advantage is that the notes appear in the proper frequencies....not an octave off, as Alan uses....Levy's D and E are shown in the proper octave. A third example shows the idea...two stacked treble clefs. It is from my Kimber book, but such an example could have come from, say, Roylance's Anglo German tutor of 1878, for example, or Bertram Levy's tutor, or...you get the idea.

[

I don't put all this down to try to be argumentative....and I am increasingly in awe of Alan's work. But I definitely reject any argument that 'standard' classical (piano) notation is something that should be shoved down an anglo player's throat just because it is the proper Julliard thing to do...not that that is anything Alan is trying to do, of course! There is a 170 year tradition of writing full arrangements for anglo that use treble clef notation, and that works best for me. Nice to see another take on notation, but I think I'll pass. Now I'll get off this silly computer and see if I can somehow struggle through Alan's Liberty Bell...I won't pass on that.

Edited May 24, 2008 by Dan Worrall

[m3838]

Otherwords, take the notation and copy it painstakingly into Finale Notepad, using one G-cleff stave and two layers. On one layer is the left hand. On the other is the right hand.

Just transpose the right hand one - two octaves up, omitting the clashing "left-right" notes alltogether - and you have English transcription?

Hmm. A project! A CD would be very handy to see if the arrangement suits one's taste beforehand.

Other than that, looking the pieces up on the Youtube may be a good substitute.

[Dan Worrall]

Otherwords, take the notation and copy it painstakingly into Finale Notepad, using one G-cleff stave and two layers. On one layer is the left hand. On the other is the right hand.

Just transpose the right hand one - two octaves up, omitting the clashing "left-right" notes alltogether - and you have English transcription?

Hmm. A project! A CD would be very handy to see if the arrangement suits one's taste beforehand.

Other than that, looking the pieces up on the Youtube may be a good substitute.

 

Close, but no cigar!

 

For an EC transcription, take both clefs up an octave, and then smash the two clefs together. I think most EC players would prefer a single treble clef for the result....as in Frank Butler's tutor.

 

For a standard anglo transcription, take both hands/clefs up an octave, then change the bottom (left) clef from bass to treble. Keep the two hands/clefs separate.

 

For duets...dunno. I think they might be happy with just transcribing everything up an octave, and then leaving it in piano (treble and bass) notation. I don't play duet, but I've a Crane-playing friend who sight reads standard piano sheet music.

 

It would indeed be a project, but once in digital form, Finale or otherwise, the proper transcriptions for our various preferences would be easy peasy. And a sound file could then also and easily be created for ear players. Any takers?

 

Oops...must keep off this keyboard...back to the Liberty Bell.

Edited May 24, 2008 by Dan Worrall

[David Barnert]

What you're describing is very much like notation for the classical guitar, except that guitar music is notated an octave higher than it sounds (all on a single treble clef).

[m3838]

Any takers?

 

Oops...must keep off this keyboard...back to the Liberty Bell.

 

Hold on with that Liberty Bell.

I'd like to tackle this, but why do you suggest taking both cleffs an octave up?

Wouldn't the upper part (almost wrote "Yapper part" ) be too high and at places just outside of the range?

Similarly, the bottom part has issues:

One is that by transposing it up it may at times have the same notes as the upper part, and would benefit from leaving it down an octave for powerful sound.

The other issue is again, the range. Moving double bass up an octave may still not be within those trebles. So some dropping off will happen.

Yet another is when bass run goes from way down (where it is easy to move up an octave) to the middle C and up(which is preferrably to leave where it is). So an arranger is called. I'm not the one, I'm blind kitten, amused by the abilities of free version of Finale Notepad.

I've "arranged" Bach's Invention in C (or Amin with no # and and my Finale playes it OK, with some character even. But I'm not convinced by the sound from my Albion (it's to blame, of course). Some intervals are impossible to play in a sequence. So changes to the "arrangement" are needed.

[Dan Worrall]

What you're describing is very much like notation for the classical guitar, except that guitar music is notated an octave higher than it sounds (all on a single treble clef).

 

David,

 

Perhaps correct, but do the guitarists try to consciously separate melody and accompaniment into two clefs? I wouldn't know!

 

I'm still fiddling with this music, but about to give up...I'd have to transcribe it by hand to really be able to read it properly...or play it on the piano an octave away and then learn it by ear. (And alas, I'm no use on the piano.) Paul is right in that most serious anglo players should be able to read 'standard' musical notation. But that 'standard' musical notation is not the same for each instrument, and its format is important (and I'm not talking about tablature). Individualism is fine in and of itself, but by putting it in a format with which most anglo players are unfamiliar, not only does he lose the ear players (lost them anyway), he loses the majority of sight reading anglo players too. It is a shame that Alan couldn't have gotten some peer review from the greater concertina community before releasing this major and very interesting piece of work...this could have been easily fixed to standard anglo format before it went to press. I think that would have been a major, if not essential, improvement to its presentation. I'd be very happy to hear that I'm wrong, and that some angloers find his bass/treble clef, octave off writing easy to sight read.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Dan Worrall]

Any takers?

 

Oops...must keep off this keyboard...back to the Liberty Bell.

 

Hold on with that Liberty Bell.

I'd like to tackle this, but why do you suggest taking both cleffs an octave up?

Wouldn't the upper part (almost wrote "Yapper part" ) be too high and at places just outside of the range?

Similarly, the bottom part has issues:

One is that by transposing it up it may at times have the same notes as the upper part, and would benefit from leaving it down an octave for powerful sound.

The other issue is again, the range. Moving double bass up an octave may still not be within those trebles. So some dropping off will happen.

Yet another is when bass run goes from way down (where it is easy to move up an octave) to the middle C and up(which is preferrably to leave where it is). So an arranger is called. I'm not the one, I'm blind kitten, amused by the abilities of free version of Finale Notepad.

I've "arranged" Bach's Invention in C (or Amin with no # and and my Finale playes it OK, with some character even. But I'm not convinced by the sound from my Albion (it's to blame, of course). Some intervals are impossible to play in a sequence. So changes to the "arrangement" are needed.

Please DO take this on!!!

The reason that I say to take both clefs up is that he says this on his explanation: "All pitches sound one octave higher than written notation". Meaning both hands/clefs as I see it. To be able to reproduce the sounds he made on his anglo, all notes have to be changed one octave. You can see that on both hands of the keyboard explanation, by comparing his notation with Levy's. Now that may not be the way an English or duet player would play this....but to fiddle with that would be modifying the arrangement. Anglo players would just like to read the arrangement as is, I should think; he is by all accounts a very skillful player, and his arrangement should be good for our range.

Try the Liberty Bell first!

[m3838]

"All pitches sound one octave higher than written notation".

 

I see. I guess it's done for the ease of reading in G cleff

 

Try the Liberty Bell first!

 

OK, OK, give me the music. Or at least a link, or the name of the book where it is.

[Dan Worrall]

"All pitches sound one octave higher than written notation".

 

I see. I guess it's done for the ease of reading in G cleff

 

Try the Liberty Bell first!

 

OK, OK, give me the music. Or at least a link, or the name of the book where it is.

 

There are several samples, here:

http://www.melbay.com/samples.asp?ProductI...mp;s=&next=

 

If you page through the samples, you'll see several, but first pages only. No Liberty Bell, but either the Maple Leaf Rag or Lassus Trombone would do nicely indeed.

[Daniel Hersh]

I have e-mailed him to let him know that he and his book are being discussed here, in case he feels like joining in.

 

Wow! Sounds like this is a guy the concertina world SHOULD know about. Since you both know him, is there any way either of you could convince him into recording a tune or two, either for the recordings page on the Forum, or perhaps for You Tube?

[wntrmute]

Do tell!

D'oh!

 

Maybe I'm just coming at it from too many years of piano lessons. I don't care so much which clef it's in. The whole octave off thing, though, is a major head-trip. I always dreaded the 8va sign, because it meant I had to think. Thinking = hard.

The thing with the piano lessons, and then 5 years in school bands is with the single line stuff like what you get from most of the tutors and such on the net (and I've D/L'ed and printed all of the ones on the concertina.com site) is that they don't give you the accompianment. Sure, there's the fake-book stuff, but again there's that whole 'thinking' business again. Also, from all of the structured instruction there is this whole idea that the music is all there on the page, it just flows from paper through your eyes to your fingers. If it isn't on the paper, you don't play it -- beyond the odd grace note or twiddle here and there (and the band beats it out of you right quick if the piano teacher didn't). Only the lead trumpet players get to improvise at all in the band, fat show-offs that they are.

So any way I can get the harmony bits written out, I'm pretty happy.

Each tutor seems to have their quirks; but, oh yeah, the 8va thing is giving me second thoughts.

 

...but such an example could have come from, say, Roylance's Anglo German tutor of 1878, for example...

Speaking o' which....

 

Now I'll get off this silly computer and see if I can somehow struggle through Alan's Liberty Bell...I won't pass on that.

Don't forget the pbpbthththth at the end. Mr. Sousa wanted it that way, I'm sure.

 

 

Also, to m3838: the issue is that this collection writes all of the notes an octave lower than the notes that you are playing, all the time. So where he has a middle c in the notation, you're supposed to actually play the c above that. It's like he has an 8va at the beginning of the book, for the whole thing. For any kind of sight-reader that can be a hassle unless you had always trained that way. Or done it a whole lot. And here I spent a lot of time with flash cards getting used to matching the notation to the buttons. Phooey.

The other part is that this ends up making the notes that are shared between the two hands look different from each other on the page. Well kind of -- if you're used to it, it isn't as bad as that. Truthfully, the 8va isn't that horrible, either, for the squeekier notes -- but for middle C? ugh.

 

And the squeeky bits at the top of the range are more yipper than yapper.

[wntrmute]

"All pitches sound one octave higher than written notation".

 

I see. I guess it's done for the ease of reading in G cleff

I think it would be more that on a piano, you have your left and right thumb on middle c, so the bass clef is your left hand bit, and the treble is for your right hand (mostly). One way to bring that same concept to an anglo is to drop the notation an octave. Kind of. I think I agree that it isn't the best solution, though.

 

On the flip side, I think you'd only have to stumble through it a couple of times before the sheet music is much less important, and the notation is more of a reminder than something that you're actually reading.

 

This is a busy thread.