Is it bad practice to score a E major piece for Bb Clarinet in 6 sharps/flats?
I'm currently writing my first piece for a full orchestra, to be played by a high school orchestra and band. The piece is in E major, but it is somewhat chromatic and modulates to different keys for short periods of time (short enough to not change the key signature). However, the only clarinets the orchestra has are Bb clarinets, which would put their part in 6 sharps or 6 flats.
Should I write their part keyless and write in all the accidentals? If so, should I make this change on both the entire score and the clarinet part? Or only on the clarinet part?
Or is it better to keep their part in 6 sharps/flats? My concern is that the short sections in F major (as an example) would be cumbersome to read with all the naturals written in, and the sections that are in E major sometimes require double sharps, which make it harder to read.
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Look to the future, so to speak. Write the part for A-clarinet, and provide a transcribed part for Bb clarinet to support your local orchestra/band. For that matter, the school might well be willing to rent a couple A-clarinets for the orchestra members to use for your piece.
In reality, a decent high-school clarinetist, at least in the orchestra (which presumably has 4 or fewer clarinets), can transpose from A to Bb by sight.
Clarinets read key signatures. Yes, six sharps is cruel, but it happens! And if it takes a double sharp, write a double sharp. Notes that sound sharpened but are written flattened are harder, not easier to read. A scale should look like a scale, a leading note should look sharpened not flattened.
You'll get opinions about whether players 'prefer' sharps or flats. Your notation software might make the decision for you when the 6#/6b issue arises. My advice is not to go to the trouble of concocting a 'Clarinet in A#' just to force your preference. Bb Saxophone players play in Blues bands. Blues music is often in E. They cope.
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