Transposition helps musicians that need to switch instruments learn one set of fingerings and then be able to pick up instruments in the same family easily. My example of French horn to trumpet isn't common, but consider how often this is the case for woodwind instruments; a flute player might need to play piccolo or a saxophone, or a clarinet player needs to play a related family member. This helps in a number of ways. First, the fingering example we talked about, but also in helping to write music in keys that are just easier to perform.
If you just need an easy-to-use guide to help figure out transposing from your instrument to concert pitch, then use this table. It will show you the relationship between notes written in your key and concert pitch.
French horn players have to transpose a lot. It comes from the instrument's history, dating back to when players needed to use crooks in order to lengthen the instrument enough to put it in a different key. This meant I needed to learn to transpose when I started playing in an orchestra.
At first, I would write out all the notes I needed to transpose to. This made for really messy music and it took a long time to do. Then, when I turned the music back into the librarian, I had to erase all the ghost notes I had written in. When I started college, I memorized the interval I needed to transpose to. For example, if a piece was in E-flat, then I would read everything down a whole step.
I would just imagine every note being on the space or the line below the note that was written. This was easy for closely related keys but was challenging when transposing to keys like B-flat or C. Or when transposing music with complicated key signatures. Then one day it hit me, I can just play the corresponding scale degree in the related key. Assign every note in a scale a number.
Using the C-major scale as an example, C would be 1, D would be 2, E would be 3, and so on. Instead of reading the notes, I am reading scales degrees in the key I am playing. If I have to transpose, I just change the key signature in my head and play those same scale degrees. This table shows some of the more common instruments that will need to transpose their music to "Concert pitch.
To transpose from this instrument to concert pitch, following the instructions in the "Transposition" column. For example, if I playing a C on a B-flat trumpet and my band director asks "What concert pitch am I playing," then I would need to move my "C" down a whole step major second and say that I am playing a B-flat concert pitch.
If you are looking to transpose from concert pitch to these instruments, just reverse the instructions. For example, instead of going down a major second when transposing from B-flat to C, just go up a major second and now you have a part written for B-flat instruments. Instrument tuners will always show concert pitch. This means, if you play a transposing instrument, then the note you are playing will not be the note name the tuner shows.
There are lots of transposing instruments in existence, but here is a list of the most common ones you will come across:. Beware of the octave transposers! The Guitar and Bass Guitar both of which sound an octave lower than written are 2 really common examples of this, as are the Glockenspiel and Recorder both sound 2 octaves higher than written.
He is a music teacher, examiner, composer and pianist with over twenty years experience in music education. Read More. How to Read Sheet Music. Transposing Instruments. Even though concert pitch is defined by the sound of an "A", instruments that read music at concert pitch are called C instruments.
This is because the key of C is the "natural" key, the major key that has no sharps or flats, only natural notes. You may wonder why A is not the natural key.
As is true for so many aspects of music notation and theory, there is no logical reason; it is just a happenstance that arose out of the history of Western music. Many instruments are C instruments. For example, piano, organ, oboe, violin, guitar, and trombone are all C instruments. A pianist who sees a written C will play a note that the violinist would agree is a C.
This may seem obvious, but a clarinet player who sees a C on the page will play a note that does not sound like a C to the other players. This is because the clarinet is a transposing instrument. The music for transposing instruments is not written or read at concert pitch. The clarinet player, for example, seeing a C on the page, will play a note that sounds like a B flat. The clarinet is therefore called a B flat instrument.
A French horn player, seeing a C on his "horn in F" or "F horn" part, will play a note that sounds like an F. So the name of the instrument "B flat clarinet" or "F horn" tells you which concert-pitch note the instrument plays when given a written C.
Transposing does not just change the written C, however; it changes every note. For example, a B flat instrument plays every note a whole step lower than written, not just the C. This means that if you want the clarinet player to play particular concert-pitch notes, you must write those notes one whole step higher than you would for a non-transposing instrument. Since every note of the scale is changed, the result is a different scale.
This means that the part for the transposing instrument will be in a different key and have a different key signature than the parts for C instruments. Changing music to put it into a different key is called transposing the music.
Music for transposing instruments must be properly transposed in order for most players to be able to read it. There are musicians who can "transpose at sight," for example horn players who can read concert-pitch music and play it at concert pitch, but this is unusual. A complete list of all the transposing instruments would be very long. Many are very rare. Listed here are only the most common ones. A couple of issues that sometimes cause confusion: octave-transposing C instruments and non-C, non-transposing instruments.
Clarinet is usually a Bb instrument. The most common clarinet sounds one whole step lower than written, so parts for it must be written one whole step higher than concert pitch. Like French horns, clarinets used to come in several different keys, and clarinets in A with parts that are written a minor third higher and other keys can still be found.
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