Klarinet Archive - Posting 000389.txt from 1997/02

From: Oliver Seely <oliver@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Transposing
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 12:08:33 -0500

Ryan,
I'll not try to answer your question, but I'm embarrassed to say that I've
gone all my life not realizing that a piece of music can be in any "key"
simply by adding appropriate accidentals to a piece with a signature
in C Major. Now that a lot of us are playing with computer-generated
music and notation software (without the advantage of a solid background in
music composition) it's easy to do transpositions. I've gotten
into this when I've tried to put pieces with for example flute and A clarinet
into keys that are easier for Bb clarinet fingering (but still not impossible
for a flute player) and also when I've worked on pieces with clarinet and Eb
horn and my hornist would rather play F horn parts. From time to time
I've run across arrangements which were given one signature by the arranger
but when the signature is changed with one more or one less sharp or
flat, the number of accidentals drops to a much lower value. That is,
the key signature wasn't exactly right. It doesn't happen very often but
in the last year I recall running into a couple of pieces which fit into that
category. Any comments on this?

Oliver

>This may sound stupid, but many of you have written, "add X amount of
>sharps when transposing to X instrument..." When I have done this in the
>past, it has not sounded quite right and I was wondering if I am supposed
>to start on a different note or something. I usually end up transposing
>as I play by ear:( Thanks in advance for your help.
>
>Kumquat
>Ryan Lowe
>ryan@-----.edu
>