 The Fingering Forum
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Author: Ruth
Date: 2002-12-13 21:03
I would love a simple explanation for transposing music.
I would like this in relation to a piano
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Author: Gnomon
Date: 2002-12-13 23:38
Transposing is the system for taking music that is written in one key and rewriting it in a different key. You might want to play the music higher or lower, or you might want to arrange it for a transposing instrument, which is one that always has the music written in a different key. The note which is called C on a piano is called D on a clarinet, for example.
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Author: Saxplaya
Date: 2002-12-13 23:39
The piano is in the key of C right. Also all string instuments, flutes, piccolos, basson,tuba, trombone and baritone. And maybe another few i dont know about.
If you are transposing the music just the key its simple. For example The piece is in A major and you need to transpose it to D major, Count the half steps up. In this case it goes
A A# B C C# D or A G# G F F# E D# D
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
There are 5 half steps So for each note raise it 5 half steps or if you want to transpode it down its 7 half steps
Fro tansposing instrument it get confusing.
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Author: oboeguy
Date: 2002-12-14 03:04
that was a little confusing there...
Here's a good example:
Take your C major scale
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
Now if I were to transpose that down a whole tone, to a Bb major scale I would take each note down two-semitones.
Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb
Get it?
Oboeguy
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2002-12-14 05:42
I think the easiest way to think about transposing is to think about it in terms of intervals instead of counting half steps. Like if you wanted to go from A to D, just realize that from A to D is a fourth. Therefore every note in a given line will be transposed a perfect fourth higher than what is written.
That's a lot easier than counting notes, but to do so you have to have some knowledge of intervals. It doesn't do any good to say that one tone is a perfect fourth or a diminished fifth away from another if you have no idea what that means, and this is why I always make my speech about why it is SO important for anyone wanting to take music seriously to have at least <i>some</i> knowledge of piano. It's much easier to visualize and understand things like intervals, modes, and chords on a keyboard than on a wind instrument or just by reading notes on a staff.
However since you are posting on a woodwind site, I assume you're not necessarily talking about transposing music from one key to the next, rather you're wondering how it relates to playing an instrument pitched in a particular key such as Bb, Eb, etc. (Even though technically it's the same thing.)
So take a Bb clarinet for example. Being pitched in Bb means that when you play a middle C written on a clarinet part, the note that is actually being produced is a Bb--a Bb as in the real Bb that you would find on a piano. The note being produced by the instrument in this case, the real Bb, is a whole step lower than the note written on the clarinet part, the middle C. From this you can use some good ol' inductive logic and say that for every note you play on a clarinet part (on clarinet), the real tone being produced is a whole step lower than the note written on the music and consequentially the note you finger when you see that written note.
So if you see a middle C and finger a middle C, the note the clarinet produces is actually a Bb right below that. If you see a D and finger a D, the note being produced is the C below that, and so on.
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Author: yancy
Date: 2003-01-11 05:52
I found using Cakewalk Scorewriter to transpose music is the simple way. But you can also practice the song in all twelve keys to get a feel for the interval relations. You can also change one note in some cases to transform the song to a different key if you feel comfortable with the original melody. Also understanding chord progessions like 2 5 1 and the structure of scales using these progressions makes the whole process easier over time.
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