12a Lesson - Instrumental Transpositions and Ranges

Class discussion

Instrumental Transpositions and Ranges

To write for transposing instruments, you first need to know how to read a transposing instrument. Most transposing instruments sound down from the written pitch. To get an instrument to sound one pitch, you have to write the note transposed up.

There are main 5 categories of transpositions:

1. C Instruments
2. Bb Instruments
3. Eb Instruments
4. F Instruments
5. Octave Instruments
   • these are the most common, but there are instruments in D, G, E, Ab, etc.

Transpositions

Bb Instruments:

• Clarinet sounds in Bb.
  • If the written pitch is C, the clarinet will sound down to a Bb.
  • To get a clarinet to play a C, the note on the page must be a D.
  • The clarinet sounds a M2 down from the written pitch.
• Tenor Saxophone sounds in Bb plus an octave.
  • If the written pitch is a C, the tenor saxophone will sound a Bb down an octave (C4 = Bb2)
  • To get a tenor saxophone to play a C4, the note on the page must be a D5.
  • The tenor saxophone sounds a M9 down from the written pitch.

Eb Instruments:

• Baritone Saxophone sounds in Eb plus an octave.
  • If the written pitch is a C, the bari sax will sound an Eb down an octave (C4 = Eb2)
  • To get a bari sax to play a C4, the note on the page must be an A5.
  • The bari sax sounds a M13 down from the written pitch.

F Instruments:

• English Horn sounds in F.
  • If the written pitch is a C, the english horn will sound down to an F.
  • To get an english horn to play a C4, the note on the page must be a G4.
  • The english horn sounds a P5 down from the written pitch.

Shortcuts

• look for an instrument in concert pitch and transpose the other instruments to that key
• use solfege in each key to transfer it to a concert pitch score

Sounding Pitch to Written Pitch

When working from a concert pitch score, transpose the opposite direction that you would if you were moving a transposed line to a concert line.

• a Bb trumpet would be a M2 up to get to written pitch from sounding (concert) pitch
• everything goes in the opposite direction in the same interval

Brass Instruments

Brass instruments are strange. A trombone is a Bb instrument due to its overtones, but it reads in C. Tuba also reads in C no matter the kind of tuba. The only brass that transposes are trumpets (Bb, C, A, etc…) and horns (F).