Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [transposition]

The shifting of a melody, a harmonic progression or an entire musical piece to another key, while maintaining the same tone structure, i.e. the same succession of whole tones and semitones and remaining melodic intervals.

Transposition refers to the process, or operation, of moving a collection of notes (pitches or pitch classes) up or down in pitch by a constant interval.

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What's the point of keys other than C and Am?

I'm VERY new to music theory, just learning. I'm reading about keys and scales right now. From what I understand major keys are all the same except for being shifted by one or more semitones (e.g. C major is the same as D major, but shifted up by…
loneboat
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Why do instruments have a key?

There are many instruments that have keys other than C. For example: The Eb Alto Saxophone The Bb Clarinet The Horn in F Why do these instruments have a key in the first place? Here's a more specific example: On the alto saxophone, in order to…
SirPython
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What are the practical reasons for still having transposing instruments?

I understand that historically there was a need for transposing instruments. e.g. Brass instruments would use lead pipes to change their key and players in brass bands would like to stick to the same fingering when swapping between instruments. …
JohnLBevan
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Why do films sometimes transpose everything by a quarter step?

Sometimes when playing along to music, you notice that the recording is transposed not by a semitone or a whole tone (whereby you could just play along on any normally tuned instrument), but by an interval that requires tuning down/up by a quarter…
Markus Schlafli
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C Trumpet in Beethoven's 5th symphony

For a school assignment, I am playing part of Beethoven's 5th Symphony on keyboards. While analyzing the piece, I'm confused by the trumpet part. In the score I am using, it is written as 'Trombe in C', which I interpret as a C trumpet. However, the…
Connor
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Could B♭ instruments be built in C? Why are they in B♭ in the first place?

Why did the clarinet and trumpet get made to 'be' in B♭? Could they have been made to produce concert pitch C? This would make a composer's life so much easier when physically writing scores. Surely a slightly longer instrument wouldn't make…
Tim
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Software that transposes music?

I would love to be able to learn the flute by playing more popular music. However, all the free sheet music that I can find for a flute in the key of C is lame stuff like "Jingle Bells." In my search for songs that I would like to play on the flute,…
Melanie Shebel
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In a folk jam session, when asked which key my non-transposing chromatic instrument (like a violin) is in, what do I answer?

I know of transposing instruments. A transposing instrument is one where the player reads a C, plays a C, and what sounds is the name of the key of the instrument. Those instruments are often referred to with the key in their name, for example Bb…
Amedee Van Gasse
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Why is it common to write tuba sheet music in concert pitch?

I play E♭ tuba in a wind orchestra, and we always get the notes written in concert pitch, and we have to logically "transpose" to the instrument key on the fly. How common is this approach? Why is it done? Additional info to clarify: When I was…
awe
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On a guitar, what keys correspond to different capo positions?

I've long had this question. I know some music theory, but I can only get a vague idea as to the progression of keys when moving the capo down a guitar's neck. I'm fairly certain that the guitar is in the key of E minor when no capo is used, but…
mckryall
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What is a transposing instrument?

I've read this term many times. However, I'm not quite sure of what it exactly is. What is a transposing instrument? What would be an example of one?
American Luke
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Which key are these notes and how to transpose it to the key of D?

I am a beginner in music theory so please bear with me. I was looking up a document which talks about transposing music and I understand a few things I think about transposing music. But if I, for example, have a sequence of these notes: E D# E…
learnerX
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How much can transposing a song by a half step or a whole step help a vocalist?

It is not uncommon for a singer to ask for a piece to be transposed up or down a half step or a whole step. This minute change might be a big change for instrumentalist, like horn players, who have to play the song in a completely different key that…
Dom
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Why are some instruments listed 'in F' or 'in B'?

I am looking through scores of pieces that I particularly like. I can't understand (as this is the first time I have come across it) why here, in the manuscript, some instruments are named as follows: X in B or X in F (X representing an…
cmp
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In what key signature is singing written in, and how do I adapt for alto saxophone?

Note: I am not that good in general music theory but I will try to get my point across as best as I can. I am currently in charge of writing/transposing the scores of a little hobby band. I got the scores written for singing and now I need to…
gurkensaas
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