Are all musical instruments created the same in regards to the pitches they create? Nope. Really? Some are said to be "concert" or C, some are created in Bb, others are built in Eb. Numerous variations exist today, and perhaps hundreds of variations over the last couple of centuries. Many of the stringed instruments in vogue today are said to be "concert pitch", these would include piano family, the violin family, guitar family etc. Concert instruments are said to be "non-transposing." Many of the horns we love are not concert pitch, they are said to be "transposing instruments."
So just what is transposition? Transposition is simply the rewriting of musical pitches so that any collection of instruments can play in tune together. For example, if a trumpet and piano are playing a tune in C major, the trumpet part is "transposed" up a whole step so that it's pitches are in synch with the concert pitched piano. Thus, transposing involves rewriting a piece of music for non concert instruments so that it sounds at the proper pitch level in relation to concert pitch. Concert pitch is today based upon the tone "A", measured at 440 cycles per second, which is located a minor 3rd below middle C on a well tuned piano. Cool so far?
Lets take one idea in C major and write it out for a few bars for alto sax, trumpet, guitar, piano and bass. Notice alto sax up a major six from concert C to A major, trumpet up a major 2nd to D major while guitar, piano and bass are concert pitch. Example 1.
Cool with this? Nothing too heavy here, like most things with a bit of practice it eventually falls naturally into place. What is a formidable challenge is the ability of a player to transpose while reading standard musical notation into different keys. Like transposing the written music in real time? Exactly. This is a long term goal that truly manifests the ability to think and hear the music in terms of the intervallic distances between the pitches of the "art" being created. This real time transposing ability is a very advanced musical skill. Accurate transposing of musical lines in real time situations is a skill worth attaining for the career musician, potentially affording a certain "relativity" and "global" view in regards to creating improvised "art" in the equal tempered system of tonal organization. It's heavy.
Try transposing the following idea through whichever major keys are already under your fingers. Example 2.
Recognize the line? Sparking your holiday dreams with holiday themes! Did you get to a few keys above? Which one's? That's transposing. There are only 12 major scales right?
So which instruments are transposing instruments? The brass and woodwind families are for the most part "transposing" instruments, thus their written parts are "transposed" to compensate for their different fundamental note in relation to concert pitch ( although the flute and piccolo are concert pitch ). For instance, Bb instruments, such as Bb trumpet, tenor and soprano saxophones and Bb clarinet need to be written up the interval of a whole step, ( Bb up to C ), so that their executed pitch levels jive with concert instruments. Eb instruments such as alto and bari saxophones are written up or transposed up the interval of a major sixth, ( Eb up to C ), to sound at the correct pitch level as concert pitch instruments. The inverse of these transposing intervals also achieves the same desired results in a lower registration, i.e., Bb down to C, a minor seventh and Eb down to C, the interval of a minor third. Consult an orchestration / arranging book for all your transposing needs.
What is your instrument? Do you transpose your music to concert pitch? Does knowledge of the musical intervals help?
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