If you’ve been playing in concert band for more than a minute, you’ve likely heard us (the folk with the stick) talk about “concert pitch.” At one point in your musical journey, you probably thought: “Whaaaaaaaaaat? Why? This makes no sense!” (Maybe you thought that this past Saturday).
I hear you. It can be extremely confusing.
While I’m not going to get into a whole lot of history or intense detail, here’s the Coles’ Notes version of why there are transposing instruments:
The whole reason instruments are written in different keys is to make it easier for the musician, believe it or not! There are two big-time components as to why this is, in fact, easier:
1. It helps us understand the notation quickly. If we were all written in concert pitch in the octave the instrument sounds, many instruments would have so many ledger lines that it would be difficult for the eye to read the note. (I shudder to think what a piccolo or tuba score would look like – we wouldn’t be able to get many bars on a page for all the ledger lines! And the conductor’s score would be poster-sized!) That would slow down brain processing, and, correspondingly, performance speed.
High woodwinds, piano players, and bass instruments will be familiar with this notion as they will sometimes have the Ottava or Ottava Bassa notation: indicating to play the notes the octave higher or lower than written. Tenor instruments (I’m looking at you, trombones) know this because they sometimes get Tenor Clef – which dramatically reduces the number of ledger lines above the staff, if only a person can remember where C is. (Bonus fact: in choral music, the tenor part is traditionally written in treble clef usually with a little 8 below – to be sung the octave lower – for exactly this reason).
2. It makes it easier to switch instruments in the same family. Since I’m a Brass player, I’ll use Brass examples today, but this does hold true for the Woodwind family. There is a pattern to the way notes are fingered, which is remarkably consistent within the instrument family (trombones have slide positions that match up with valve combinations). If all instruments were in concert pitch, the musician would have to memorise that C = 1 on trumpet, 0 on Horn, etc. Instead, when a brass player sees C on the staff, they know it’s 0 – regardless of the instrument in their hands. In the woodwind family, if you play flute, it’s easy enough to handle oboe fingerings. An alto sax player can pick up a tenor or bari sax and do likewise. (Note: I’m only talking basic fingering – I know there are alternate fingerings that are better for intonation on certain notes, but the point is, an approximation of the note could be sounded without having to relearn every note’s fingering).
So, how does one figure out what on earth to play if the conductor calls for a concert pitch note?
C instruments: I’m not even going to talk to you because you don’t need to know. (Yep – we’re all jealous).
Bb instruments: Your note is one whole tone or two semi-tones higher than the note called for. So, when I call for a concert Bb, you would think: Bb – B – C, and play a C. If I call for a concert A, you would think A – A# – B, and play a B. (If you’ve ever played piano, you may want to envision a keyboard in your head. The note you play is exactly 2 keys higher).
Eb instruments: You have to think a bit harder about your transposition – your note is a minor third lower than concert pitch, or 3 semitones. Having a passing familiarity with any keyboard instrument would be a help, as that will allow you to visualise the distance between notes (3 keys). It also wouldn’t hurt to take the time to study chords/intervals, and the difference between major and minor, augmented and diminished! When I call for a concert D, you will have to think down 3 semitones: D – C# – C- B.
F instrument – we all know who you are: As I am a Horn player, I’m best-versed in the peculiarities of our instrument. We are a perfect 5th above (or a perfect 4th below – I think in chords so I find the 5th is easier to process on the fly). This means that, when I call for a concert A, I think the chord – A – C# – E, and the E is the note to play. This is also really easy to visualise on a mental keyboard – I mentally place my thumb on the note called, and where my pinky finger falls is the note (then I must accord an accidental to avoid augmented or diminished intervals). Another way of figuring this out is by semitones: there are 5 of them going down, (6 going up – I’m not even going to talk about that). So, if concert F# is called for, I would think: F# – F – E – D# – D – C#. This is not very practical, so having a more comprehensive background in theory – especially intervals and chords, is extremely important.
In addition, as a Horn player, you will be called upon to transpose from some really bizarre keys – especially if you venture into the orchestral repertoire, where they’ll often throw you a bunch of different keys within the same piece. This is because, prior to valves (around the 18th century), brass instruments could just add tubing to change the “key” they were playing. The precursor to the modern Horn was used in orchestral music (while ancestors of other brass instruments were rarely to never incorporated) so we have to deal with that legacy more than any other instrument.
I hope this gives you a better sense of how to find your instrument’s pitch from concert pitch. Don’t worry: you’ll get practise over the summer! If you cheat, (and get a printout), I won’t know, but you also won’t improve at being able to pull these out of the air. I’m just saying. I do promise that, when we perform, we’ll be keeping the warm-up scale to Bb – I want to test you, but I’m not mean!
Thank God someone knows how to explain this to me (a C instrument) who is constantly baffled with – you are Bb instrument, Play a C.
Does that mean Elizabeth that players often transpose ‘on the fly’? I can see that on a Bb instrument as the note is just the next one in the scale so not too hard. With an Eb instrument it a less straightforward transposition. I am sometimes asked to play music in concert key and I have to enter that into a music program, and do the transposition so I can play it in my key.
Is that common, or do most people just learn to transpose on the fly?
The only good thing being a bari player is that the 3rd down from Eb to concert C is the opposite to how the bass claef is read – up a 3rd so D necomes F. I read bass clef notation (always in C even for BBb tubas) as treble notes and add my 3 sharps. Less fun if the key signature is F# and you have to play double sharps but that doesn’t happen often.
Hi Bruce!
Great question!
Horn players transpose on the fly – a lot of older concert band arrangements (or almost every band arrangement from Europe), are written for Eb Horn. So, when we go to Roland for the reading day, I’m guaranteed that at least a third of the music will be in the wrong key. If I’m playing orchestral music – particularly older arrangements (from before valved instruments were mainstream) – I will need to transpose by sight from pretty much any other key. (Horn players also need to read Bass Clef, because we go down there sometimes).
Trombone players (at a certain level of playing) are generally expected to be able to read tenor clef in addition to their normal bass clef.
Transposing by an octave is usually pretty easy – it’s mostly the same fingerings (there may be slight variations, but they’re usually minor).
Speaking generally, most other instruments are not expected to be able to transpose at sight. (Not even the Bb ones). It’s a fantastic skill to have in one’s arsenal, though.
Basically, it takes practise – the more you do it, the easier it gets. I’ve found that I use what I call touchstone notes: I skim the music and pick out a couple of notes that are very common in the part. I carefully transpose and memorise those two or three notes (I try to make them about a 4th or 5th apart from each other). Then, when I’m playing, I know what those two or three notes are when I hit them, and if I’m off, I can get on track based on those touchstones. I also get into a zone where I use fingering patterns – this is where scalework can help you! For example, if I’m playing an open note, and I see a step, I know it’s 1st valve, if it’s a jump (a third), I know it’s 1&2 – because that’s the scale pattern I’m using. (This means, for things like runs and arpeggios, I don’t need to think about each individual note).
As amateur musicians, you’re probably not going to be called upon to sight-transpose unless you’re a Horn player. Having said that, the ability to step in and say “I can transpose that trumpet part” would be a tremendous gift to any conductor, and could well mean that you save the band.