Transposing Music
Transposing (or transposition) means changing the key of a piece of music. This can apply to a scale, phrase, short melody or an entire song. The ability to transpose music is an essential skill for all musicians to develop. There are two reasons to transpose music into another key:
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If the song is too high or too low to sing, the song can be changed into a lower or higher key. Changing the key of a song does not change the sound, pattern or timing of the melody but simply changes how high or how low it is sung.
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If the song is hard to play or contains difficult chords, you can transpose it to a key with easier chords. For example, if a song is written in the key of B (which many songs are) it would contain chords like B, E and Cm which may be difficult for a beginner. If you transpose music into the key of G major, the chords would then be G, C and Am, which are easier to play on many string instruments.
How to Transpose Music
If the sheet music you want to play is in a major or minor key that doesn’t suite your vocal range, or contains difficult chord shapes etc, you can transpose it to another major or minor key. Keys that contain easy shapes for beginners are C major and G major, or if the song is in a minor key, A minor (Am) or E minor (Em).
The easiest method to transpose music is to write out the notes of the key you are transposing to and from (say C to F), along with their scale degrees. For example:
Next, write the scale degrees under the melody you want to transpose using the degrees under the first scale. For example:
Then rewrite the melody, but instead of using the same note pitches, use the numbers to find which notes of the second scale to use. If it helps, write the new notes under the scale degrees of the original piece, before putting them on the new staff with the new key signature. You should now have the same melody at a different (in this case higher) pitch.
Try this process yourself. Transpose the above melody from the key of F to the key of G. Then transpose the same melody to every other key.
You should also try the same technique with other tunes you know. Eventually, you will be able to transpose music in your head instantly, without the need for notated scale degrees. The more you practice, the easier it gets.
– Continue learning with Learn To Play Music at LearnToPlayMusic.com
Many thanks. In a Chinese orchestra, the system advanced by Jean Jacques Rousseau is used. The players can play any key, using the same notations 1, 2 to 7…….8th note is signified by a dot on top of 1. That is, the score doesn’t change, the instrumentalists adjust to the key.
Chinese schools teach this but nothing beats the Western notation but music that is rendered by the numerical system sounds beautiful as well and keeping time is not a problem.
By the way, JS Bach’s WELL-TEMPERED KLAVIER was influenced by a musical treatise written during the Ming Dynasty—-the whole course of Western music would never have been what it is but for the Chinese–if you need the source, I’ll provide–the book is in the library.
I live in Melb, Australia–self-taught person, learning all the time–Confucius ( 600 BC wrote):
SAN-REN SHING, YU-WOR SHER-YEH–IN A COMPANY OF THREE, ONE IS MY TEACHER,
so you are my teacher too. Best wishes
I too am learning all the time only my cognitive abilities are rather challenged. I.e. not as clever as I would like to be. Could I please have the book reference for the chinese musical treatise referred to by Dr. Peter Lim? Am planning to do some Rsch on early chinese music. Any help with reading suggestions most welcome. Thanks
I can’t hear anything over the sound of how awesome this article is.
Thanks very much …actually am very new in music and i would love to have a book please …I love music