Transposing instrument

From Freepedia

A transposing instrument is a musical instrument whose music is usually written at a pitch different from the pitch that it sounds. The difference between a transposing instrument and a non-transposing instrument is only in whether or not the music is written at its sounding pitch; there is nothing about the physical construction of an instrument that makes the difference. Instruments whose music is written exactly as it sounds are said to play in "concert pitch".

There are several reasons why an instrument may be a transposing instrument. Some instruments, such as the clarinet or the saxophone, are transposing instruments so that musicians may play different sizes of these instruments without having to learn new fingerings. For example, the note that is written as middle C for the alto saxophone and the tenor saxophone is fingered the same way on both instruments, but the alto's sounding pitch is higher than the tenor's.

Other instruments may be too high or too low for music written for them to be easily written on the staff. In this case the music is written either an octave higher or lower than it sounds, in order to avoid ledger lines.

Transposing keyboards such as transposing harmoniums or electronic keyboards with a transpose function can have a similar effect, but are not usually called transposing instruments. Their music is conventionally written at sounding pitch, though a player may choose to transpose. (For example, to accompany a singer with higher or lower range than a song is written for, a keyboard player may transpose the keyboard up or down so that he or she does not have to rewrite the music.)

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Transposition at the octave

Many instruments whose ranges are extremely high or low transpose at the octave in order for their written music to be easier to read. While these are technically transposing instruments, they are sometimes not considered as such because of the great similarity of sound between a given note and the same note an octave apart.

For example, the contrabassoon and the double bass both play in the extreme low ranges. Their music is written one octave higher than it sounds on the bass staff. The piccolo and the soprano recorder, which are extremely high-pitched, are written an octave lower than they sound so that their music can be written easily on the treble staff.

Some instruments which transpose at the octave:

Other transpositions

The other principal use of transposition arises when there is a family of instruments with differing ranges. It is desirable for these instruments all to have the same fingering for each written pitch, so that a player who wishes to switch between different instruments in a family does not have to learn new fingerings for each one.

Instruments that transpose this way are often referred to as being in a certain key, such as the A clarinet (clarinet in A), or the F horn (horn in F). The "key" an instrument is said to be in tells how far from concert pitch an instrument's music is written. Specifically, the key given tells which note is the sounding pitch when the player reads a note written as C. A player of a B♭ clarinet who reads a C on the music will sound a B♭, while an F horn player will read the same note and sound an F.

One example of an instrument family with different transpositions is the flutes. The standard concert flute has a range from middle C up about 3 octaves. The alto flute is a very similar instrument, but longer, and hence pitched lower, with a range starting from the G below middle C. The fingering that would on a normal flute would sound a C produces a G a fourth lower on the alto flute. If alto flute music were written at sounding pitch, flute players wishing to learn to play alto flute would have to re-learn fingerings for each written pitch.

Instead, The music for the alto flute is tranposed up a fourth so that the player may play the alto flute using the same fingering for the written notes, but the resulting pitches are a fourth lower. The result of this is that the flute player can easily learn the new instrument, and can easily switch back and forth between the two (a common requirement in orchestra music) without risking confusion between two different fingering systems. The alto flute is then a 'transposing instrument in G', sounding a fourth lower than written.

A similar thing happens in other instrument families. For example, clarinets come in various sizes and hence pitches (A, B♭, C, E♭), but the music is transposed appropriately for each size of instrument so that the player can easily move from one to the other. Expert clarinet players often use a different instrument than the transposition of their parts calls for, transposing the parts at sight instead; expert trumpet players may do this also.

In some families of instruments, the non-transposing C version has fallen into disuse; the clarinet family is one example, where only the B♭ and A members are common. Horns are another example.

Some families containing tranposing instruments:

The horn is a particularly interesting case. Before valves became common about 1800, horns could only play the notes of the overtone series from a single fundamental pitch. However, this fundamental could be changed by inserting one of a set of crooks into the instrument, shortening or lengthening the total length of its sounding tube. As a result, all horn music was written as if for a fundamental pitch of C, but the crooks could make a single instrument a transposing instrument into almost any key. Changing the crooks was a time-consuming process, so it only took place between pieces or movements. The introduction of valves made this process unnecessary, but Richard Wagner (1813-1883) wrote horn parts as if crooks were still in use. Furthermore, even though an F tranposition became standardized in the early 19th century, composers were inconsistent in whether they expected the instruments to transpose down a fifth or up a fourth, especially when written in treble clef.

There are a few families of instruments which have instruments of various sizes and ranges, but whose music is rarely or never transposed. The recorder family is one of these. The higher members of the family (alto and above) transpose at the octave. However, they are referred to as "C-fingered" or "F-fingered" depending on the lowest note, which is fingered the same on all sizes. A player may go from one C-fingered instrument to another easily, and from one F-fingered instrument to another easily, but switching between the two requires learning a new set of fingerings.

On the conductor's score

In conductors' scores, most often the music for transposing instruments is written in transposed form, just as in the players' parts; but a few publishers, especially of contemporary music, provide conductors with music which is all at concert pitch. The argument for the latter practice is that it makes the pitch relationships of the entire sound easier for the conductor to read. The advantage of traditional practice is that it facilitates spoken communication in rehearsal since conductor and player are looking at the same notation.

List of instruments by transposition

Note: Many instruments read different clefs upon different occasions, also brass instruments can often be written as transposing instruments in various times depending on the ensemble (usually in B♭ or E♭ plus adjusting for the octave of the instrument).

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