Transposing instruments can be difficult to understand, as they may seem like an unnecessary and inexplicable complication. In fact, such an instrument assigns a name to notes that does not correspond to the note they actually produce.
This paradox can be explained by historical as well as practical reasons; there are good reasons why transposing instruments have not ‘corrected’ this apparent inconsistency over time. In this lesson, I’ll try to explore in more detail what transposing instruments are, and how to interact with someone playing a transposing instrument if you play an instrument in C.
What are transposing instruments: a nasty joke to play on a pianist
Imagine you have a piano in your living room, and that during the night someone, out of spite, tuned the whole instrument a semitone lower than the standard C tuning. Well, if you pressed the C key, the instrument would actually produce a B. If you pressed an F key, the instrument would sound an E, and so on. Unless you have a special talent known as ‘perfect pitch’, you probably wouldn’t even notice the difference.
Even if you did find out, just imagine how hard it would be to relearn the position of the notes on the instrument, and to press different keys to play notes that until then had a fixed position on the keyboard! Transposing instruments came about in exactly this way: at some point, it was decided to change the tuning of an instrument, or to create different versions of the same instrument. Let’s try to explain more clearly why this happened.
The origins: valveless instruments, or timbral requirements
In the past, some wind instruments were based on natural tunings and had no keys. The sounds were produced by the length of the tube and the pressure of the breath, emitting a series of overtones. For this reason, there were several similar instruments with different tunings.
To standardise the fingering across these different instruments, it was decided to keep the names of the notes the same across similar instruments, and instead change the notation in the score. Let’s return to our initial example of the piano tuned to B: for those who can read music, it is easier to play something written a semitone higher than to relearn a different position of the notes on the keyboard.
Just imagine if there were three pianos, each with a different tuning. It is certainly easier to read three different scores, which in reality produce the same sound, rather than having a single score but having to move your hands in a completely different way across the three instruments.
In some cases, it was realised over time that instruments tuned to certain keys sounded better. This explains why a relatively ‘young’ instrument, the saxophone, which was originally designed to play the entire chromatic scale, has nevertheless become a transposing instrument.
Adolphe Sax designed instruments in C and F (the orchestral family) or Bâ™ and Eâ™ (the military/brass band family). Transposition was introduced to standardise fingering across different sizes within the same family, so that players could switch between them without having to relearn all the fingerings. The B-flat and E-flat instruments proved superior, with a more balanced tone, and were therefore adopted, soon becoming the standard for the saxophone.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the ‘C melody’ was also invented, a sort of saxophone in C major, intended to make things easier for those accustomed to playing instruments in C. However, the sound was inferior, so it was not particularly successful.
In summary, the existence of transposing instruments has historical reasons, but also practical ones. It is more convenient to play different instruments with the same fingering, even if the notes they produce are different and do not correspond to the C scale, but to different scales such as E-flat or B-flat.
Writing music for transposing instruments
Writing music for transposing instruments can be a tricky challenge for a beginner; it’s very easy to make mistakes and transpose the score incorrectly.
Here are some tips to help you find your way around and adapt a score in C for transposing instruments.
Let’s say you have a piano score, so it’s in the key of C major. If you want to adapt the score for trumpet or tenor saxophone, which are tuned to B flat, or alto or baritone saxophone, which are tuned to E flat, you’ll need to ensure that these instruments actually play in the key of C. Here’s how to do it:
- For B-flat instruments, you’ll need to write the score a whole tone higher. They’re tuned a whole tone lower, so you need to write the piece in D for them. This way, the score balances out the difference between the natural tuning and the B-flat tuning.
- For instruments in E flat, you’ll need to do the opposite: write the score three half steps lower. To make them sound in C, the score must be in A.
It seems easy, and with a bit of practice you get the hang of it, but you might still make mistakes. At least, I found myself transposing incorrectly several times before I got to grips with the system!
Let’s now look at how certain transposing instruments have influenced the jazz repertoire. The use of certain instruments does, in fact, influence the key signatures that prevail in a musical genre. For example, rock is full of songs in E and A, which are convenient keys for the guitar. Many amateur singer-songwriters write songs in the key of C major, which is the easiest scale to play on the piano. With jazz, things turned out differently!
Some examples
Let’s now look at a few examples to see exactly how a score changes when switching from instruments in C to those in B flat or E flat.
Let’s start with a famous blues piece by Duke Ellington, entitled ‘C Jam Blues’. As the title suggests, the piece is in the key of C major. Here is the score in the ‘normal’ version, the one for instruments in C.
The melody uses just two notes: G and C. When transposing the piece for B-flat instruments, we need to raise everything by a whole tone. The key therefore becomes D major; look at the two alterations in the key signature. The notes G and C respectively become A and D. Here, then, is the score for B-flat instruments.
If we want to transpose the piece for instruments to E flat, we need to go back a tone and a half, so the key changes from C major to A major, with three accidentals in the key signature. The notes G and C will become E and A respectively. The score follows.
Let’s now move on to a second example: we’ll use the famous bossa nova ‘Garota de Ipanema’ by the Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. The piece is in the key of F major, and the first note of the melody is G. Here is the score in the original version, for instruments in C.
To transpose the score and adapt it for B-flat instruments, we need to transpose everything up a whole tone. The key will therefore become G major, and the first note, G, becomes A.
Finally, let’s transpose the score of ‘Garota de Ipanema’ for instruments in E flat. In this case, I’ll need to lower the key by a tone and a half. The key changes from F major to D major, and the first note, G, becomes E. Here is the score for instruments in E flat.
Let us now investigate how the use of these musical instruments has influenced the development of the jazz repertoire and the choice of key signatures.
How they influenced jazz music
Certain instruments have found particular favour in jazz: we have already mentioned the saxophone. In particular, the tenor saxophone is in the key of B flat. It has been played by great jazz musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.
The alto saxophone, on the other hand, is tuned to E flat, and is the instrument played by Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond and Lee Konitz.
Somewhat less common are the E flat baritone saxophone, played by Gerry Mulligan, and the B flat soprano saxophone, adopted by Sidney Bechet and later by John Coltrane himself. For Coltrane, switching from the B-flat tenor saxophone to the B-flat soprano saxophone was technically demanding, but did not require a different fingering chart. It is rarer to switch between the alto and tenor saxophones, as they are tuned differently.
The trumpet is also an instrument in B flat. The widespread use of transposing wind instruments in jazz has greatly influenced the choice of keys for the repertoire, especially for instrumental pieces that do not need to adapt to the vocal timbre of each singer.
For example, most blues songs are in the keys of F or B flat. These two keys are convenient for both B flat instruments and E flat instruments. These keys are the most common because they make reading the music easier for transposing instruments.
- Blues in B flat. Perfect for the tenor saxophone, which is tuned to B flat and therefore plays in ‘its’ key of C major. Also excellent for the alto saxophone, which plays in its G major scale (just one accidental).
- Blues in F. Excellent for the tenor saxophone, which plays in its key of G major (just one accidental), and is also comfortable for the alto saxophone, which plays a third lower, and therefore in its key of D major (two accidentals).
- It is therefore no surprise that even rhythm changes, one of the most common forms in jazz, are in the key of B flat.
These conventions within the jazz repertoire have become the norm even for non-transposing instruments. For example, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell also wrote dozens of pieces in the keys of B flat and E flat, knowing that these were convenient keys for their fellow wind players.
Final thoughts: how to deal with transpositing instruments
Music is a vast subject, and music theory involves some particularly tricky topics. Transposing instruments are certainly among them, so don’t be put off if you find it a bit difficult to transpose sheet music. Try to remember this simple rule: for instruments in B flat, you need to transpose the music up a full tone, bringing it back to C. For instruments in E flat, you’ll need to lower the score by a tone and a half.
Also remember the key concept that explains why transposing instruments exist: it’s easier to change the notation than to relearn the fingering.
If you’d like to add anything to this lesson or have any questions, please let me know. I would be delighted if readers of my blog who actually play transposing instruments would like to add something, or point out any omissions on my part. I am, after all, a pianist, and I have tried to approach the subject from my own perspective. Hoping that the malicious joke I mentioned at the start isn’t played out at my expense, and that I don’t end up with a piano tuned to B!