How to Transpose from a piano score to b flat insTruments

If you are playing your instruments with others, either in a smaller group or in a band, it is essential to know what key the others are playing in. From tuning to transposing songs, you will want to create a basic method to help you get into the right key.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Know the original key. The concert pitch, also the original key that the instrument is in, will be the basis for where you need to go. Concert pitch can be found from the score of the piano, as this always holds the foundational pitch.

2. From the concert pitch on the piano, you can transpose by half steps. Any B flat instrument will be two half steps down from the original key. That means that if the original key is in C, you go down two half steps, which is B flat.

3. Now that you know the process for transposing this key, you can go from any original key. For example, if the piano is in the key of E flat, all you have to do is go down two half steps, leaving you at the key of D flat. If you are transposing an entire score, you will do this to every note that you play, allowing you to play everything lower by a step in order to get the same note.

4. Add in the theory. You will want to prepare yourself to prepare the entire song by adding in an understanding of whether the key signature is major or minor. You will be able to tell from the way the that the song sounds what key it is in. If the song starts on a certain note, such as a C, then that will help to determine the original concert key. If there are two flats, even though it is starting on C, then it means the third and sixth in the scale are lowered and you are in a minor key.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are trying to transpose on the spot, find the original note that you will start on, then look at the rest of the notes as intervals from the first note. If you can read each note as moving up or down by a specific amount of spaces to the next note, it will make the change from the piano score to the B flat instrument much easier.
• Work on visualizing the new key on the staff. You can learn to read the music differently, by visualizing that the staff lines are also one two half steps down from the original key, allowing your mind to automatically transpose into the new key.