Things You'll Need:
- Staff paper
- Pencil
- Music
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Step 1
Know the notes that you are on. The best place to start is with the music that you already have. Whether this music is written out or it's been learned by ear, having the correct notes will help you to find new ones as well. Figure out what your key signature is so that you can find the sharps and flats in the song.
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Step 2
Find out the interval spaces from note to note. This means that if your note for the melody is on one note, then moves up or down, you will count how many half steps it is to the next note. This is your interval spacing. You will want to do this all the way through the melody, and for the chord movements and harmonies as well.
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Step 3
Get into your new key. Now that you have an idea of how everything is spaced, you can transpose into your new key. This means that your foundation note will change. For instance, if your key signature was in C, your foundation notes and center was also in C. If you are transposing this to E, the center will start on E. In this instance, your interval change is up by a third. You should always count intervals, from your last key signature--to this one--as every note will keep this new interval shift.
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Step 4
Re-space the intervals. You can now take the new key and move everything up or down according to the intervals you wrote out. For instance, if you start on E, you can now write out the intervals you counted up or down from this note. You will use E as the foundation note, with everything moving in the same intervals around it. For example, in your old song, you may have had a C to a D. In the new song, this will be an E to an F#. It keeps the same interval spacing, but it will be up higher than the last key.
