Transposition

Transposition is when a piece of music is written in a different pitch. This could be a different clef or a different key. Transposition is needed when playing a transposing brass or woodwind instrument or when changing into a higher or lower key for a singer to sing a piece with more ease.

Transposing into a different Key

If we look at the example below, the music has been transposed from C into Eb. Transposing is simple. In this example C to Eb is a minor 3rd or 3 semitones, so we just move each note of the music up 3 semitones. The key signature is also moved up 3 semitones from C to Eb. When transposing always remember any flats, sharps or naturals (accidentals) in the music. The C is raised a semitone to C# in the music, so in the Eb transposition the same notes must be raised a semitone. They are Eb in the key signature so they must become E natural. If we were transposing D major up a 2nd, we would transpose to E major. If we were transposing F major up a 3rd, we would transpose to A major and so on.


Photo credit: Internet Archive Book Images via Foter.com / No known copyright restrictions

Transposing into a different clef

In the example below, the pitch of the note sounds the same, but it is written in a different clef.

Image by Louise MacPherson 18/11/2016


Baxter, Harry and Michael Baxter. The Right Way To Read Music. Tadworth: Right Way, 1993. Print, pp. 116 to 120.

Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, pp. 79 to 82.