I’m posting this at the flute forum because folks are way more serious here. I do a lot of sight tranposing and my system works fine til accidentals show up. Does anyone have any tricks to sight transposing to make accidentals easier?
Here’s a sample of my system when transposing from the Key of F to D and Bb to G. Both of those involve going down 3 notes. I disregard any sharps or flats in the key signature and shift the notes on the scale down one line or one space. Then I add back in the necessary sharps. Where my system doesn’t work is when, in the orignal sheet music, there is an accidental Ab. That’s when I get all confused and have to handwrite in the actual note to be played. After some thought, I can figure out that an Ab is an F but since there isn’t an F on an irish flute, I then have to think of the note an an E#. When all this fails, I play the guitar.
??? … surely the only reliable way to transpose is by ear. Have the tune in your head like and just move it around so it fits. Try starting on a few different notes until it comes together. If it’s hard work or out of range, then obviously the key doesn’t suit the flute you have in your hand. Simple!!
Contrary to Flutered’s response, this is sometimes a useful thing to do. For example when trying to play along with someone singing while playing a guitar with a capo. For pieces that we know of by heart already - great if you can transpose by ear. And for pieces thatv I know in my bones then all I really need is the starting note and key signature.
However, sometimes some of us are working from sheet music and I have frequently needed to transpose from e.g. Sheet music in F played fingered as if in D, but using an F flute… i.e. playing it in F on an F Flute but having gone from the shhet music in F to the Fingerings as if playing it in D on a D Whistle. Although I am not expressing myself very clearly here you all know what I mean…
Best if we have simply learnt to play the right flute in its’ own key, sight reading from the music in that key. I however tend to transpose everything into two or three sharps finered on a D-flute and then play it on whatever key of instrument I happen to need.
A different situation is the transposition between 1, 2 and three sharps (G,D,A Majors and associated scales…) which I have just done so much that I can read sheet music in any one and play in any of the other three without really thinking about it too much. F and C have also been played a lot. For example. G to A is simply a matter if playing everything a note higher than written. Accidentals still need thinking about in advance, but that is true when sight reading some classical music even without transposition being involved.
I agree … but then it’s not really sight transposing, is it?
The most generalized technique is to read the intervals instead of the absolute note positions. Figure out where the root and 5th of your transposed key are on the staff to serve as reference points, then read the intervals in between.
If you can read and play F instrument fingering (as on an alto recorder) then fingering a C instrument as if you’re playing an F instrument gives you a transposition of +5/-4.
There are also some “fun with clefs” tricks you can use.
o Reading treble clef as if it were bass clef gives a transposition of +3.
o Reading treble clef as alto clef gives a transposition of +2. But it may be easier to just read up a note.
o Reading treble clef as tenor clef gives a transposition of -2. Again, it may be easier to just read down a note.
You can also combine the imaginary clefs with F fingering:
o Bass clef + F fingering gives -2.
o Alto clef + F fingering gives -3.
o Tenor clef + F fingering gives +4.
Of course, in each case you need to figure out what transposed key you’re in, and adjust your mental key signature accordingly, ignoring the written accidentals.
I’ll admit that all this is much easier said than done. I’m not as adept at it nowadays as I once was when I was playing Renaissance stuff with movable clefs. But I’ve used all this tricks at one time or other.
Thanks folks. I hope more folks add their two cents too. I’ve used a few of your suggestions at times too. It takes me quite a bit of mental effort to keep saying, “I know this is a C whistle but for this song, I’m pretending it’s a D whistle.” while I’m also saying, “I know this song is written in Bb but I’m transposing to G.”
I’ve also just had to walk away from the sheet music because the leap was too big for me to sight transpose and play what I knew felt right. I wish my brain and fingers were more skilled at feeling accidentals.
I was hoping that MTGuru would comment, he knows a lot. I’ve done the interval thing too. One of my friends plays the clarinet that way. We always have to tell her what the starting note of a song is, even if the song is written in the key we were playing it in. I laughed when I finally understood how she looked at music. I knew about the bass and treble clefs but had no clue there were alto, tenor, & moveable clefs. I never studied theory to any depth.
