Transposition help, please! Options

[RoseC]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

[Very Sane Tom]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

Here is the logic.

When you play C on an Eb sax it sounds as Eb, a minor third higher.
So to sound C on the Eb sax you need to sound an A (C is a minor third higher than A).

Hence you need to transpose the piece to A major

[sbhoa]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

Here is the logic.

When you play C on an Eb sax it sounds as Eb, a minor third higher.
So to sound C on the Eb sax you need to sound an A (C is a minor third higher than A).

Hence you need to transpose the piece to A major

It sounds the Eb a major 6th lower if it's an alto sax and a 13th lower for bari sax so the transposition is up, not down.

[RoseC]

Fab, thank you! I had transposed in A maj, but a friend said it was A flat maj, which confused me. Glad to know I was right!

[katyjay]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

Here is the logic.

When you play C on an Eb sax it sounds as Eb, a minor third higher.
So to sound C on the Eb sax you need to sound an A (C is a minor third higher than A).

Hence you need to transpose the piece to A major

Back to front, I'm afraid, VST.

An alto sax in Eb means that when you play a C from your music, a concert pitch Eb sounds, a sixth lower.

You want the result in this case that the music will sound in concert pitch Eb major. For that to happen, an alto sax needs to play it in C major, transposed up a sixth.

[linda.ff]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

Here is the logic.

When you play C on an Eb sax it sounds as Eb, a minor third higher.
So to sound C on the Eb sax you need to sound an A (C is a minor third higher than A).

Hence you need to transpose the piece to A major

Back to front, I'm afraid, VST.

An alto sax in Eb means that when you play a C from your music, a concert pitch Eb sounds, a sixth lower.

You want the result in this case that the music will sound in concert pitch Eb major. For that to happen, an alto sax needs to play it in C major, transposed up a sixth.

I think the OP did confuse things by talking about " a basson part in c" meaning the bassoon was at concert pitch, which VST took to mean the music was in the key of C, not noticing the sentence later on: "the original bassoon part is in the key of Eb". So actually both of you are right in a way - if the music had been in the key of C, then yes, you do write it in the key of A major. But if it's in the key of Eb, You will have to write it in the key of C. Transpose the music up a major sixth. Or down a minor third and then up an octave if that's easier.

[RoseC]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

Here is the logic.

When you play C on an Eb sax it sounds as Eb, a minor third higher.
So to sound C on the Eb sax you need to sound an A (C is a minor third higher than A).

Hence you need to transpose the piece to A major

Back to front, I'm afraid, VST.

An alto sax in Eb means that when you play a C from your music, a concert pitch Eb sounds, a sixth lower.

You want the result in this case that the music will sound in concert pitch Eb major. For that to happen, an alto sax needs to play it in C major, transposed up a sixth.

I think the OP did confuse things by talking about " a basson part in c" meaning the bassoon was at concert pitch, which VST took to mean the music was in the key of C, not noticing the sentence later on: "the original bassoon part is in the key of Eb". So actually both of you are right in a way - if the music had been in the key of C, then yes, you do write it in the key of A major. But if it's in the key of Eb, You will have to write it in the key of C. Transpose the music up a major sixth. Or down a minor third and then up an octave if that's easier.

Sorry to be confusing - I did, indeed, mean the bassoon part was at concert pitch! I'm used to playing flute, a non-transposing instrument, so all this transposition is a bit more complicated than I'm used to!! Thanks for all the help, I've gone down a minor third and put it in A major.

[katyjay]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

Here is the logic.

When you play C on an Eb sax it sounds as Eb, a minor third higher.
So to sound C on the Eb sax you need to sound an A (C is a minor third higher than A).

Hence you need to transpose the piece to A major

Back to front, I'm afraid, VST.

An alto sax in Eb means that when you play a C from your music, a concert pitch Eb sounds, a sixth lower.

You want the result in this case that the music will sound in concert pitch Eb major. For that to happen, an alto sax needs to play it in C major, transposed up a sixth.

I think the OP did confuse things by talking about " a basson part in c" meaning the bassoon was at concert pitch, which VST took to mean the music was in the key of C, not noticing the sentence later on: "the original bassoon part is in the key of Eb". So actually both of you are right in a way - if the music had been in the key of C, then yes, you do write it in the key of A major. But if it's in the key of Eb, You will have to write it in the key of C. Transpose the music up a major sixth. Or down a minor third and then up an octave if that's easier.

Sorry to be confusing - I did, indeed, mean the bassoon part was at concert pitch! I'm used to playing flute, a non-transposing instrument, so all this transposition is a bit more complicated than I'm used to!! Thanks for all the help, I've gone down a minor third and put it in A major.

In which case, when the saxophone in Eb reads A major, what they will play will sound in C major concert pitch.

But if what you want is for the saxophone to sound in Eb major, the same sound as the bassoon already sounded, you will need to write the saxophone part in C major.

[linda.ff]

Hi everyone,

I've been set the task of transposing a fairly long piece of music from a bassoon part (in C) to a saxophone part (in E flat). The original bassoon part is in the key of E flat major, and so my question is, what key do I need to write the sax part in? I know this is a really elementary question, but I'm having One Of Those Days!

Thanks all.

Here is the logic.

When you play C on an Eb sax it sounds as Eb, a minor third higher.
So to sound C on the Eb sax you need to sound an A (C is a minor third higher than A).

Hence you need to transpose the piece to A major

Back to front, I'm afraid, VST.

An alto sax in Eb means that when you play a C from your music, a concert pitch Eb sounds, a sixth lower.

You want the result in this case that the music will sound in concert pitch Eb major. For that to happen, an alto sax needs to play it in C major, transposed up a sixth.

I think the OP did confuse things by talking about " a basson part in c" meaning the bassoon was at concert pitch, which VST took to mean the music was in the key of C, not noticing the sentence later on: "the original bassoon part is in the key of Eb". So actually both of you are right in a way - if the music had been in the key of C, then yes, you do write it in the key of A major. But if it's in the key of Eb, You will have to write it in the key of C. Transpose the music up a major sixth. Or down a minor third and then up an octave if that's easier.

Sorry to be confusing - I did, indeed, mean the bassoon part was at concert pitch! I'm used to playing flute, a non-transposing instrument, so all this transposition is a bit more complicated than I'm used to!! Thanks for all the help, I've gone down a minor third and put it in A major.

Is the bassoon part in C major for the bassoon, or Eb major for trhe bassoon?
If the music is in C, you transpose into A major.
If, as I thought you said, the music is in Eb, then you don't transpose into A major, you transpose down a minor third (and maybe then up an octave depending on which size of sax it is) and write it in the key of C major!

Maybe you mean you are now writing your C's as A's, but that's not the same thing. What key-signature does the bassoon part have, and what key-signature have you used for the transposed part?

[Very Sane Tom]

Back to front, I'm afraid, VST.

An alto sax in Eb means that when you play a C from your music, a concert pitch Eb sounds, a sixth lower.

You want the result in this case that the music will sound in concert pitch Eb major. For that to happen, an alto sax needs to play it in C major, transposed up a sixth.

I think the OP did confuse things by talking about " a basson part in c" meaning the bassoon was at concert pitch, which VST took to mean the music was in the key of C, not noticing the sentence later on: "the original bassoon part is in the key of Eb". So actually both of you are right in a way - if the music had been in the key of C, then yes, you do write it in the key of A major. But if it's in the key of Eb, You will have to write it in the key of C. Transpose the music up a major sixth. Or down a minor third and then up an octave if that's easier.

Yes - I took "Bassoon part in C" to mean the music was written in C, and did not notice the next sentence. Careless. Sorry for adding to the confusion rather than dispelling it.

As for whether it is up a minor 3rd or down a major 6th (or even a thirteenth) depends on which of the Eb saxaphones the OP had in mind. The alto sax sounds the Eb below when a notated C is played, the soprano sax sounds the Eb above when a notated C is played (and the baritrone sax sounds the note a major 13th lower).

[katyjay]

<snip> the soprano sax sounds the Eb above when a notated C is played <snip>

No it doesn't - it's a Bb instrument, so it sounds the Bb below the C.

Now if you'd said sopranino sax, you'd have been right.

[andante_in_c]

Easiest way to remember: alto sax part = 3 keys sharper than concert pitch. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Very Sane Tom]

<snip> the soprano sax sounds the Eb above when a notated C is played <snip>

No it doesn't - it's a Bb instrument, so it sounds the Bb below the C.

Now if you'd said sopranino sax, you'd have been right.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) Waaaaaaah !!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

I'll restrict my comments to instruments I have actually played from now on: piano and a handful of others(... and also read the OP more carefully).

[RoseRodent]

This is neither entirely on nor off topic, the question has been answered in there, though it mightn't be the easiest to spot the right answer! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

But the quoting, OMG the quoting! Netiquette is that if you are responding to a specific sentence or item in a prior part of the thread you quote that bit in your response so people know you are referring directly back to that part. Like this one:

<snip> the soprano sax sounds the Eb above when a notated C is played <snip>

No it doesn't - it's a Bb instrument, so it sounds the Bb below the C.

Now if you'd said sopranino sax, you'd have been right.

If you are responding to a whole post or to the thread in general, please don't quote text! You can do that either by clicking the word "quote" and it changes to red and will not quote the previous thread in your reply box, then click reply. Or you can use the "Add Reply" button at the bottom of the page instead of the one in the thread, or simply select and delete the excess text.

If you want a quote and you only need a bit of it, you can delete anything you want to remove (though it's usual to indicate in some way that you have modified the words of the person you quoted, particularly if you interfere within a sentence) provided you don't get rid of anything which has square brackets around it.

Is this just pendantic? Not really, because I read through the reposted quotes each time to see what the next person is referring back to, which tends to turn out to be absolutely everything!

You can also copy in some text, select it and use the little speech bubble above the reply box (assuming you have the rich editor, some browsers don't support it) and it will put quotes around your text.

Just like this

Thanks folks.

And FWIW I agree with

If [...]the music is in Eb, then you don't transpose into A major, you transpose down a minor third (and maybe then up an octave depending on which size of sax it is) and write it in the key of C major!

[BitterSweet]

I really, really wish there was a way I could remember how to do transposition, but no matter how one explains it in words, I still struggle to remember which way to go for what.

Anyone know of any good diagramatic explanations, for example?