I'm accompanying a G6 trumpet candidate this term and his trumpet teacher and I have interpreted the syllabus for the transposition at sight differently. I sent an email via the web site to the ABRSM syllabus address in the middle of last week but haven't had a response yet so I thought I would air the question here.

The trumpet teacher thinks that the transposition test will be written in C major and have to be transposed into D. I think it could be written in any of the keys of the Grade 4 or earlier grade scales, as would be the case for normal G4 sight-reading, and would then need to be transposed up a tone into the appropriate key. I didn't think the paragraph in the G6 syllabus was very clear when I first read it, so I'm not surprised to find a difference of opinion.

I'll let you know if I get a definitive answer, but meanwhile perhaps someone here has more information.

I'm taking Gr6 Trumpet next week and I have interpreted it the same way as you. The syllabus does state 'transposition...of approximately grade 4 standard as for Trumpet in C'. So, anything in the keys encountered for music up to grade 4 and played up a tone. It doesn't say that the music will be the key of C. I had a blank moment last week though, trying to remember which way to go!
Hope this helps

You are correct Da Capo. If the student has been using the AB sight reading books for Grades 6-8 to prepare with then it is slightly clearer as there are examples for G6 sight reading and then a separate few exercises for transpostion which are easier (up to G4) and are in a variety of keys. Hope this helps

Many thanks for the quick replies clarifying what's expected. Knowing about the AB book is particularly helpful as it's easy to refer the trumpet teacher to it if he doesn't believe me!

why do trumpet players need to transpose?

I think it's an orchestra thing.
I have a flugel and a trumpet but I'm taking gr6 on trumpet 'cos I fancied the challenge of transposing . I think if I do a higher grade though, the flugel may be dusted off! No transposing

Because before they got valves, composers wrote parts using only the notes of the harmonic series for a trumpet pitched either in the key of the piece or in a closely related one that would still give useful pitches. D, Eb and F were popular. By the time valves were invented, the tradition was well established, and many composers continued to write such parts throughout the 19th C. and later: Ravel is still asking for trumpets in C in his "Valses nobles et sentimentales" of 1912, and Janacek's "Sinfonietta" of 1927 requires 9 trumpets in C, 3 trumpets in F and 2 bass trumpets in Bb.

Professional trumpeters usually own several instruments in different keys, but will transpose if the part requires one they lack.