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Bob on transposing instruments
ok got it. thought that sounded right. However, most band instruments are transposing instruments that music is transposed from concert pitch to the pitch of the instrument. For instance (by the way) when you are learning the fingerings for this tin whistle (which is really a "C-instrument"), you are really learning the 'standard' instrument fingering - that is to say, that for a standard 'wind' instrument, left hand 3-closed pads/holes is a 'G' fingering and both hands 6-closed pads/holes is a 'D'. These fingerings are basically the same for a flute, clarinet, sax, oboe, etc. But the actual frequency of a given fingered note varies with each of these instruments and that is according to what is called the "key of the instrument". For example, the tin whistle is really a C-instrument which means that fingering a C will result in a note of the same frequency as concert-C, which is the same as a C on a standard guitar, cello, or any other C instrument, and matches the C-note on a piano. An "A" on that instrument will be 440 Hz. Since you are learning the standard fingerings, you can play a C-flute with these same fingerings, no problem. I used to have a C-melody sax which I just threw away. These used to be very popular because they used standard fingerings and give concert-C pitches. No transpositions necessary. Play guitar or piano music directly. Trouble is, they were cheap and sound like crap and fall apart. Instead, a natural key for the tenor-sax is Bb. That means that since the horn itself is two half steps lower than concert pitch (or 10 half steps higher), you have to finger 2 half steps higher to get the same pitch as a concert instrument. That means that to play what sounds like a C on a piano, you have to finger a D on the tenor.... It is a bit tricky to explain quickly, but because tenor is flatted two times (2 half steps lower) the song would be transposed down 2 half steps to Bb (on the cycle of fifths) (two flats, Eb and Bb) to get the correct fingerings to match the key of the song. So if you call blues in "G" with one sharp then I know that I will play (finger) in "F" with only one flat (Bb). The other sax I play is alto which is in Eb which means I always think of as either 3 half steps lower or more frequently as 10 half-steps higher than concert-C.
Last saved: 01/05/2010
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