Transpose Music - How to Transpose Music

Transposing Music

Transposing (or transposition) means changing the key of a piece of music. This can apply to a scale, phrase, short melody or an entire song. The ability to transpose music is an essential skill for all musicians to develop. There are two reasons to transpose music into another key:

1. If the song is too high or too low to sing, the song can be changed into a lower or higher key. Changing the key of a song does not change the sound, pattern or timing of the melody but simply changes how high or how low it is sung.

2. If the song is hard to play or contains difficult chords, you can transpose it to a key with easier chords. For example, if a song is written in the key of

   B

   

   (which many songs are) it would contain chords like

   B

   

   ,

   E

   

   and Cm which may be difficult for a beginner. If you transpose music into the key of G major , the chords would then be G , C and Am , which are easier to play on many string instruments.

How to Transpose Music

If the sheet music you want to play is in a major or minor key that doesn't suite your vocal range, or contains difficult chord shapes etc, you can transpose it to another major or minor key. Keys that contain easy shapes for beginners are C major and G major , or if the song is in a minor key, A minor ( Am ) or E minor

( Em ).

The easiest method to transpose music is to write out the notes of the key you are transposing to and from (say C to F ), along with their scale degrees. For example:

Next, write the scale degrees under the melody you want to transpose using the degrees under the first scale. For example:

Then rewrite the melody, but instead of using the same note pitches, use the numbers to find which notes of the second scale to use. If it helps, write the new notes under the scale degrees of the original piece, before putting them on the new staff with the new key signature. You should now have the same melody at a different (in this case higher) pitch.

Try this process yourself. Transpose the above melody from the key of F to the key of G . Then transpose the same melody to every other key. You should also try the same technique with other tunes you know. Eventually, you will be able to transpose music in your head instantly, without the need for notated scale degrees. The more you practice, the easier it gets.