Transposing
You will notice that when there are two versions of songs in this book they are often in different keys. This is because everyone’s voice range is different and while one key is perfect for one singer, the same key will be uncomfortable (too high or too low) for another.
Often when you learn a new song, you will find that it in contains notes that are either too high or too low for your voice. The solution is to experiment with singing the melody either lower or higher until you find a comfortable range for your voice. When you do this, you are actually changing the key of the melody. This is called transposing. The ability to transpose is an important skill for a singer to develop.
When you get together with another musician, you may find that you both know the same song but you have to determine the key which is most comfortable for you to sing in.
If you know how to transpose and can say "I sing this one in D" (or G, or B flat, or any other key) you can save a lot of time which might otherwise be wasted stumbling around ignorantly until you find a key and even then don’t know what "key" means, which means you have to go through the same process again next time.
The easiest way to transpose written music is to write the scale degrees (do = 1, re = 2, mi = 3, etc) under the original melody and then work out which notes correspond to those scale degrees in the key you want to transpose to.
To transpose by ear, you will need to relate your pitches to an instrument to know what key you are transposing to. The following examples demonstrate the first part of the melody of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" transposed from the key of G to the keys of D and F. Try this technique with some of the other songs in the book, or any other songs you know.
