[TPIN] Transposing help wanted

[Steve Evans]

----- Original Message ----
From: Keith Reynolds trumpet1 at nycap.rr.com


1.  Learn the bass clef - it makes much of the transposing easier and 
some of it leaves the realm of transposing and just becomes reading 
music.  

Hi Keith and TPIN...

I've heard lots of people make the above claim and I just don't understand it. I DO understand the theory. It's the mechanics I don't get. Unless you're playing whole notes or half notes, who has time to think of pitch names. When I see a second space note in treble clef in a Bb part on a Bb horn, I think 1-2. I don't think A which is 1-2. So if I'm playing an Eb part on a C trumpet (up a minor 3rd) and I read the part as though it were in bass cleff, I'm still going to want to press 1-2 for that 2nd space note when in fact it's a C in concert pitch and in the bass clef.

I am not trying to be argumentative. I *am* trying to learn transposition on a practical level. I know all about the theory. I taught theory. I know how to get the transposition interval (it's the interval from the key of the horn in your hand to the key of the intrument's part you're reading)

So practically, here's what I've learned so far:

1. Reading concert C parts... use a C trumpet. (simple)   Or... on a Bb horn it is still pretty simple. Change the key up a whole step (G - 1 sharp would become A - 3 sharps or Ab - 4 flats would become Bb - 2 flats) then just read the note a whole step above what is written. With practice, you can pretty easily "see" where the pitch would be if it were a whole step higher.

2. Reading concert D parts... use a C trumpet and follow # 1 above for reading C parts on a Bb horn.

3. Reading concert A parts... use a Bb trumpet and change the key down a half step (A - 3 sharps becomes Ab - 4 flats) Read the notes as written only in the new key a half step lower. The only difficult part is when the written key is a flat key. Then you have to either deal with double flats or just change the key enharmonically and read the part down to the next line or space (Bb in the written key of say 4 flats read down to the space below which becomes A natural in the transposed key of G - 1 sharp)

That's it for the easy stuff. The rest... like Eb and E and F...  I have come to the conclusion that I just have to learn *new* fingerings. It's too difficult to *imagine* the note is a 4th or 5th higher or lower. And written E on a Bb horn? Forget it!

There's more but I won't bore you with my learning process. I am open to any new ideas that might help me sight-transpose better. I get very frustrated when I have to put in the little dots on a part in F just to get through it. Maybe I do need to learn to think pitch names and then the corresponding fingering. Or maybe I need to learn one new set of fingerings that I can use on Eb and F parts with a Bb and C horn. Whatever it is, I know it requires practice. That goes without saying. I just don't want to waste time practicing the wrong approach. Am I on the right track?

Thanks,

...Steve