2. Concert Key and Transposition!!!!!!!!!!!! A Public Service Announcement brought to you by Daniel P. Sanchez

3. What is it? Concert Pitch – The note that sounds out loud when an instrument is played Concert Key – The key signature that sounds as an ensemble plays together Transposition – Taking a pitch (or a set of pitches) and changing it (them) by an interval

4. WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Wouldn’t it just be easier for each instrument to read in concert key?? Then we wouldn’t have to transpose!! NO!!!! (I’ll explain this in a minute) Musicians must be a crazy, sadistic bunch if they submit themselves to transposition on a regular basis… True Enough, but that doesn’t explain the practical functions of transposing Who came up with this dumb idea anyway? No one did! It just sort of evolved along with the music as things became more challenging and technically demanding

5. Why indeeed...... I have come up with 3 reasons 1.Historical/Traditional Concerns 1.Range of the Instruments 1.A modern combination of 1 and 2

6. Tradition/Historical Concerns Music and Musicians are deeply rooted in a long standing tradition (e.g. Italian instructions, arbitrary time signatures, etc…) Instruments used to be keyed differently to make technical facility easier Brass – Crooks Woodwinds – entire different instruments (A clarinet, Db piccolo are remnants of this practice) Piston and rotary valves invented, new key systems invented

7. Natural Horn/Trumpet

8. Early Woodwinds

9. Range Range: The concert key of some instruments don’t lie well within the context of “normal” clefs Instruments are transposed to where the bulk of their range lies within, or at least near, the staff It cuts down on ledger lines

10. Range (Piccolo) Written PitchConcert/Sounding Pitch

11. Range (Double Bass) Written PitchConcert/Sounding Pitch

12. Reason #3 More modern instruments were developed that required transposition (i.e. Saxophone) Following the tradition of other transposing instruments, Saxophones are written in one part of the staff, but sound in another part of the staff.

13. Alto Sax Written PitchConcert/Sounding Pitch

14. BUT WAIT!!! There’s more… Families of instruments like saxophones (also flutes and clarinets) can read the same music and same fingerings. The transposition takes care of making the instrument sound in the correct register e.g. – Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bari Sax all ready the same range of notes and use the same fingerings on the different instruments – the size of the instrument and the transposition give it the SATB, choir-like, sound.

15. So… How Does One Find Their Concert Key An Excellent Question. There are several ways to do this: 1.Find the transposition of your instrument and use it! 2.Use the Circle of 4ths 3.Use the handy-dandy chart Mr. Martini made available to everyone in the band!!!!!!

16. Instrument Transpositions InstrumentWrittenTranspositionSounding C FluteCPerfect Unison (P1)C Bb ClarinetCDown Major Second (M2)Bb F HornCDown Perfect Fifth (P5)F Eb Alto SaxCDown Major Sixth (M6)Eb

17. Circle of 4ths When Moving from “Written” to “Concert” Pitch C Instruments Don’t Move Bb Instruments Move two “hours” clockwise F Instruments Move one “hour” clockwise Eb Instruments Move three “hours” clockwise

18. Circle of 4ths When moving from “Written” to “Concert” Pitch Move clockwise on the circle When moving from “Concert” to “Written” Pitch Move counter-clockwise on the circle

20. Concerning Key Signatures The sharps and flats in key signature always occur in the same order… ALWAYS! SharpsFlats FCGDAEB  BEADGCF

21. Sharps - FCGDAEB 1.Five 2.Cats 3.Got 4.Drowned 5.At 6.Erie 7.Beach

22. Flats - BEADGCF The opposite order of the sharps

23. Identifying Key Signature Use the Circle of Fourths Each “hour” moving clockwise from C adds one flat Each “hour” moving counter-cw from C adds one sharp

24. Identifying Key Signatures Flats: The PENULTIMATE flat in a key signature is the name of that key signature Sharps: The LAST sharp in a key signature is a half step below the name of the key signature (i.e. the last sharp in the key signature is the leading tone, or “ti”)

25. For Example Find the PENULTIMATE flat

26. Another Example Remember, the LAST sharp tells you the leading tone

27. Practice Find the Key Signature

28. More Practice Find the Key signature

29. Concert Pitch Practice Given the Written Pitch, name the sounding (Concert) pitch for your instrument C

30. Concert Pitch Practice Given the Written Pitch, name the sounding (Concert) pitch for your instrument Bb

31. Concert Pitch Practice Given the Written Pitch, name the sounding (Concert) pitch for your instrument D

32. Final Thoughts This topic can be extremely tricky, and sometimes trips up professional musicians If you are confused about any of these things, see Mr. Sanchez or Mr. Martini in the next few days There will be a quiz on identifying key signatures and finding concert pitch 4/29 & 4/30 (whichever is your ensemble day) Be Prepared and ASK QUESTIONS if you need help