Transposing Music to E Flat: A Beginner's Guide

I've been playing the Alto Saxophone since the fourth grade, but I never really took it too seriously until the past year or so. I was an OK player throughout elementary, middle and high school, but I never reached the level many of my friends did. With my high school career quickly winding down, I realized something had to change if I wanted to improve my skills and continue playing outside the school system. Shortly before my senior year, I joined a musical ensemble at my church that plays very contemporary-style music for our Saturday evening Mass. I've had the opportunity to learn quite a few things from people who know quite a bit more then I do, both on the vocal and instrumental side of things, some of which I'm about to share with you.

Walking in the first day, I knew nothing about transposing music, nor did I know that I even needed to. I just assumed I'd be able to play any song I wanted straight out of the book. Well, I was partially correct. With the alto saxophone being an E♭ (E Flat) instrument (not exactly a common key in the music world), I can indeed play any piece of music I want without transposing it...as long as I'm playing with another saxophone or flying solo. If the music is written for any instrument other then sax, and if I play with a group of non-E♭ instruments, then the music must be transposed or else the notes I play will be wrong. To clarify, the notes I will be playing will be correct for an alto saxophone, but at the same time, the notes will not be the same ones being played by everyone else. In the music world, all notes on a page pretty much look the same, but it's the key a song is written in and the instrument used to play it that really counts. It really becomes a game of matching the pitch I play with the pitch someone else plays.

Key of E♭

What exactly does it mean to transpose music? Well, not all music is written in the same key. To put it another way, not all musical instruments can play exactly the same pitches or have the same ranges. For instance, a low G for me won't be the same for someone playing, say, trumpet, even though a G on any piece of music still looks like a G. That's because trumpet is a B♭ instrument (a fairly common key) and sax is in E♭. Hence, some form of conversion is needed to make sure everyone is playing exactly the same pitches no matter their instrument.

If you've ever played scales in concert band, then you've transposed, by virtue of taking the notes up or down the staff to match the tones everyone else is playing. Now take that concept and apply it on a larger scale. In order for me to play any piece of music that's not specifically written for alto sax, I must take the written notes up the staff five steps or down three steps, taking into account any sharps or flats along the way. For example, a written middle B would become a high G or a low G in E♭. I typically transpose up the scale, but in some cases, going down is the better option (for instance, in times when going five steps up would make the transposed notes too high to play). Finally, throughout this process, the song's written key signature will remain the same as before. These simple rules are the literal key to converting a song from a non-sax-friendly part to a sax-friendly part. Also bear in mind that these same steps can be used to transpose music for any instrument, assuming you know how many steps up or down the scale to take. It really is as simple as that.

An example of transposed music. The top line is in the key of D, while the bottom has been transposed to B♭ (two steps down, or a major third). The rhythm remains exactly the same; the notes played will simply be a bit lower.

Although this process is fairly simple, it does take practice. If you're good, and I mean really good, you'll develop the ability to sight transpose; in other words, you'll be able to read music in one key while playing it in another. I'll tell you right now, I'm not one of those people, so please don't ask. I would definitely recommend transposing some music and testing it out before jumping into any live performances. Trust me; I made plenty of mistakes early on, and I still do occasionally. I'm by no means an expert in Music Theory, nor do I pretend to be one. There are still plenty of things I've yet to master or understand, but take it from me, if you understand the basics of transposing, you'll be well on your way to becoming a skilled musician who can play any song put in front of you.

One more bit of advice: when I write out music, I use a piece of music composition software called MuseScore, which allows me to not only check to make sure all my sharps and flats are correct, but it also creates a professional-looking score that can be saved as a PDF. Despite it's idiosyncrasies, it's a great way to go if you'd rather not have hand-written notes scribbled all over your music. Highly recommended!

This has been my first music tutorial, and I hope you've found it helpful. Since this is my first official post, please do comment, and musicians: do let me know if I made any mistakes in the text above. Hopefully I didn't, but the last thing I want is to give bad information. In fact, the very reason I wrote this was because when I first started, I had trouble finding any information on this subject.

Thanks for reading, and keep checking back here in the future for other hints and tips! Next up, I'm switching gears to an article on the Star Trek: The Next Generation remastering project. You won't want to miss it!