Removing Posers for Transposers
William H. Fox · Music Educators Journal · 1937
NOT THE least of the problems of music theory which challenge the patience and ability of the music student and supervisor, and one which is so often misunderstood, is the inevitable question of how to transpose music. After studying the treatment of this question in almost any treatise on instrumentation, one usually finds oneself still surrounded by some vagueness and mystery. Yet, after acquiring knowledge of certain facts and principles, even the novice should be able to transpose readily for any instrument at sight. Two kinds of transposition knowledge are necessary and desirable. First, there is occasion to transpose various harmonic and melodic parts in arranging compositions for different ensembles. Second, of probably greater import, is the necessity of being able to reduce previously transposed parts to their true harmonic pitch, rapidly and accurately. This latter knowledge is almost indispensable to the conductor of public school organizations, who is all too often faced with the task of figuring out the actual sound of instrumental parts, in order to see their relationship in a condensed score written in the concert key.