I participated in a rehearsal last week for a local brass quintet. During the course of the rehearsal, I found myself playing parts written for French horn. This occasioned a few thoughts on transposing in general, and reading horn music in particular.
So what is transposing? Wikipedia defines it as
…the process of moving a collection of notes (pitches) up or down in pitch by a constant interval.
This means that if the note written in the music is a ‘C’, then transposing into B flat the same note would be played as a B flat. This is very common for players such as baritone or trombone players who read trumpet music- the written note is written as C but played as a B flat.
French horn music is commonly written in the key of F, though it is written in standard treble clef. Thus, a middle C in the horn part would be played by a trombonist as an F a fifth below. Since the trombonist is essentially reading the part in F, one must also add a flat to the key signature in order for the notes to sound correctly in relation to the other instruments in the group. When reading, it is useful for the trombonist to read the music as though it were written in mezzo-soprano clef – that is placing the middle C line on the second line from the bottom in the staff.
During the course of the rehearsal, I was abruptly reminded that I have not done much transposing of late other than reading trumpet music, which is written in standard treble clef. Treble clef for trumpet simply involves playing the note a full step lower than written and adding two flats to the key signature (if the piece is written in C, then the player would play it in B flat). Reading treble clef in C (a piano part, for example, the trombonist does not need to change the key signature, and plays the notes as written). Thus, i encountered two major difficulties- first I am no longer particularly apt at transposing on the fly, which led to numerous occasions where I simply lost my place in the chart, and second, my range is no longer extensive enough to accurately hit the high tones necessary to play horn parts.
Overall, I would strongly recommend any aspiring musician to thoroughly learn all the different clefs so that when placed in such a situation he or she is able to read the music without needing frequent stoppages. Secondly, aspiring musicians should become thoroughly familiar with their instruments so that when asked to play in a particularly high or low range, the ability is at least present. While I was once able to do exactly that, my lack of steady practice over the years has definitely hurt my ability to play in the ultra-high register. The moral of this story is practice, practice, practice!
