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CJceltics33
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Joined: 24 Aug 2017
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 Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 7:15 am Post subject: Transposition |
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| How is transposition actually used by trumpets in the orchestra? How fluent do they really need to be? What transpositions occur? |
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Dayton
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| Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 9:12 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | How is transposition actually used by trumpets in the orchestra? |
In the United States, most orchestral trumpet players use a C trumpet for the majority of their playing, myself included. Most of the parts I played were written in a key other than C, so they had to be transposed in order to play them. Or I might use an Eb or Bb and have to transpose for that.
| Quote: | | How fluent do they really need to be? |
I had to be able to sight transpose from whatever key the music was written in to whatever key my horn was in (mainly C, but also Eb or Bb). Depending on the ensemble, you might receive parts in advance of a rehearsal which would allow you to work on a tricky transposition, but you cannot ever count on that.
I recall a performance where a soprano had last-minute jitters about an aria and insisted on a switch to one she was more comfortable with. We received the parts just minutes before the performance, which mean sight reading a part in F.
Edit: I'll add that to build that fluency, I started working on Brandt's Last Etudes and Bordogni moving transpositions in high school, then Sachse, Caffarelli and excerpts in college. By that point I was quite fluent.
| Quote: | | What transpositions occur? |
It depends on what period of music you are working with, and whether you are playing pops or classical rep but you'll commonly see parts written in Eb, E, D and F, as well as C, Bb and A.
Last edited by Dayton on Fri May 15, 2020 10:37 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Jay Lichtmann
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kehaulani
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JGulyas
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 4:53 am Post subject: Re: Transposition |
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| CJceltics33 wrote: | | How fluent do they really need to be? |
For me, as an orchestral player, transposition is as essential as knowing how to play a C scale. Fluency only comes with practice and that practice, for me at least, was found in Sachse 100 studies of hell, Bordogni, and Getchell Book #2.
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US Navy Bandsman 1996-2010 (Trumpet; Audio Engineer)
Mpc - Kanstul/Monette B6, Hammond Design custom "JG"
Bb - Yamaha 6335HGSII
C - Eastman ETR530
Picc - NoName Chinese |
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mhenrikse
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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You see trumpet in: A,Bb,C,D.Eb, E, F
On a Bb trumpet practice transpositions to G, Ab (both down), and C, Db, D, Eb ( all 4 up)
Rationale: D part on A picc ( Eb)
A cornet part on C trp (G down)
D part on C trp (C)
E part on C trp (D)
F part on C trp (Eb)
Eb part on C trp (Db)
Bb part on C trp (Ab)
If you use these smaller horns the transpositions are redundant:
E part on D trp (C)
F part on D trp (Db)
F part on Eb trp (C)
If you use a G or an F trumpet then you will have 1 or two more. |
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Crazy Finn
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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My favorite is transposing E trumpet on my Bb Trumpet. That makes my head hurt.
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CJceltics33
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| Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 5:32 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks so much! I have a lot to work on..lol. |
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Jerry
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| Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 11:50 am Post subject: |
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Long Story:
Several years ago, I was taking lessons semi-regularly from one of the members of the San Diego Symphony.
One lesson, he puts a Trumpet in Bb part in front of me and tells me to play it on my C. I said, why would I do that if I have a perfectly good Bb trumpet?
He tells me that there is orchestral repertoire for Trumpet in Bb that lays so much better on C. He strongly encouraged me to learn Bb transposition on C trumpet, so I worked at it so I could do it reasonably well.
I can't tell you how many times that I've found myself reaching for the C when playing certain Bb trumpet parts. Just yesterday, the conductor of the local community college orchestra sent me a part in Bb to record for our final semester project (no formal concert this semester), where he will put together a video of the orchestra playing their parts at home. After using my Bb trumpet to go over the part several times, I grabbed my C trumpet on a whim and found the part much easier to play.
It turns out my teacher knew what he was talking about! |
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