Transposition

[gg21wvtrumpet]

Would someone be able to rank the most commonly transposed keys in an orchestral setting? I’m only wondering about transposing from C trumpet.

Thank you!

[Tpt_Guy]

Most commonly transposed keys? As in key signatures?

Or do you mean instrument transposition, such as "Trumpet in A", "Trumpet in D", etc.?

Choice of instrument doesn't really matter, to be honest.

Here's a thread covering the subject of transposing parts:

https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1409242

I recommend clef transposition, personally. For example, if you can read bass clef, you can transpose any parts that are pitched a minor or major third up from whatever instrument is in your hands by reading in bass clef and adjusting the key signature as necessary. Other clefs enable other transpositions to occur. The Bordogni 24 Vocalises has a table of which clefs to use for which transpositions.
_________________
-Tom Hall-

"A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence."
-Bruce Lee

[gg21wvtrumpet]

Instrument transposition. Like a ranking of the most common ones to transpose to from C trumpet. Like C to F or C to Bb

[Craig Swartz]

It's a crap shoot depending upon what country the music was composed in... I'd certainly want to be able to read Bb on C trumpet nearly without flaw as a place to start, however.

Along with transposing by clef, I also encourage learning fingerings for other brass instruments, particularly Euphonium and Tuba. This takes care of the same things Tom refers to above. So, I just use bass clef fingerings for Bb pic/Bb reg trumpet to Eb part, A pic to D part, C trumpet to F part, on and on.

There are nearly too many shortcuts to list if one both reads the part to be played as bass clef or knows the note names in bass clef. Funny, after over 40 years playing in orchestras, I still have the most problems just reading up a step (C tpt to D part, or Bb to C). It's also much more easy for me to play A cornet/tpt on C trumpet than to just flat every tone on a Bb.

To each his/her/its own- once you gt doing it on a regular basis it's about like learning any skill. My advice is to dig in and go slowly enough that you can make over 90% correct transposition at first reading, even if you're playing in a funeral dirge tempo. Right the first time makes a big difference in the learning process. Good luck

[Tpt_Guy]

I've mostly seen parts for Trumpet in A, C, D, Eb, and F. Occasionally I'll see E (William Tell Overture and Dvořak 9 are examples) and Bb.

You can practice the same transpositions on any instrument.

Practice reading these intervals:

Down a minor third
Down a major second
Down a half step
Up a major second
Up a minor third
Up a major third
Up a perfect fourth

This can all be practiced on any instrument -- Bb, C, or if you're feeling adventurous you can try them on higher horns, and doing so is useful on picc for reading parts in D.

Don't forget to adjust the key signatures.

I do recommend clef transposition. I know players who use the Rochut etudes for reading bass and helping transposition (up a minor or major third). Reginald Finke wrote a couple of books for trombone, Introducing the Alto Clef and Introducing the Tenor Clef, consisting simple etudes and tunes. These are good melodic studies for learning to read those clefs.

If you DM me, I can send you a set of etudes for learning to read Soprano Clef for transposing Trumpet in A while playing a C trumpet. (These also enable one to transpose C trumpet parts on an Eb.)
_________________
-Tom Hall-

"A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence."
-Bruce Lee

[Dayton]

As a general matter, you'll see Eb, F, D and E, Bb, and A.

[Jeff_Purtle]

Work through the Bordogni 24 Vocalises by Leduc and you will be ready for almost anything. It uses all the various transpositions and get you used to quickly changing between them all while doing a nice melodic etude that's musically rewarding.

The teacher I studied with for 6 years before Claude Gordon was a great player named Charles Brady and in 10th grade I saved my paper route money to buy a Bach C 229/25H and only played C trumpet to be like Mr. Brady and he had me do various transpositions with the 150 Melodies from the Arban book. I also used to play directly from the hymnal or organ score while in church.

I didn't really do any transposition for 2 years when I switched to study with Claude Gordon in 11th grade. However, my first lesson at college the teacher there pulled-out Bordogni and I had never seen it before but I could do all the transpositions. Some of the reason for that was that Claude had everyone play in all keys everyday and that I believe allowed everything to work even better than before.

I can read clefs and do it with trombone students and when reading a score. But, on trumpet transposing by interval and keys is how my mind works best. If you have a C or other keyed trumpets you can practice Bordogni on that with different transpositions. When I first started teaching privately in college I taught French horn and trombone and played everything on trumpet and later realized how it had helped other things. The more you do it the more automatic it gets and it doesn't really matter what is more common because you can quickly figure it out.

Jeff
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Jeff Purtle
Trumpet Lessons Online since 2004, teaching since 1983
MultiTouch book on Claude Gordon
+1 864-354-3223 iPhone w/ FaceTime
Skype: jeff_purtle

[nltrumpet]

Nobody has really answered the question directly. I could be wrong in my assessment, but here’s how I would rank them by how often they come up for me:

Trumpet in Bb
Trumpet in F
Trumpet in D
Trumpet in A
Trumpet in Eb
Trumpet in E
Trumpet in H (B-natural)

[cbtj51]

[Jeff_Purtle]

There's a trombone book by Blazevich called Clef Studies. It's kind of like Bordogni with changing clefs mid phrase and stuff like that. It is sort of progressive and systematic so you don't get frustrated. I have played that on trumpet and some on trombone just to get my brain on the same page as students that are playing with various clefs. You could also play some piano and do it so you don't have to use your chops because it's just notes and music. One of the requirements I dreaded doing for college graduation was to play a string quarter at the piano with 2 treble clef (Violin 1 and 2), Viola, and Cello. The parts would cross each other which really played with my head. That stuff is useful but I just want to play trumpet. You might also look for a music theory program called Practica Musica (www.ars-nova.com) and see if you can set it for various clefs or if the exercises have clef reading. I'm pretty sure it does that. That could be a little thing to do off the horn to get more familiar. It's a great program for ear training.

Bordogni is one of the things I pull out for fun. I bet you will learn to love it over time.

Jeff
_________________
Jeff Purtle
Trumpet Lessons Online since 2004, teaching since 1983
MultiTouch book on Claude Gordon
+1 864-354-3223 iPhone w/ FaceTime
Skype: jeff_purtle

[Jon Kaplan]

[gg21wvtrumpet]

[Tpt_Guy]