Saxophone beginners Transposing from and to Tenor

[old git]

You're always B Sharp, Lee. ;}

 

[Pee Dee]

You raise B flat to B, that's a semi-tone, then you raise B to C, another semi-tone. That's two semi-tones equalling one whole tone. If you count it on a keyboard and start with the Bb, it includes three keys, but the intervals are only semi-tones. The convention when counting on a keyboard is to treat the first note as zero, so Bb key is zero, B key is one and C key is 2, again equalling one whole tone.

It sinks in eventually!

Yeah, gotcha!
'course, there aint no B# or Cb, so in that case that makes it one whole tone:welldone

 

[kevgermany]

Thanks for clearing that up Young Col.
_________________________________
If you were confused previously, ignore the below! (excluding old gits)

Old git, to be pedantic if there are 2 semi-tones between Bb and C on tenor and 3 on alto then there should be 2.4 on a C mel. Explanation below.

alto in Eb has 3 semi-tones between Bb and C
tenor in Bb has 2 semi-tones between Bb and C

5 semi-tones between tenor (Bb) and alto (Eb), therefore 1 semi-tone difference between Bb and C for every 5 semi-tones difference between instrument keys.

Thus, C melody sax in 'C' between alto and tenor. 2 semi-tones higher than Bb tenor. Therefore 2/5 of a semi-tone. so really it's 2.4 semi-tones between Bb and C on a C melody.

Also working the other way, 3 semi-tones lower than the alto implying 3 - 0.6 = 2.4 QED.

Note: That's why my B is always sharp on the C-mel!

lmao:welldone:welldone🙂))😀

 

[kevgermany]

Totally lost now.
Kev, him of the appalling Parker pun, seems to be suggesting that there are three semitones between Bb and C when playing an alto but only two when playing tenor.
This means that if you play a C Melody, logically there are two and a half semitones.
MY BRAIN HURTS!

Let me see if I can pen a suitable reply. Or maybe I misunderstood.

Here's the bit I was referring to:

...
So if you ever get an alto and want to transpose to that follow the same.

1. C
2. Eb
3. minor third higher (3 semi-tones up)
4. minor 3rd lower. i.e C transposes to A

So the steps are on an alto (expanding Linky's notes):

1 - Play a C on an alto
2 - This is an Eb in concert pitch
3 - An alto is playing a minor third higher in concert pitch.
4 - So transpose down by a minor third. e.g. to get a C, write/play an A.

Only trouble with this is that the alto Actually plays the Eb below middle C when you play a middle C. So you're playing an octave lower than you thought. Not so penful, was it.

E flatters you, an alto does, while a tenor makes an excellent insect killer (Bee flat...)

 

[Linky Lee]

E flatters you, an alto does, while a tenor makes an excellent insect killer (Bee flat...)

Very good :welldone

I hold my hands up and will admit that I knew about the octave differential but decided to omit this vital piece of evidence as I deemed it 'not of great value'
I tried to make my post as easy to understand as possible.

Evidence shows I failed. Guilty as charge your honour.

 

[Mikec]

Very good :welldone

I hold my hands up and will admit that I knew about the octave differential but decided to omit this vital piece of evidence as I deemed it 'not of great value'
I tried to make my post as easy to understand as possible.

Evidence shows I failed. Guilty as charge your honour.

I reckon which octave you choose to play in is nobody's business but your own, anyway....

 

[Pee Dee]

I was down Mamosland last week, and found a reduced in price book, plus two cd's from the 'Guest Spot' range, 'Classics' for the saxophone in Trago Mills in Falmouth. Not got that one, so I bought it, but when I got home, and read the back cover, in small print I find it is for Alto, and I have a tenor🙁
Ok, transposition job. I have a gizmo called 'The Amazing Transpo Gizmo Instant Key Finder' .
In the book the tune 'Words' is printed in the key of E. So out with the 'Gizmo' and it tells me, for E, I need to transpose it to A for tenor. I do this with BIAB and find that the higher notes, ie C, transpose to F. Quite a few of these high notes for my liking, but I want it to be in tune with the playalong CD and the the backing, so I bring it down an octave, and playing along with the CD's it sounds fine.
Now I am puzzled. As was previously said to transpose from Alto to Tenor, or Bb to C is a jump of one whole note, or tone, but transposing from E to A,
(Alto music written in E, transposed to A for tenor), there is a jump of three whole notes
Confusing myself now, hope that is understandable.
Bad as Lsd, and that was metricised thank god. Can somebody do the same for music?🙁

 

[Justin Chune]

Hi Pee Dee, your gizmo is quite right. I would have transposed it down the way. If you have a line note drop two lines and drop two spaces for space notes. Change the key signature by taking away one sharp, or adding one more flat.

Jim.

 

[old git]

Young, Oldish Pete,
Drop it an octave and if some notes are too low, up 'em a third, major or minor, a fifth or an octave. It'll probably still be in tune with the alto disc.

Give serious thought about a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass to go with the ear trumpet? 🙂

 

[Linky Lee]

Or there a few bits of software you can get where you can transpose the backing tracks themselves and not worry about transposing the notes.

I have used a program called slowgold but I think there are better ones out there. not sure if Audacity or Transcribe! can do this, if they can they're nicer bits of software.

 

[Pee Dee]

Young, Oldish Pete,
Drop it an octave and if some notes are too low, up 'em a third, major or minor, a fifth or an octave. It'll probably still be in tune with the alto disc.

Dropping it an octave would put it in tune with some of my recent bodily functions

 

[Pee Dee]

Or there a few bits of software you can get where you can transpose the backing tracks themselves and not worry about transposing the notes.

I have used a program called slowgold but I think there are better ones out there. not sure if Audacity or Transcribe! can do this, if they can they're nicer bits of software.

Ok thanks, I have downloaded Audacity and Transcribe, but not got round to figuring them out yet, so will check it out.

 

[Emma]

Hi,
When learning to transpose from concert pitch to alto sax I used the instructions on this site www.margrietverbeek.nl/transpose.html It gives step by step instructions for many transposing instruments. I now find it easy to transpose any piece of music.

Emma

 

[old git]

Emma,
Are you volunteering? ;}