Transposing instrument

A transposing instrument is a musical instrument whose music is usually written at a pitch different from the pitch that it sounds. The difference between a transposing instrument and a non-transposing instrument is only in whether or not the music is written at its sounding pitch; there is nothing about the physical construction of an instrument that makes the difference. Instruments whose music is written exactly as it sounds are said to play in "concert pitch".

Related Topics:
Musical instrument - Pitch

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There are several reasons why an instrument may be a transposing instrument. Some instruments, such as the clarinet or the saxophone, are transposing instruments so that musicians may play different sizes of these instruments without having to learn new fingerings. For example, the note that is written as middle C for the alto saxophone and the tenor saxophone is fingered the same way on both instruments, but the alto's sounding pitch is higher than the tenor's.

Related Topics:
Clarinet - Saxophone - Middle C

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Other instruments may be too high or too low for music written for them to be easily written on the staff. In this case the music is written either an octave higher or lower than it sounds, in order to avoid ledger lines.

Related Topics:
Octave - Ledger line

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Transposing keyboards such as transposing harmoniums or electronic keyboards with a transpose function can have a similar effect, but are not usually called transposing instruments. Their music is conventionally written at sounding pitch, though a player may choose to transpose. (For example, to accompany a singer with higher or lower range than a song is written for, a keyboard player may transpose the keyboard up or down so that he or she does not have to rewrite the music.)

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