The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Transposition Range
Sounds
Instruments
B-flat instruments
Major second lower 
Bass clarinet (actually a 
than written
Major ninth lower)
Bass saxophone
Clarinet (B
)

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Chapter 18:
Composing and Arranging for Voices and Instruments
231
Transposition Range
Sounds
Instruments
Cornet
Flugelhorn
Soprano saxophone
Tenor saxophone (actu-
ally a minor ninth lower)
Trumpet
E-flat instruments
Major sixth lower 
Alto clarinet
than written
Alto saxophone
Baritone saxophone
(actually a major thir-
teenth lower)
E
clarinet (actually a
minor third higher)
F instruments
Perfect fifth lower 
English horn
than written
French horn
With a few exceptions, instruments not listed here are nontransposing—that is,
what they play sounds exactly as written, in concert pitch. The best example of
a nontransposing instrument is the piano; you read middle C, you play middle
C, the piano sounds middle C—no transposing necessary.
What does all this mean in terms of actual transposition? The next table details
how each type of instrument transposes each of the possible concert keys. The
key listed for each instrument is the key that you write for that instrument in
order to sound the concert key. (For example, for the concert key of C, you
would write a B
instrument in the key of D, an E
instrument in the key of A,
and an F instrument in the key of G.)
Concert Key Transpositions
Concert Key
B
Instruments
E
Instruments
F Instruments
C
D
A
G
D
E
B
A
D
E
B
A
E
F
C
B
E
G
(F
)
D
(C
)
B
F
G
D
C
G
A
E
D
G
A
E
D
A
B
F
E
A
B
G
(F
)
E
B
C
G
F
B
D
(C
)
A
G
(F
)
While the trumpet is tradi-
tionally a B
instrument,
many players today use 
C trumpets that sound in
concert pitch.
Note

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