The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Definition

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Chapter 14:
Transposing to Other Keys
179
These scenarios are more common than you’d think—which means you better
learn how to transpose—and fast!
Four Ways to Transpose
When you have to transpose a song from one key to another, there are four
ways to go about it. You can …
◆
Put your math skills to work and manually move each note up or down the
required number of steps.
◆
Put your music theory skills to work and utilize degree-wise Roman
numeral notation.
◆
Use your music theory skills again and mechanically transpose each note
based on the interval from the previous note.
◆
Put technology to work and let a computerized music notation program
do the job for you.
Step-Wise Transposition
Step-wise transposition is the grunt work of the arranging and composing world.
In this method, you count the half steps between the first key and the second,
and then move each note and chord up or down the necessary number of steps.
For example, let’s say you have the following melody in the key of D:
Your original melody, in the key of D.
You need to transpose this melody to the key of F. When you do the counting,
you find that F is three half steps above D. So you have to move all the chords
and notes up three half steps like this:
1. Take the first note of the melody—an A. If you move this note up three
half steps, it becomes a C.
2. Move to the second note of the melody—a B. If you move this note up
three half steps, it becomes a D.
3. Move to the third note of the melody—a C
. If you move this note up
three half steps, it becomes an E.
And so on, and so on. You do the same thing with the chords:
1. The first chord is D Major. If you move this chord up three half steps, it
becomes an F Major chord.
Many instruments
do not play in concert
key. See Chapter 18 to
learn which instruments
play in what keys.
Warning

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