Transposition as Ear Training

The Other Kind of Transposition

 

After all this talk of transposition using substitution of clefs, imaginary key signatures, and courtesy pseudo-accidentals, I wanted to say what this kind of transposition is meant to do, and how else you can use transposition for your musical health.

 

First of all, this transposition I've been studying recently with all the clef substituting is meant for a special kind of situation: playing music that you have never seen before in a different key than written. It is transposition at first sight. It technically requires no knowledge of the sound to be produced in order to perform it, though an inner sense of how the music will sound can only help. As sterile as this process can be, it guarantees sure knowledge of what note will follow another, and that is what is required from transposing at sight.

 

Contrary to this typographical approach, there is another approach to transposition with a different goal entirely, that of cultivating your inner musical ear and strengthening the association between the inner sound and how it is expressed on the keyboard. The common term for this skill is: playing by ear.

 

You could also just get a pair of these.

 

The method for training is pretty simple, but quite different from our clef transpositions. The method calls for one to play exercises in many different keys. These exercises can be melodies, chord progressions, or phrases from larger musical works. If you allow the memorized sound to guide you instead of the interval relationship from the old key to the new one, you will get a lot of good practice in reproducing the sound at the keyboard.

 

I have a book which is chock full (how full is a chock anyway?) of exercises that can be used in this way: A New Approach to Keyboard Harmony by Leo Kraft and others.

 

Remember that transposition is just one musical subject that can be used in different ways to strengthen both practical skills as well as fundamental musicianship. Always look for how these subjects can help you in more than one way. 

Transposition Update

Clef Substitution in Transposition - Update

 

After a few chaotic weeks, I have a new practice schedule incorporating Ear Training, Sight Singing, Keyboard Harmony, Improvisation, 16th Century Counterpoint, Open Score C-Clef sight reading, Accompaniment from Thorough-Bass, and Transposition. Today I'll just mention what I've been doing with transposition.

 

Since I've been starting the day with C-Clef Open Score reading every morning for months now, I'm getting pretty comfortable with the clefs, and have started using them to learn my transpositions.

 

Just so you know, the method I'm using for transposing at sight is to substitute clefs and key signatures a reading the notes as they appear. For instance, if I want to transpose this piece in F major down a whole step, I add two flats to the signature (for Eb Major), and instead of Treble and Bass clefs, I use Tenor in the right hand, and Alto in the left. Additionally, I'm playing the notes as they appear in the new Tenor clef an octave higher than they would be literally, and the Alto notes I'm reading an octave lower. Once you get used to this, at first, dizzying procedure, it can be readily applied to any music that comes across your rack.

 

But how should this be practiced?

 

The way I've been doing it is this:

 

1. Find a hymnbook. A hymnbook with traditional hymns makes for great material because it's fairly simple, is consistently 4 parts (for the most part), and everything's pretty vertical, not much counterpoint. I chose the St. Gregory Choir Book that I found in a dusty corner of the church.

 

2. Choose either the right hand or the left, and read through the hymn book using the clef of choice for the chosen transposition. I started with the Step Down transposition so I began with the right hand using tenor clef an octave higher than written. I played my way through the hymn book at the pace of 25 hymns a day (most are pretty short).

 

3. After you get through the book or once you feel comfortable, start through the book again, this time practicing the other hand using the other complementary clef; in my case, this clef was the alto clef an octave lower than written.

 

4. After this has been done, start through the book one more time putting the hands (and clefs) together. My first day was quite a stumble when I tried this, but it's become almost second nature now.

 

5. After finishing the hymn book, start looking at more challenging repertoire to sight transpose. In my case, I've moved into the 371 Harmonized Chorales of Bach. After this I'll probably wander into the 2 part Inventions, 3 part Sinfonias, and then probably into the 48 Preludes and Fugues. That's my rough plan right now.

 

 

There are a total of 6 transpositions, each with a pair of clefs that will achieve them. I will attempt them in this order:

 

1. 2nd Down - Tenor over Alto

2. 2nd Up - Alto over Mezzo-Soprano

3. 3rd Down - Soprano over Treble

4. 3rd Up - Bass over Baritone

5. 4th Down - Baritone over Tenor

6. 4th Up - Mezzo-Soprano over Soprano

 

I've gotten a good start on the first transposition and I believe it is good enough already for anything I may find on the Colleague Examination. I've started working on the second transposition but I've had to do some extra work on that one. I'm having to learn the Mezzo-Soprano clef (middle C is on the second line).

 

Now, since I've learned three C clefs already, I find that I'm learning this one much faster than the others since I've done it before. To learn it, I'm just reading through the hymn-book with the left hand playing everything in Mezzo-Soprano clef with two sharps added (for a whole step up rather than a half step). Today I'm finishing the hymn-book and plan on combining this clef with the Alto in the right hand next week. If this is successful, then I will probably not have much trouble learning the final clef: the Baritone (middle C is on the top line; or F is on the middle line, depending on your point of view).

 

 

I am mostly concentrating on one transposition at a time, instead of trying to learn all of them at once. However, I'm not working to complete mastery individually before moving on. I think once I have some facility so that Bach Chorales are pretty easy, then I've reached the point where I can attempt the next transposition. I hope to have all 6 transpositions well in hand and sight reading fugues in any key by the time the Fellowship exam arrives.

 

The one thing that was a real bear to get used to was the accidentals. The meaning of the accidentals changes depending on the key you are transposing it into. Sharps can turn into naturals; naturals can turn into flats; flats can turn into double flats! With some time, it becomes apparent what is going on, but what really bothered me were courtesy accidentals. You know the fellows: an accidental sharpens a note and then a bar line occurs which cancels out the accidentals of the last bar, but they still put a natural sign next to the note just to remind you that it was cancelled. These will trick you into thinking you need to alter that note, but you have to learn to spot them and then summarily ignore them.

 

Anyhoo, it's exciting to me to see the end of learning clefs in sight. I'm doing well with the Mezzo-Soprano, so when I hit the Baritone clef with the 3rd Up transposition, I'll have learned all the clefs. There are no others except the French Violin clef (just like reading Bass clef two octaves higher) and Contrabass clef (just like reading Treble clef two octaves lower). I'll have comprehensive practical knowledge of a subject. Neat!