UreMusic Education

If you provide the same piece of sheet music to a pianist and a saxophone player without changing the notes to fit each instrument, the music will not sound correct. Musicians refer to this difference between instruments as transpositions. Each instrument will have a transposition that determines what note sounds when it is played. A common transposition is from music for a piano to music for a saxophone.  Transposing Instruments  The reason for transpositions has to do with instrument fingering. By having transposing instruments, it is possible to use the same fingerings on each saxophone to play a single written note. However, a written E will sound different on a soprano or alto saxophone. With this system, an alto saxophone player could easily pick up a tenor sax using the same fingerings and play music that is appropriate for the instrument. This makes it possible to avoid having to learn a completely new set of fingerings for each horn. Piano   The piano plays in co...

Getting music in G major requires a basic understanding of music. It happens so often that a performer wants to play a particular piece of music but it is in a key that is either too difficult to perform, or doesn't fit the range of the instrument. When this happens it is tempting to look elsewhere for another work to play, however; it is still possible to play the piece with a few simple steps. Determine the Key  Step 1 The key signature determines what key the music is in. Find the number of sharps or flats in the key signature. Step 2 Determine the number of sharps or flats in the key signature. Step 3 Check the melody, determine what pitch the piece revolves around. Step 4 Analyze the chords to determine the tonality. Check the chords, determine the chord that the piece starts with and revolves around. Step 5 Gather the information from Step 2 - 4. If there is one sharp in the key signature and the piece revolves around G, or starts with a G major chord the piece is already in ...