7

Transposition

The process of rewriting or performing a melody or composition in a different key than the original is called transposition. Transposition is an essential skill for singers who wish to perform a piece in a more comfortable range, and it is a skill required for accompanisits, composers, and some instrumentalists.

If you want to transpose a melody from b to d minor (up a minor third), you would write every note up a third and add the new key signature (1 flat instead of 2 sharps). If there are any accidentals, you must determine how they affect the specific scale degree, and then add an accidental that functions the same way in the new key. Look at the following Slovakian melody in b minor. Then compare it with the same melody transposed up a minor third into the key of d minor.

			A melody in B minor

			A melody transposed to D minor

Now you try it. Transpose the same melody down an augmented 5th into the key of Eb minor and place it into the bass clef! Be careful of the accidental on the second note.