Hi Kenneth,
I use LilyPond v 2.22.1 through Frescobaldi. When I'm dealing with
transposing instruments I arrange everything in C, then transpose the
parts. I would write a trumpet part like this:
trumpet = \transpose c bes {
\global
notes, etc,
}
}
This way I can insert a % to comment out the transposition when I want
Lilypond's MIDI to play it for me:
trumpet = %\transpose c bes {
\global
notes, etc,
%}
}
When printing the parts, I remove the % signs, and they print out in the
transposed key.
Hope this helps.
Jerry
On Fri, Sep 17, 2021 at 5:09 PM Kenneth Wolcott <kennethwolc...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> HI All;
>
> I have a couple downloaded examples of brass quartet arrangements
> (theme excerpts mostly) forn 8notes.com, hosted by UK composer David
> Bruce, where each part is apparently NOT in concert pitch, but the
> parts are together, as they would be in a conductor's score. The
> music, engraved as written, sounds AWFUL. I suspect that I need to
> run transpose on each part to convert them to concert pitch, but I
> don't know for sure if that's the case and if so, exactly how to do
> that. I have attached one example pdf to illustrate my question.
>
> I know, as an ex-tuba player (and a very low-level amatuer tuba
> player), that tuba and trombone (bassoon?) don't require transposition
> as they are already in concert pitch (I never played a tuba in the key
> of C, F or Eb). However most of the other wind instruments of an
> orchestra are not in concert pitch. So when there is a trumpet in Bb,
> it certainly is not the same as a tuba in Bb, correct? What about
> Horn in F? What happens when the overall pitch of the piece in
> question is not C Major?
>
> I've taken some church hymns, written for SATB (obviously) and
> converted them directly to a brass quartet (Soprano toTrumpet, Alto to
> French Horn, tenor to Trombone, and Bass to Tuba) and it doesn't sound
> bad, using the exact key the Hymn was written in.
>
> Could someone clue me in on the basics here (I've read the Lilypond
> manuals on this topic, but I think I need a more rudimentary
> explanation).
>
> Thanks,
> Ken Wolcott
>
