Hi DGR,

I am a fellow saxophone player, so I understand what you are experiencing with the way Band in a Box transposes notation -- You can change all the notes and chords you want in the concert key version, but when you view the notation for an Eb or Bb instrument the changes you made have no effect.

For the benefit of others reading this post, let me start off by describing how we would see the situation you are describing.
1. You want to learn a new song in E, so you type in the chords, say E, A, B, E.
2. You want to play along with the new song on alto sax, so you click the "P" icon on the toolbar and click "Eb Alto". The chords now display as Db, Gb, Ab, Db. This makes sense, but you were hoping you could display them as C#, F#, G#, C#.
3. You want to play along on tenor sax, so now you click the "P" icon and click "Bb Tenor". Now the chords display as Gb, B, Db, Gb. This progression does not make sense, and you want it to be displayed as F#, B, C#, F#.

So, now to answer your question "how do I make it F# or C#?".

You have to trick it. You need to know that the transpose notation feature will only give you up to 5 sharps -- the key signature of B. After that, it switches to flats.

So, If you want the chords to dispay as if in F# or C# for the tenor, change the key to A, and say "NO" to the transpose worksheet question. That gives you the key signature of 5 sharps, which is the maximum that the notation transposition will give you.

And, If you want the chords to dispay as if in F# or C# for the alto, change the key to D, and say "NO" to the transpose question. Once again, that gives you the key signature of 5 sharps, which is the maximum that the notation transposition will give you.

Now you have to be careful not to be tricked yourself because the key you entered is not the actual key of the piece! It is just a work-around, but it's the best you can do.



Back in April, I have did a thorough analysis of how the transpose functions work. I posted some of my findings here:

Chord Entry Nuisance
http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB1&Number=312611

And, based on my findings I posted my requests for improvements here:

Transposition improvement suggestions
http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB11&Number=313456

Good luck,
Jim