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But, the hell, WHY are some instruments transposed???
I mean: You guys learn from the beginning that if you put your fingers this or that way its a "D", but in real life (concert pitch) it`s a C. So why not learn it as what it is.

Please enlighten an idiotic guitarist like me

Sandra



It is because of the physics involved in the tubing lengths and where the fundamental notes in the column of air fall.

A guitarist can change string tension and thus change the open string notes rather easily by comparison.

The wind instrument player is at the mercy of the length of tubing in the horn.

It is not as simple as changing tubing length, either, as the Timbre of the instrument changes at the same time.

For example, the French Horn is in F typically. Trying to change the tubing length of a French Horn to make it into a C instrument also changes the sound of the French Horn so drastically that it doesn't sound like the French Horn anymore.

This is because of the overtone series. When a Wind Instrument player plays notes other than the fundamental, we rely on a system of changing the tubing length via valves that add or subract tubing, or holes in the instrument that make the tube appear shorter when open and longer when covered, or, in the case of the slide instruments like Trombone, the physical length is changed in a continuous fashion.

On top of changing the tubing length to play those other notes, we also find that we may have to apply different amounts of air pressure, critical embouchure changes (Embouchure describes the positioning of the mouth, lips, teeth, muscles, etc.) and a few other things besides.

So if you tried to turn, say, an Eb Alto Saxophone into a C instrument, it would be not only much smaller in size, it would sound different. And it does. There used to be a very popular instrument called the "C Melody Sax" -- very popular because the owners could read along with Piano Sheet Musics without transposition -- but the only problem with it was that it did not have the wonderful sound of the Eb Alto Sax at all.


--Mac

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