Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Transposing and note markings (Read 3294 times) previous topic - next topic

Transposing and note markings

I know that there are a ton of prior messages on transposition and I have gone thru many of them but maybe my question is just too simple.

I have a song entered in key of C. I want to have it restated with notes for key of G - 5 semitones lower. When I do Tools/Transpose Staff and enter -5, the notes get restated but all F notes now have sharp symbol attached. I don't want that. If I do a Key Signature change to G, then two sharps are shown for the signature. I simply want the song produced in Key of G, with no F sharp symbols on individual notes. I would also like to have the single sharp signature for F given at beginning of the staff.

Hope I have made this plain. By the way, I can't say enough about how much I am impressed by the Notworthy program. I am a rank amateur but am getting a lot of use out of it.

--RC

Re: Transposing and note markings

Reply #2 –
If something is in the key of C and you just move it down to G and have the C key signature it will sound like you're hitting a flat note everytime you come by that F. You need the F sharp for it to sound right.

Re: Transposing and note markings

Reply #3 –
I think he is saying that the F# shouldn't show because it's specifed in the key signature.
I would say Eric's reply is the answer.

If the original key signature is C or Am you should place the appropriate key signature at the start of the staff.

Yes - I know - C and Am don't have a key signature but NWC will place a non-printing natural sign as the key signature when it is entered for these keys.

If you dont have the C (Am) key signature in place when you transposes NWC doesn't know the key your coming from and supplies the necessary sharps/flats to preserve the intervals.

Rule: Always add a key signature before transposition even when the key is C /Am.

Re: Transposing and note markings

Reply #4 –
OK - I've got it now. This is one area where it seems that the solution is not intuitive and the Help falls a bit short. Maybe I just fell a bit short in figuring it out. When I entered the Key of C for the staff before transposing, the appearance of the natural sign troubled me a bit. Thank you -- that does the trick alright. The Key must be entered even for C (and Am you say tho I have no experience with that yet). - - - - The playback of the transposed staff is another question that puzzled me until I figured out that one must go into Staff/Staff Properties and then set the transposition at zero -- that is, after the note changes have taken place -- if you want to hear the playback at the new pitch.

Thanks again.

Re: Transposing and note markings

Reply #5 –
About setting the transposition back to zero: you can do this manually after transposing, or you can just make sure the "update staff transposition" box in the transposition tool dialog is unchecked.

If this box is checked, the effect of transposition will be visual only, because NWC will automatically fiddle with the MIDI transposition in the staff's properties to exactly counteract the transposition. Why? So that you can write for a transposing instrument at concert (sounding) pitch and then transpose the visual representation so that an instrumentalist would play the score correctly. For example, you wouldn't want the clarinet part in an orchestral score to play back a C in MIDI, if in fact an actual clarinetist would read the C and produce a B-flat.

If you want the playback sound to track the transposition, just make sure "update staff playback transposition" is unchecked when you use the transposition tool. Then NWC will not go to the trouble of counteracting the transposition in the staff's MIDI properties, and what you see will be what you hear. (IMHO this should be the default, but we don't always get everything we want.)