Learning the Nashville Numbering System has been really helpful for me in transposing/playing with other people. Wrote out the circle of fifths with all the notes and numbers to help remember them easier.
This was so informative! I'm a high school sax player and I think this is my next step in becoming a better musician. Thank you! Btw, you deserve way more subscribers
100% agree. I am in a small band and only speak in concert key to my fellow musicians. As an alto player I also do what you demonstrated in the video where I can switch between concert and Eb in my mind. The Bb to Eb is not there yet since I don’t own a tenor and haven’t trained myself in that way but it is nice to see that I am doing it the way you demonstrated even though no one taught me that. The interval method is also invaluable! I’ve changed the key to so many songs before to go down a half step, Major second, minor third, and so on because the key is too hard for the singer. Awesome video. Edit: what I mean by “no one taught me that” is that I was never taught this in school. It’s something I picked up on my own by playing with other musicians such as guitarists, bass players, and keyboardists, and I heard them speaking in concert key. So as I played with them, I became more fluent in concert key and it became second nature. What I found surprising was when I started college, none of the other freshman saxophonists knew how to do this or had this skill. I think every teacher should share this knowledge even if it’s only how to do it a little bit.
When I started playing alto I learned everything in concert pitch (by ear, as my reading abilities were -- and still are -- very limited). None of the bands I have played with ever talked about transposing to or from Eb. As far as transposing a tune to a different key, I hear the intervals, but it takes more effort for me to figure out the interval numbers, unless they are quite simple.
As an individual who does have perfect pitch, I can confirm that transposition is my worst nightmare. I don't know if this is true for all people with the ability, but it certainly is for me. Although part of why may be related to my very mediocre relative pitch, I still believe perfect pitch may similarly make it difficult just to develop a relative ear (it has for me anyway).
Very eye opening video on skills I feel like that get very over looked in a majority of music programs. Especially playing your instrument in a different key. I know this is a skill that doesn’t just happen overnight and is something that you can spend a lifetime working on but how long did you practice playing a concert/other key charts before it came as “second nature” to you. Side note: Loled at when you said you would accidentally transpose charts because when I started learning piano and reading bass clef more I started to read treble clef as bass clef sometimes.
TRANSPOSING IS EASY! Playing scales from different notes? the same thing. I started onclarinet in 1966 and gravitated LOL to alto sax and found they have different fingerings and one is in Bb the other is in Eb. But when I saw and got hooked on the tenor I borrowed tenors a night before a gig in 7th grade then for months in 10 th grade and had to transpose because of loearning on one and being witou the other. It's not SAX thing either. Singers get you to pay in different keys , that's one reason jazz players are better even though Standard tunes are niot just in one key thet the key signture is in. Playing in different keys is what makes one a jazz musician.
Hey :) thank you for the great explanation. I was jamming on my alto with a good friend of mine with his guitar but we had problems to match the key. He played in Amaj. Normally i think id have to play the f# Pentatonic but it didnt work. But playing the f Pentatonic worked well for us. Is it possible that i play the notes a bit wrong/ sharp? Im still a beginner :/
I have the ability to hear notes without a reference and know what they are (I don’t know if it’s perfect pitch because I trained myself when I was 13 and I was tone deaf before then) but when I hear a concert C for example, I think C as the name but I also think A on the alto sax and A on the staff cause I play alto. The reason I think the note name C is because I had to answer in concert pitch when I trained myself. I also taught myself piano by learning where C is, but I don’t think of it as a C on the staff, I really think of it as A but I’m calling it C so if I read piano sheet music I have to transpose it to alto even when I’m playing piano. Does anyone know how to fix this without potentially messing with my pitch recognition abilities?
Learning the Nashville Numbering System has been really helpful for me in transposing/playing with other people. Wrote out the circle of fifths with all the notes and numbers to help remember them easier.
This was so informative! I'm a high school sax player and I think this is my next step in becoming a better musician. Thank you! Btw, you deserve way more subscribers
Thanks so much, glad it could be of some help! Share my page around and spread the word!
@@DavePollack will do!
100% agree. I am in a small band and only speak in concert key to my fellow musicians. As an alto player I also do what you demonstrated in the video where I can switch between concert and Eb in my mind. The Bb to Eb is not there yet since I don’t own a tenor and haven’t trained myself in that way but it is nice to see that I am doing it the way you demonstrated even though no one taught me that. The interval method is also invaluable! I’ve changed the key to so many songs before to go down a half step, Major second, minor third, and so on because the key is too hard for the singer. Awesome video.
Edit: what I mean by “no one taught me that” is that I was never taught this in school. It’s something I picked up on my own by playing with other musicians such as guitarists, bass players, and keyboardists, and I heard them speaking in concert key. So as I played with them, I became more fluent in concert key and it became second nature. What I found surprising was when I started college, none of the other freshman saxophonists knew how to do this or had this skill. I think every teacher should share this knowledge even if it’s only how to do it a little bit.
Good point thank you for sharing 🎶🎶🎶🎷
Wow, you're reeeeally good at transposing, man.
Thanks, man
When I started playing alto I learned everything in concert pitch (by ear, as my reading abilities were -- and still are -- very limited). None of the bands I have played with ever talked about transposing to or from Eb. As far as transposing a tune to a different key, I hear the intervals, but it takes more effort for me to figure out the interval numbers, unless they are quite simple.
As an individual who does have perfect pitch, I can confirm that transposition is my worst nightmare. I don't know if this is true for all people with the ability, but it certainly is for me. Although part of why may be related to my very mediocre relative pitch, I still believe perfect pitch may similarly make it difficult just to develop a relative ear (it has for me anyway).
Very interesting! I know perfect pitch has tons of other benefits though.
Very eye opening video on skills I feel like that get very over looked in a majority of music programs. Especially playing your instrument in a different key. I know this is a skill that doesn’t just happen overnight and is something that you can spend a lifetime working on but how long did you practice playing a concert/other key charts before it came as “second nature” to you.
Side note: Loled at when you said you would accidentally transpose charts because when I started learning piano and reading bass clef more I started to read treble clef as bass clef sometimes.
I honestly don't know how long it took before it was second nature, but it was definitely a few years!
TRANSPOSING IS EASY! Playing scales from different notes? the same thing. I started onclarinet in 1966 and gravitated LOL to alto sax and found they have different fingerings and one is in Bb the other is in Eb. But when I saw and got hooked on the tenor I borrowed tenors a night before a gig in 7th grade then for months in 10 th grade and had to transpose because of loearning on one and being witou the other. It's not SAX thing either. Singers get you to pay in different keys , that's one reason jazz players are better even though Standard tunes are niot just in one key thet the key signture is in. Playing in different keys is what makes one a jazz musician.
Hey :) thank you for the great explanation.
I was jamming on my alto with a good friend of mine with his guitar but we had problems to match the key. He played in Amaj. Normally i think id have to play the f# Pentatonic but it didnt work. But playing the f Pentatonic worked well for us.
Is it possible that i play the notes a bit wrong/ sharp? Im still a beginner :/
I have the ability to hear notes without a reference and know what they are (I don’t know if it’s perfect pitch because I trained myself when I was 13 and I was tone deaf before then) but when I hear a concert C for example, I think C as the name but I also think A on the alto sax and A on the staff cause I play alto. The reason I think the note name C is because I had to answer in concert pitch when I trained myself. I also taught myself piano by learning where C is, but I don’t think of it as a C on the staff, I really think of it as A but I’m calling it C so if I read piano sheet music I have to transpose it to alto even when I’m playing piano. Does anyone know how to fix this without potentially messing with my pitch recognition abilities?