Transposing Pitch
I have finished composing my sax solo music. It appears to be playing back in concert pitch. How do I get the music to play in the alto sax E flat mode?
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There is a button on the toolbar that says Concert Pitch. If it's pressed you hear concert pitch, if not you hear transposed pitch. You will see the key signature change when you press it. If the transposition is not correct, then you made a mistake when you entered the score.
In reply to There is a button on the… by mike320
I found it now. When I created my score, I selected alto sax as my instrument, although I see a piano stave when I select Edit and Instrument. Maybe that's because it's the only instrument in the score? Anyway, it sounds in tune with the alto sax pitch.
In reply to I found it now. When I… by langron
It sounds like you created your score wrong. In the new score wizard, choose "Choose instrument," on the next screen add you alto sax then set the rest of the settings for your score. Now your Alto sax part will have been set up based upon the concert pitch key signature you chose, so if You select Bb you will get the key of G. This is for the future.
To fix you current score:
You should now have everything in wrong key and possibly even unplayable.
If you see a piano staff (2 staves) you didn't add a sax or you don't understand what you see. When you create a score, the default is to make a score with all instruments displayed and 32 empty measures. If you added only an alto sax, this will normally be displayed on 2 staves (actually systems) but there will be more measures on the first than the second. When you enter notes you will see the empty measures move to the next system until you reach the end and the current measure moves to the next system. I suggest that you watch the first two tutorial videos at https://musescore.org/en/tutorials. They were made in version 2 but little enough has changed in version 3 that they will mostly still apply.
In reply to It sounds like you created… by mike320
Thanks mike320. I'll follow your advice and revert back to you on my results. I'm not sure what happened when I first set up my score. I remember selecting alto sax as my only instrument in the wizard. But somehow along the way it got changed to piano. I discovered that later when trying to playback in the correct pitch.
In reply to It sounds like you created… by mike320
Well, there's still something I'm missing in my understanding. My instrument was changed to alto sax.
The "Concert Pitch (Selected).png" shows my notes as written for alto sax in the key of D major (C# F#)
The "Concert Pitch (Un-selected).png" shows my notes transposed to A major
I don't know what is happening. I tried transposing to other major scales without success. It seems I need to have the attached first image "Concert Pitch Selected" be reflected as "Concert Pitch Unselected" in the D major scale, rather than what is being shown in the attached second image as an A major scale.
In reply to It sounds like you created… by mike320
Ok, I can call off the dogs. I finally figured what happened and how to correct the mess I made. My biggest problem was when I composed my original score using a C major scale (no key signature) and placed # signs on the C and F notes to reflect the D major scale. This is what through everything out of whack when I tried to change instruments and transpose.
I created a new score with the D major scale signature that reflects C# and D# on the staff. Now I see and hear the D major scale for alto sax, and I see the concert pitch of F major when I press the "Concert Pitch" button. That means I hear the same pitch regardless of how the button is pressed. As someone told me earlier, the notes will sound the same but are written differently depending on selecting concert key or instrument key.
I had just one more task to do. When I copied the notes from the original C major score over to the new D major score with empty bars, I had to transpose down a major sixth (whatever the heck that is - I got lucky) to finally see my original score keys in the non-concert D major scale (see attachment). I checked the pitch of the notes in my TE Tuner to verify.
Thanks for all of you and your patience. You got me going on the right path to the solution. I learned a lot about music theory. My next task is to learn what a major sixth is.
In reply to Ok, I can call off the dogs… by langron
That means you were originally writing in concert pitch. The transposition down a major 6th is the normal transposition to F us sax players automatically do when the conductor says "Play the Ab scale" though it sounds an octave lower.
In reply to That means you were… by mike320
Yes, as I tried to explain in my first paragraph. I suspicioned this early on but wasn't sure how best to correct it.
In reply to There is a button on the… by mike320
"you hear concert pitch"? Surely, "you see concert pitch". The concert pitch button doesn't affect how the notes sound, only their representation.
In reply to "you hear concert pitch"?… by SteveBlower
I press Concert Pitch and I see no change in concert pitch and I hear no change. So how do I hear alto sax in Eb flat key? As I stated earlier, when I created my score I selected alto saxophone for instrument without selecting more instruments. So why is the Staff 1 (Piano)? See bottom of the image. Maybe this is the source of problem?
In reply to I press Concert Pitch and I… by langron
A piano is not transposing. You need a sax staff
In reply to I press Concert Pitch and I… by langron
I'm betting you didn't choose the alto sax instrument but only switched the existing piano staff to use the alto sax playback sound in the mixer.
As you by now have discovered, playback sound is not related to the chosen instrument and its definition. (Although choosing an instrument will try to choose the closest matching GM sound as well)