Stravinsky's Octet for Winds
Hi, folks, I'm undertaking Stravinsky's Octet for Winds, which (starts off) in E-flat, and calls for a Trumpet in C and a trumpet in A, but both parts are written without key signature; I assume that the notes in the C trumpet part are as written (despite the lack of key signature), but it's not clear to me whether the notes in the A trumpet part should be transposed or not; in other words, I'm not sure how to enter in the parts such that playback will play them right (basically because I'm not sure how to interpret the pitches that are written). Thanks for your help.
Comments
If the key of the piece is in E-flat then a C trumpet would be expected to have a key signature of E-flat also. Having said that, in classical music is is common to omit all key signatures on trumpets, coronets and horns along with some less common instruments. These all originally were made with no valves and were tuned to different pitches such a C and A using pieces of tubing called crooks. In the instruments you need to select the correct instrument (A trumpet and C trumpet in your case). To eliminate the key signature make sure you are in the advanced workspace and use the atonal key signature which is the one with a gray X in it. Press ctrl while you drag it to the first measure of the instrument.
One other thing, make sure you are viewing the score with the concert pitch button not pressed (this is the transposed view). You will know this is the case if the different keyed instruments have different key signatures. Enter the notes in this view.
In the case of the C trumpet, notes are written in sounding pitch, though there are C instruments where this is not the case like the piccolo which sounds an octave higher and guitar which sounds an octave lower than written.
In reply to If the key of the piece is… by mike320
Thanks for your reply (and for going over this with me again: if it was Mozart again or similar, I'd just try to figure it out by whether it sounded "right" or not; but as it's Stravinsky this time, I wouldn't be sure if it sounding dissonant was intentional; of course, I should probably try to get a recording of the piece...)
"To eliminate the key signature make sure you are in the advanced workspace and use the atonal key signature which is the one with a gray X in it. Press ctrl while you drag it to the first measure of the instrument." And then just enter in the notes as written in the score, for both the A trumpet and C trumpet parts? In other words, MuseScore will ignore the discrepancy between the nominal key of the instrument and the (absent) key signature, and just play every note as if the instrument were a C-concert pitch instrument (which of course the C trumpet is, but the A trumpet isn't) and the parts were written in the key of C?
In reply to Thanks for your reply (and… by OlyDLG
I summarize the steps to assure you get the correct notes
Add all of the correct instruments
Make sure you are viewing transposed pitch (I'm not familiar with the Stravinsky octet so I don't know if the A trumpet is the only transposing instrument or not so I put this step here because I know you will see multiple key signatures if you are viewing transposed pitch)
ctrl+drag the atonal key to the trumpets
enter the notes for all instruments as they are in the source
One bit of clarification. The only thing you are truly doing is eliminating the key signatures for the trumpets, everything else is normal music entry.
One more note, in the likely event that there is a key change, you will need to once again enter the atonal key signature for one or both of the trumpets at the measure where the key change takes place.