How to Transpose Concert F to Concert B Flat

The strength of an orchestra or band lies in its diversity of instrumentation. This diversity can become confusing when not every instrument uses the same reference pitch. For example, instruments such as the French horn produce a pitch of F when playing the note C. A tenor saxophone will produce a pitch of Bb when playing the same note as written. In order to merge several types of instruments with different reference pitches you must transpose the notes as written to suit each instrument.

Things You'll Need

• Sheet music
• Blank sheet music pages

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Find the note you wish to transpose on your sheet music from the key of F to the key of Bb.

   • 2

     Raise the note five semitones. F and Bb are five semitones apart, so notes in F will always be five semitones from notes in Bb. For example, if you start with a C note, you would raise it to C#, D, D#, E and finally F.

   • 3

     Write the transposed note in its corresponding place on a blank sheet music page. Continue this process of raising each note five semitones until you have transposed them all.