Omit all the accidentals (sharps, flats and naturals) for the moment, we will put them in later. Transcribe all the notes of the part you want to adapt, but moving all of them up by five degrees. What you need to do is basically to transpose all the notes on the staff up by a major sixth, or down by a minor third. Do not change the part that will be played by the flute! For instance, let's say you want to change a flute duet into a flute-and-sax duet: in this case you only need to change one of the two staves, the one that will be played by the sax. You need to transpose all the parts that will be played by transposing instruments.

The problem only occurs when you mix different instruments: if you want to play a flute duet with two saxophones, the score can be played as is.

You want to play a duet scored for two flutes, but you have a flute and a sax.

You have a flute-and-piano score, but you want to play the flute part with a sax.

When is this a Problem?Įvery time you wish to play a score written for C instruments (like the flute or the piano) but you need to substitute one or more of the instruments with transposing instruments (like saxophones). Not all saxophones are in E-flat, though: The tenor and the soprano sax, for instance, are in B-flat.Īs you may already have guessed, on such an instrument the whole scale gets transposed: if a C sounds as an E-Flat, a D sounds as an F, an E sounds as a G and so on. That's why we say that the alto sax is a transposing instrument in E-flat.

When an alto sax player plays a written C, his/her sax sounds an E-flat.

When a flute player plays a written C, his/her flute sounds a C.

The reason behind this is that the saxophone is a transposing instrument, while the flute is not. If the duet is scored for two flutes, trying to play it as it is would simply not work. Suppose you want to play a duet with your friend, who plays the alto saxophone. How to Transpose for an E-flat Instrument

E flat saxophone