Transposing instruments in a score: written vs concert pitch
Updated July 2026
A B♭ trumpet part is a lie told consistently: the player reads a C and a B♭ comes out. The hard part of transposing instruments is not the arithmetic — it is that the key signature has to move with the notes, every time, or the part is wrong on nearly every line.
What written and concert pitch mean
Concert pitch, also called sounding pitch, is what a tuner hears. Written pitch is what is printed on the player's part. On a transposing instrument the two differ by a fixed interval, and the direction never changes: written is higher than sounding.
Say it out loud once and it stops being slippery. A B♭ trumpet sounds a major second below what is written — so to make the part, you take the sounding line and move it up a major second.
The intervals, in one place
How far the written note sits above the sounding note:
- B♭ trumpet, B♭ clarinet, B♭ soprano sax — a major 2nd up (+2 semitones)
- E♭ alto sax — a major 6th up (+9)
- B♭ tenor sax — a major 9th up (+14), an octave plus a major 2nd
- E♭ baritone sax — +21 semitones, an octave plus a major 6th
- F horn — a perfect 5th up (+7)
- Guitar, bass guitar, double bass — an octave up (+12)
- Piano, violin, flute, oboe, trombone, cello — no transposition; written is sounding
Two things fall out of that list. Instruments pitched in the same key share a key relationship regardless of octave: trumpet and tenor sax both write two semitones up, alto and baritone sax both write nine, so a tenor and a trumpet reading the same concert line read the same key signature an octave apart.
And guitar and bass are transposing instruments too, which surprises people. Their octave exists for legibility — it keeps the part on the staff instead of below it — not for any fingering reason.
Worked example: a concert E♭ line on B♭ trumpet
The line sounds in E♭ major, three flats. Move everything up a major second and the written part is in F major, one flat.
Note for note: a sounding E♭ is written F, a sounding G is written A, a sounding B♭ is written C. The player reads F major, fingers F major, and E♭ major comes out of the bell.
The key signature is the step people skip. Transpose the notes but leave three flats on the staff and you have produced a part that is wrong almost everywhere, with accidentals fighting the signature on every phrase. Notes and key signature move together, and the spelling follows the new key — that pitch is B♭ in F major, not A♯.
Why this exists at all
Fingering consistency across a family of instruments. A saxophonist's written C is the same fingering on soprano, alto, tenor and baritone: same shapes, same reading, four instruments that sound in different keys. A clarinettist switching between the B♭ and A instruments reads identical notes and lets the horn handle the difference.
It is an ergonomic decision made on behalf of the player, which is why the convention has survived every argument against it.
Why a concert-pitch part is a real problem
Give a trumpet player a concert-pitch chart and one of two things happens: they transpose at sight, spending attention they were using on the music, or they play it a major second low and the band stops.
It is worse in a sax section, where alto and tenor need different transpositions from the same source — one part cannot serve both. On guitar or bass, a missing octave transposition produces something technically correct and slow to read, buried in ledger lines.
The conductor's score is the deliberate exception. It is often printed at concert pitch on purpose, so whoever is following it can compare parts vertically without transposing five instruments in their head at once.
How a transcribed score handles both
Transcription hears concert pitch — a microphone has no idea which instrument it is listening to. The written transposition is applied per part at the point the score is engraved: notes and key signature together, accidentals only where a note departs from the written key, and enharmonic spelling that follows that key.
A concert-pitch toggle puts every part back at sounding pitch for the conductor's view. Switching between the two changes only how the notes are written, never the underlying note data — which is also what the exported MIDI carries.
Get parts written the way players read them
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Open the transcriber →FAQ
What is the difference between written and concert pitch?
Concert pitch is what a tuner hears; written pitch is what is printed on the player's part. On a transposing instrument the written note is higher than the sounding note by a fixed interval — a major 2nd for a B♭ trumpet, a major 6th for an E♭ alto sax, a perfect 5th for an F horn.
How do I write a concert E♭ line for a B♭ trumpet?
Move it up a major 2nd, key signature included. A part sounding in concert E♭ major is written in F major: a sounding E♭ becomes a written F, a sounding G becomes an A, a sounding B♭ becomes a C.
Why do transposing instruments exist at all?
Fingering consistency across a family of instruments. A written C is the same fingering on soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone even though each one sounds a different pitch, so a player can move between them without relearning the instrument.
Are guitar and bass transposing instruments?
Yes, by an octave. Guitar, bass guitar and double bass are all written an octave above where they sound. The reason is legibility rather than fingering: it keeps the part on the staff instead of below it.
Can I see the score at concert pitch instead?
Yes. A concert-pitch toggle shows every part at sounding pitch, which is usually what a conductor wants, while each player's part keeps its own written transposition.