Re: Concert pitch question (confused ex-tuba player)

[Paul Hodges]

Trumpet "in Bb" means that where the score has a C, a Bb will sound.  
Similarly Horn "in F" will sound F for a written C.  In your case, as 
the notes are entered not in concert pitch, you should use the LilyPond 
command \transposition to specify the note that will sound when c' 
(middle C) is played.  See here:
https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.22/Documentation/notation/displaying-pitches#instrument-transpositions

Paul


On 17/09/2021 22:09:16, "Kenneth Wolcott" <kennethwolcott@gmail.com> 
wrote:

>HI All;
>
>   I have a couple downloaded examples of brass quartet arrangements
>(theme excerpts mostly) forn 8notes.com, hosted by UK composer David
>Bruce, where each part is apparently NOT in concert pitch, but the
>parts are together, as they would be in a conductor's score.  The
>music, engraved as written, sounds AWFUL.  I suspect that I need to
>run transpose on each part to convert them to concert pitch, but I
>don't know for sure if that's the case and if so, exactly how to do
>that.  I have attached one example pdf to illustrate my question.
>
>   I know, as an ex-tuba player (and a very low-level amatuer tuba
>player), that tuba and trombone (bassoon?) don't require transposition
>as they are already in concert pitch (I never played a tuba in the key
>of C, F or Eb).  However most of the other wind instruments of an
>orchestra are not in concert pitch.  So when there is a trumpet in Bb,
>it certainly is not the same as a tuba in Bb, correct?  What about
>Horn in F?  What happens when the overall pitch of the piece in
>question is not C Major?
>
>   I've taken some church hymns, written for SATB (obviously) and
>converted them directly to a brass quartet (Soprano toTrumpet, Alto to
>French Horn, tenor to Trombone, and Bass to Tuba) and it doesn't sound
>bad, using the exact key the Hymn was written in.
>
>   Could someone clue me in on the basics here (I've read the Lilypond
>manuals on this topic, but I think I need a more rudimentary
>explanation).
>
>Thanks,
>Ken Wolcott