Setting Key for Bb Trumpet or Euphonium
Hi Folks,
I have an advanced beginner skills and found this behaviour earlier this week.
I was hoping to enter a tune for a Bb instrument eg Bb Trumpet in the key of G (one sharp) and found that I could not select a key for that type of instrument. It was automatically beginning in the Key of D and every time when i tried to set to G it would produce the Key of A (3 sharps). In the list of Key options it did show the key of G as a choice. I could delete the D key off the stave, using the X option in the Key Menu, and when I dragged and dropped G to a keyless stave, it added 3 sharps (key of A).
I was unable to set up the Key of G for a Bb Instrument.
I am using the latest 4.4.4.24...... Musescore AppImage Version on a Linux 20.04.6 LTS machine regularly updated. Apart from this hiccup I have been really, really pleased with Musescore and have recommended it to many friends.
I hope this will help.
RobW
Comments
Perhaps toggle concert pitch?
Read this part of the handbook https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/key-signatures#key-sig-transpose
Apply the key of F major to your score. However, you should do this before you enter any notes, as some of them will otherwise have to be shifted in pitch.
This is a characteristic of transposing instruments. A Bb instrument has two more sharps (or fewer flats), an F instrument has one more flat and an Ab instrument has three more sharps than the key signature specifies.
A flute, a trombone, a piano or a tuba (and others), on the other hand, indicate the concert key, i.e. they are not transposing.
In reply to Apply the key of F major to… by HildeK
Tuba can be a transposing instrument. In the brass band tradition tubas are transposing in Eb or Bb and are written in treble clef. The OP is writing for euphonium which also is also written as a transposing instrument in the brass band tradition (in Bb, down a 9th).
In reply to Tuba can be a transposing… by SteveBlower
Yes, I was imprecise. The tuba and also the trombone (and others) are available in bass and treble clef. They are not normally transposing in bass clef. I was referring to the instruments listed under "General".
And there are other tunings for many other instruments.
In reply to Apply the key of F major to… by HildeK
HildeK is spot on, the key signatures in the pallet are at concert pitch but Bb Instruments are transposting.
F concert pitch is notated G at Bb Pitch.
In reply to Spot on, the key signatures… by rothers
Thank you rothers and Hildek. I set up a score at the main menu for Bb Trumpet and chose Key of G and ended up with D, two sharps. Then by going to the Key menu, I dragged the Key of F, one flat, across to my score and got back to one sharp, key of G. This is somewhat confusing for a beginner. I am assuming this is correct?
So I should have entered one flat F for a one sharp G score for Bb trumpet?
May I humbly suggest if the menu does not actually produce the key suggested because of the convention for the instrument chosen, that the user is alerted that what you see, is not what you get.
Or that if you choose a key for a Bb instrument, that the keys, as they appear and are chosen from the menu, are followed and the transposing convention is applied by Musescore in the back ground? So if I change instruments it applies the convention and adjusts for any required transposing automatically? (Which is what I thought Musescore had done in the past?)
Thanks to everyone else as well for their contributions.
In reply to Thank you rothers and Hildek… by RobWLakes
Actually, set up you trumpet part with no key to begin with. Then make sure the "Concert pitch" box at the bottom right is not checked. Then select the first measure of the piece and select one sharp from the key palette.
In reply to Actually, set up you trumpet… by bobjp
> and select one sharp
Select one flat! F major!
In reply to Thank you rothers and Hildek… by RobWLakes
> So I should have entered one flat F for a one sharp G score for Bb trumpet?
Yes, right!
> May I humbly suggest if the menu does not actually produce the key suggested
![ScreenShot 364.png]( "ScreenShot 364.png")
You get what have choosen. If you have a trumpet in Bb with a G key you must choose a F key for you score. And then you get a D key for alto sax, a C key for a horn in F, a G key for the trumpet and a F key for a trombone. That's why they are called transposing instruments. And the score was written in F maj!
BTW: They always play the same notes ...
If you press the concert key button, you will see this:
![ScreenShot 365.png]( "ScreenShot 365.png")
Now all are in the concert key. But no one of your musicans can't play that - with the right pitch!