Transposition
To transpose my instrument (clarinet) I am only required to go up two half steps. For example, if I am told to play concert F, I will go up two half steps and the very first note of my scale will begin on G. As long as a Bb instrument player can remember the order of notes and that you must transpose, or move, two half steps up, it really shouldn't be very difficult. It only took me about two minutes to get that into my head because it's not very hard for us to transpose. Other instruments don't even have to transpose, they would just play the note of the scale they are given, and some transpose seven notes. Luckily for me I don't have to do that much. When I came into Newark Band as a freshmen I had no clue what transposition even meant or what it was, however, being in my fourth and final year in Newark High School Band I can transpose my instrument extremely fast.
The first two years in high school band I was still kind of lost because I never took the class very seriously. I discovered my lose for music my junior year in high school and really tried to apply myself more in band class and take time out of my day to actually play my instrument just because I wanted to. I would study my scales and my vocab, such as "transposition." We've done so much with transposing at this point that I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. Occasionally I do still have to glance up at the keyboard taped to the classroom wall just to make sure that I am actually transposing correctly because I tend to second guess myself. Being senior now, I can easily explain to anyone in my section what transposing is and how to do it. If you don't know how to transpose your instrument you will never learn how to play all of your scales correctly, which I never knew until I figured out my passion for music. I always thought I could just play the music and wing it in class, but there's actually so much more and i'm extremely glad I've applied myself a lot more and taken the time to actually study music because I can help other kids that are curious about these kinds of things in class. My little brother just signed up for band at his school and I'm excited to help him learn everything that he needs to know, definition wise.
The first two years in high school band I was still kind of lost because I never took the class very seriously. I discovered my lose for music my junior year in high school and really tried to apply myself more in band class and take time out of my day to actually play my instrument just because I wanted to. I would study my scales and my vocab, such as "transposition." We've done so much with transposing at this point that I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. Occasionally I do still have to glance up at the keyboard taped to the classroom wall just to make sure that I am actually transposing correctly because I tend to second guess myself. Being senior now, I can easily explain to anyone in my section what transposing is and how to do it. If you don't know how to transpose your instrument you will never learn how to play all of your scales correctly, which I never knew until I figured out my passion for music. I always thought I could just play the music and wing it in class, but there's actually so much more and i'm extremely glad I've applied myself a lot more and taken the time to actually study music because I can help other kids that are curious about these kinds of things in class. My little brother just signed up for band at his school and I'm excited to help him learn everything that he needs to know, definition wise.