Transposition Tool

Choose your instrument, enter written notes, and transpose them to concert pitch or another instrument. The notes change; their sounding pitches stay the same.

Transpose from

Use C4, F#4, Bb3, double accidentals, R for a rest, and | between bars. Without an octave, notes use octave 4. Up to 64 notes. This transposes pitches, not rhythms or uploaded scores.

Transpose to

Hear the concert pitch

The selected drone sound plays the selected note's actual sounding pitch. Concert A is 440 Hz.

Instrument samples: FluidR3 GM by Frank Wen and contributors, CC BY 3.0. Instrument timbres are held as steady synthesized tones. Sound credits

Pitch and clef are different

Concert pitch is the sound you hear. An instrument in B-flat sounds B-flat when it reads C. Octave-transposing instruments are included: tenor saxophone sounds an octave lower than B-flat clarinet's same written note.

Treble, bass, alto, and tenor clefs change where notes sit on the staff; choosing a different clef does not change their sound. Viola normally uses alto clef. Bassoon normally uses bass clef and also uses tenor clef for higher passages.

Each note shows its own accidental; this tool does not apply a key signature. It preserves interval spelling, including double accidentals. Transposition does not guarantee a passage is within an instrument's playable range. Extreme notes are labelled instead of drawn with excessive ledger lines.

Yamaha's explanation of transposing instruments