[ehrgie]

Ok I am currently working on Yardbird Suite with my yas62ii, the song is in the key of D as I have it, I am pretty sure the actual song starts at least several whole tones lower. I haven't done any transcribing since the early 80's and I am a little unsure how to proceed in dropping the song to where I would like it.

If I drop the starting note which is high D and everything that follows by one whole note, how does the key change and how do I facilitate that change.


Song as I have it

D A B | C Bb F G A | A A F# First line

C G A | Bb G# D# F G | G G E Revised first line dropping one whole tone



Ok how would the above change in the song affect the key that is my basic question. If I change the song 2 whole tones how will that affect the key, if I change it 4.5 whole tones, etc..


I will have some more questions concerning transposing between keys but for right now I am doing ok with that. Thanks in advance for any help.

Jay

 

[eddierich]

Yardbird Suite is in the key of C concert or A on the alto. This tune starts on the root so when you started it on D, you were writing it in the key of D. If you want to write in the key Charlie Parker wrote/played it, you'll need to move your first pitch down to A.
Are you using a recording for your transcription or are you doing it from memory?

 

[csax]

I'm a bit unsure about the question, so I'll refrain from getting on my soapbox to say "Well, if you played a sax in C...."

Except to say that "If you drop the starting note which is high D and everything that follows by one whole note", and you say the key is 'D', then the key will become 'C'.

Dropping the key by a whole note usually means a loss of two sharps in the key signature (or the addition of two flats in the key signature if the original key is C, and the substitution of a flat for a sharp if the original key is G).

So, in theory, for each whole tone you go down, you lose two sharps, or add two flats, to the key signature. Same going up, you lose two flats, or add two sharps for each whole tone up. Except of course when you have F and G as neighbours, in which case it's one flat and one sharp in the equation....

Wish I hadn't started answering this......

 

[ehrgie]

Ok I am taking the above from Jazz & Blues Playalong Solos for alto sax, it is by Hal Leonard and until the omnibook I ordered comes I was fooling with this. But starting it so high above the original didn't sound that great to me, in case I have forgotten more than I thought the piece is written with 2 sharps F and C of course, which would be the key of D correct? They then proceed with this piece to start it at "high d" as described above, I would like to bring it down but I am unsure how to facilitate the key change.

I understand what you are saying about it being in concert C because the alto is pitched 1.5 tones below C, that really doesn't have much bearing on my question. However that it starts on A and is in the key of A is a great help, now I need to move the piece I have in D down to A. So that move would mean 5 half tones, what affect would that have on the key and why.

I would greatly appreciate any help, thank you very much for the help given.

Jay

 

[csax]

Jay - I'm confused (not hard...) Do you mean that you have a recording, and if you play along with it on alto, the first note you play is an alto fingered 'D' ? (i.e. concert F-nat)

And you'd like to transcribe it so the first note is an alto A (concert C) ?

All that would happen if you transcribe into the key of A, is that all the G's would be G#, the key signature would have one extra sharp.

 

[hakukani]

Eddierich is correct. Original recorded alto key for Yardbird Suite starts on A. Key is three sharps, even though the first note of the second measure is G natural.

Concert key is C. I suspect the version that is in D is the Bb (tenor sax, trumpet) version.

 

[Agent27]

It look like you're reading a tenor chart instead of an alto one. If you want to play it in the correct alto key you need to move everything down a Perfect Fourth (P4). A P4 is the same as 5 half steps or 2 whole steps + a half step.

If you moved all the notes down a P4, that would move the key down a P4 as well. Then notes D and A would become A and E, and the Key of D would become the key of A.

And Jay, what you're talking about is "transposing". That's when you rewrite music from key to a different key. "Transcribing" is different. That's when you listen to a recording and write down the music on paper.

 

[csax]

....Ok I am taking the above from Jazz & Blues Playalong Solos for alto sax, it is by Hal Leonard and until the omnibook I ordered comes I was fooling with this.......

Probably not a tenor chart then, but Jay, are you talking about

a) transcribing (writing down the music by listening to a recorded source) - or

b) transposing (you've printed music in one key, and you want to write it out in a different key ?

Or a bit of both ?

 

[bari-gadje]

You have a Bb version there. Take it up a fifth. If you come down with that tune you will run out of range. I'm looking at a low A in the third last bar of the version I have here. It looks as if it will sit nicely on the staff for the alto. Have fun with it.

 

[ehrgie]

Ok I suppose I really don't know much about saying things the proper way any longer, sigh this is gonna be a pita mountain to climb, c'est la vie. Anyway I am trying to TRANSPOSE a piece I have, the cover says it is written for alto sax here is a URL for the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Blues-Ha...404008-7677249?ie=UTF8&qid=1184544858&sr=11-1

In essence the piece is not written in the same key as the original, when I am trying to work out these runs it would sure help if I could just listen to charlie then try it myself in the same key with the same arrangement. And listening to the worthless cd that is included is about no help, it isn't even a sax playing but some type of synth that doesn't imitate a sax at all.

Please forgive me if I do not know how to say what I want to say, it has been a long while, I even have to re-memorize the scales, serves me right I guess for stopping in the first place. I do find the piece kind of fun, although when we start to get into the meat of the piece, the runs, it is tough.


Jay.

 

[csax]

ehrgie - I'm surprised that maybe someone like bari-gadje (an Eb sax man himself ?), with a copy in the right key hasn't offered to scan theirs and email it to you (or photocopy/post)......

I'd do it if I had it, to save you all the trouble, and to help out a fellow sax-player !

Hint, hint........ (anyone listening ?)

 

[NotPortlyNJ]

I have that very same Jazz and Blues book and they have, on occasion, taken the liberty of transposing certain songs to different keys. Examples in the book:
Harlem Nocturne in Dm (Fm concert). I usually see this in Em (Gm concert)
Yardbird Suite in D (F concert)
I would say the same of Moonglow, but that song has probably been played in pretty much every key at some point.

 

[ehrgie]

Yeah I have come to see that they have placed the songs in keys that is convenient for them I suppose, or easier perhaps for beginning students. I have received a copy of the original through purchasing an Omnibook, oh well. Jay.

 

[Dr G]

Whew, that's a relief.

Now, tell me. What's up with the handlebars higher than your shoulders? Did someone steal your seat?

 

[nobhead1]

Now, tell me. What's up with the handlebars higher than your shoulders? Did someone steal your seat?

ROFL - I didn't have the bottle to ask him.

 

[Dr G]

I've been riding BMWs for so long that I couldn't resist.

 

[ehrgie]

Grin, look at the picture, does it look like the bike is inside the building, well yes it does especially if you look at the window frame. Anyway when we went to DisneyWorld in May of this year they had a store in Downtown Disney where you could take pictures sitting on 2 different harley's, as I am somewhat short 5'7" that is as far up as I could get unless I stood on either bike, and my wife in the "bitch" seat was crowding me as well, she's not fat but has become accustomed to being comfortable at my expense, you folks with rings on your 3rd finger of the left hand will understand I am sure . Now while in the middle of reading these posts I was chuckling and she called and asked what I was laughing about I told her, now I need to change my avatar, oh well. Btw I am assuming "bottle" means "nerve" in American English, unsure but with contextual guessing that's what I came up with. Jay.

 

[Dr G]

Glad to see you have a sense of humor, Jay.

Welcome to SotW!