Transposition

Every piece of music should mean tones to the student, not merely keyboard fingering adjustments. Transposition should be based on this principle. The early stages of transposition consist merely in finding the five finger positions in various keys and then playing the transposed melody with the same fingering as in the original key. Ear and muscular memory aid with this process.

At first the transpositions should be to keys made familiar by the pieces the students have previously studied, but very soon students will enjoy exploring the keyboard to find other possible transpositions. For the first of these new keys the piano teacher could show the five finger position. She may then play the phrase in several other keys, calling attention to the similarity of tonal effect. The student is then encouraged to find the five finger positions and play the phrase in other keys. The new five finger positions should be discovered chiefly by ear. Let the step and half-step relationship come as a result of these ear training explorations rather than as preliminary directions. Occasionally a student must be guided by such directions, but only when the teacher observes that he is becoming impatient or discouraged.

The contrast between major and minor five finger positions provides a definite place for clarifying the step and half-step relationships on the keyboard.

Melodies involving the entire scale are naturally more difficult to transpose than the five finger melodies. Even so, let the ear be the chief guide, and reserve mechanical directions as a last resort. In these melodies, it is most helpful for the student to play the scale of the key into which he intends to transpose the selection.

For more information about learning transposition, contact Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio.