Transposing Music with the Transposition Software FORTE [Updated for 2021]

By Charlotte A. F. Farley

Using FORTE software's transposition feature to transpose a piece of music by interval

My dad, a former musical director and guitarist for acts like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and The Shirelles, always told me this…

If you’re going to make it in music, you should learn as many songs in as many keys as possible. 

He has a valid point. But not everybody can instantly transpose music. Then again, not everybody needs to, especially if you have a transposition software that essentially does the hard work for you.

FORTE’s software offers you three super-simple ways to transpose:

  1. Key transposition allows you to easily change the key and range of an entire piece. This is great for composers composing for a specific voice. Now they can quickly and easily customize a song and change the key to suit the performer.
  2. Interval transposition will take a passage and move it up or down with all of the correct key signature/accidental markings. This drastically cuts down input time for passages that are the same but in a different key area, and is ideal for someone writing sequences.
  3. Instrument transposition is laid out to transpose any given line of the music for a particular instrument. So, for a solo composer, they can write a melody, and then easily transpose it for whoever is available with the click of a button!

Just like the rest of the FORTE notation software, the transposition function is easy to experiment with and intuitive to use. You can read up on transposing with these tutorials here.

Want to check it out for yourself? Download your free 14-day trial of FORTE today!

24 replies
  1. Pam Purves
    Pam Purves says:

    I would like to invest in software that will transpose existing songs into a key that suits my view. Piano and guitar are the usual instruments.

    Thanks

    Reply
  2. Jay
    Jay says:

    Do you have software that transposes recorded music for another instrument? An example for me is playing my recording of Raunchy and getting the harmonica tabs. Do you have a program for transposing to several different instruments? Thanks!!

    Reply
  3. Leslie
    Leslie says:

    I have a lot of flute music that I would like to transpose for my euphonium. This means that it not only has to change from treble clef to base clef, but it also has to allow me to bring it down an octave or maybe half an octave for my limited range (so far) on the euphonium. Would this program be able to do this?

    Reply
    • FORTE Admin
      FORTE Admin says:

      Dear Leslie,
      thank you for your comment.
      You can transpose by instrument using FORTE Premium.
      You can change the clef and adjust the octaves as well.

      Kind regards,
      Your FORTE Team

      Reply
  4. Larry
    Larry says:

    Just started the trial period.

    How do I scan existing sheet music and then transpose it? Do you have a YouTube tutorial that explains this?

    Reply
  5. Luba Brodsky-Benefiel
    Luba Brodsky-Benefiel says:

    I was dismayed that the download links do not take you to a place to download a trail version. I use Chrome and the link just takes me to what looks like an empty page with a list of articles at the bottom.

    Reply
  6. Pegeen Eslami
    Pegeen Eslami says:

    I need to transpose section of a part for viola da gamba that has interspersed bass clef and alto clef for cello–eg all into bass clef or tenor clef. I watched the Youtube video above but am not sure I can do this with forte. In otherwords I need to be able to change just sections within a movement of a sonata –not the whole movement– so that it’s in a clef more easily readable by the cellist
    Can Forte do this?

    Reply
    • FORTE Admin
      FORTE Admin says:

      Dear Pegeen,
      thank you for your comment.
      Yes, you can do this kind of transposition with FORTE.
      Feel free to send the original file to the tech support at
      support (at) fortenotation (dot) com
      to get more details.

      Kind regards,
      Your FORTE team

      Reply
  7. peggy
    peggy says:

    How do you get the music into the software? I am looking for a software where you can scan in a piece of music like stay in the key of C and transpose it into Bb for a clarinet or whatever instrument key you need it to be in. Does this software do that, well I mean without a lot of technical Hoops that you have to jump through to get it to transpose?
    Peggy

    Reply
  8. Dana Prather
    Dana Prather says:

    I would like to transpose existing sheet music for the piano. It never fails that I find a song that I really want to play, but it seems to have 50 flats and sharps, or it seems that way. What software do I need to purchase so I can change it to a key I can play?

    Reply
  9. joseph marchozzi
    joseph marchozzi says:

    I am a tuba player that plays 4 different pitch tubas(BBb, CC, EEb, F) with their different fingerings and clefs. Is this software capable of producing the requisite clef and key changes if I use a different horn for a given piece?

    Reply
    • Barbara Mailbeck
      Barbara Mailbeck says:

      Hi Joseph,
      thank you for your comment.
      Yes, FORTE can produce the clef and key changes that are necessary.

      Kind regards,
      Barbara

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*