Transpose Calculator

In short Transposing is moving every note by the same number of semitones, and the important thing about it is that it is a multiplication rather than an addition. Going up two semitones multiplies every frequency by 2^(2÷12), about 1.1225 — so C4 at 261.63 Hz becomes D4 at 293.66, a rise of 32 Hz, while C6 at 1046.5 Hz becomes D6 at 1174.7, a rise of 128. The musical distance is identical and the frequency change is four times larger, because pitch is geometric. Every relationship inside the music survives untouched, which is why a song can be moved into a singer's comfortable range without altering anything about how it works. Two semitones down is the usual adjustment for a melody that sits slightly too high, and three or four for one that is badly out of range. On a guitar, a capo does exactly this in one direction only: a capo at the fifth fret raises everything by five semitones, so the shapes stay the same and the sounding pitch moves up. There is no such thing as a capo that lowers pitch — going down means retuning the instrument or playing different shapes. Transposing instruments work the other way round: a B♭ trumpet sounds a whole tone below the written note, so a part written in C sounds in B♭, which is why orchestral scores are full of parts in different keys that all sound correct together.