transposing

1. Used of instruments, which are not written as they sound, but always in the key of C major. This is done so that the player’s ease and accuracy may be insured, by keeping the fingering, etc., the same in all keys, the key of the instr. being changed by changing the instr. entirely or merely changing a crook. The extent of this transposition is the interval between the key of the instr. and the key of C major. So an instr. in B, sounds a half-tone lower than written; an instr. in Eb sounds a major 6th below or a minor 3d above the actual note. 2. t. piano, etch one in which, by a mechanism, the action is shifted to higher or lower pitch. t.-scale. Vide moprs.