Transposing Melodies

[Simon]

Hi, everyone,
I just wanted to ask a question about transposing melodies written for other instruments so that they can be played on the recorder. I play Alto, and I would say that my preference is for the lower end of the range.

My first approach was to look at the original melody, and transpose it up or down so that the lowest note is an F. This works fine, but sometimes results in the new melody being in a less common key.

I was just wondering how others approach this. Do you just transpose the piece to the lowest note, or do you favour moving it to the nearest common key?

I’m looking forward to your responses,
Simon

[Simon]

Wow, such empty lol.

[Dick Mattson]

Yeah, sometimes it is pretty dead around here. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who answers some types of questions, so I often wait a while to see if anybody else shows up.

But, to answer your question, I might do a couple of things. However, transposing the melody so that the lowest note is F is not one of them. Generally, the original keys used for the music are easier to handle than those where the lowest note just happens to be F.

I might play it on soprano or tenor instead of alto.

And/or,

I might just play sections that contain the parts that go too high down an octave. For parts that go too low, I might play them up an octave.

–Dick–

[Author]

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