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🔁 To swap order 🔄 To move or shift 🎵 To change key 📊 Swapped rows and columns
to transpose

to transpose

1 7.2
Change the key of a song to make it higher or lower
  • verb
  • /trænˈspoʊz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : transponer
  • Transpose it into my key.
  • transpose into another key
  • transpose the melody
  • transpose the music

Examples

  • If we got a piece of music in bass, we would transpose it into treble for the other instruments.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • For elementary or beginning strings, the warm-up can be transposed to the key of D major.

    Academic text (1996)

  • You may have to transpose the melody for your students.

    Academic text (1995)

  • If the range of the song is awkward for you or your students, transpose the melody up or down until it is comfortable for the voice.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Band directors accustomed to working in the keys of B-flat and E-flat may wish to transpose passages from band compositions in these keys to more singer-friendly keys.

    Academic text (1996)

  • To make it easier for everyone to sing, you can transpose the song to a lower key.

  • If you find a song too high to sing, try to transpose it down a couple of notes.

  • Musicians often transpose pieces to accommodate different instruments or vocal ranges.

Synonyms

to modulate
vsto transpose
  • Specialized
1 7.4

Change a piece of music from one key to another

changes the overall key for performance rather than within the piece
to rekey
vsto transpose
  • Specialized
7.1

To change a song's key to make it higher or lower

affects the piece so it is played written or sung higher or lower

How Much

to transpose
  • Specialized
1 7.2
to rekey
  • Specialized
7.1

Surface Forms

transpose infinitive
transposed past
transposed past participle
transposing present participle
transposes third person singular

Morphology

transpose = pose (semi-transparent) = trans + pose

The metaphorical extension 'move across' applies to changing musical pitch (key), but this is a domain-specific sense.

Etymology

Transpose comes from trans- 'across' and ponere 'to put', the same root as position, so to transpose music is to 'put' the notes 'across' into a higher or lower key. This explains why transposing a song changes its pitch to suit voices or instruments.