Transposing to C Major

Question: How can I transpose a hymn in any key into the key of C? My friend plays the organ by ear and can only play in the key of C, so I need to know how to transpose to the key of C... thank you!

Albert's reply: Your friend needs to learn to play in all keys! That said, let me give you a formula that will help both you and your friend.

For starters, you need to know all your piano scales. Start with the major scales for piano, and be able to play them blindfolded.

As far as transposing is concerned, the reason you absolutely must know all your scales is so you can determine the scale degree of each note in your music. Once you know all your scales cold, transposing won't pose nearly as much of a problem for you.

In addition, you should know all common chord progressions in all keys. This will make transposing far easier.

The key to transposing is not to think in terms of the interval from the original to the new key. (For example, if you're transposing from G major to C major, don't think down a perfect fifth.)

Instead, relate every note of the piece to its tonic, the first scale degree. Using G major as our example, G is the tonic. The second note, A, is scale degree 2; B is scale degree 3; and scale degrees 4 through 7 are C, D, E and F-sharp.

Then simply play the scale degrees in the new key. For example, if you see B in the original key of G major, you should recognize that it's scale degree 3. If the new key is C major, scale degree 3 is E.

Once you know all your scales and practice transposing simple pieces, you'll get a feel for it, and it might even become fairly intuitive. Transposing is one of my favorite ear training exercises, and it's one of the best ways I know to check whether you really know a piece from the inside out or whether you're merely relying on muscle memory.