384: Changing key signatures enharmonically for transposing instruments

Sometimes it can be useful to have a bit of control over the way Sibelius transposes transposing instruments. For example, if a piece is in E major, an alto sax part in Eb should come out in C# major (7 sharps). It'd usually be kinder on the player to rewrite this section in Db major (5 flats).

Here's how you can do this in Sibelius 2 and 3.

You should normally transpose an alto sax in Eb part up a major 6th, because Eb to C is a major 6th. So E major comes out as C# major. If you want it to come out in Db major instead, you're really saying that you want to transpose it up a diminished 7th. This would mean having a saxophone in D# instead of in Eb (because D# to C is a diminished 7th).

So the key to this is to change the transposition of the saxophone to D# at the point where you want that transposition to apply.

If your whole piece needs a saxophone in D#, this is straightforward. Choose Create > Other > Transposition Change; in the dialog choose In Parts or Transposing Score, and choose written middle C sounds as D# ... in octave number 3. Then click at the beginning of the sax line. The key signature will change, as will the notes in the part, all to their enharmonic equivalents. The pitches themselves haven't changed, of course - you've just changed the way they're written.

But if you want the transposition to apply to a section of the piece only, it's a bit more complicated. You will see if you try that if you change the transposition of an instrument in the middle somewhere, a new key signature will be created that you don't want.

You can get round this by temporarily changing your staff properties to 'no key signatures'. Use Create > Other > Staff Type Change > Pitched > 5 lines (no key signatures), and click on the staff somewhere before your transposition change. This will remove the redundant key signature that you didn't want, but it will also remove subsequent key signatures. To get them back, use Create > Other > Staff Type Change > Pitched > 5 lines, and click at the point where you want the key signatures to reappear.

If you find it difficult to get all of these things in exactly the right place in the score, you might find it easier to put the transposition change one note before you need it. In this case you'll need to change the transposition of that note yourself (by using Return on the main keyboard).

You can download this score (in Sibelius 2 format) to see an example at work. Make sure View > Hidden Objects is switched on. You can see the two staff type changes and the transposition change, which are all labeled. Experiment with what happens when you delete these.

This article contributed by Neil Sands.