Partituras transpositadas

para armonícas diatonicas

According to Wikipedia, “a transposing instrument is an instrument whose pitch does not correspond to the pitch of the note written on the musical score. This is the case with the double bass, the guitar, and many wind instruments. Generally, within the same family of instruments (clarinets, saxophones, etc.), the same fingering corresponds to the same written note, even if the actual sound is different. This allows musicians to switch from one instrument to another within the same family without having to memorize changes in fingering.”

For the Richter diatonic harmonica family, the same combination of [hole number, draw or blow, and whether a bend or overnote is used] corresponds to the same written note on the musical score, even though the actual sound is different depending on the key of the harmonica.

This makes it possible to change keys easily and to write or read sheet music without having to memorize how to produce the 38 notes on each of the twelve diatonic harmonicas.

A transposed score is written as if the harmonica were in C, even if it is in another key, and there is no key signature.

Example: The 4th hole draw on a C harmonica produces the note D5 (international notation).

If I read a D5 on the staff, I know that I must draw on hole 4 of my harmonica, regardless of its key.

The staff shows D5, so I draw on hole 4. The harmonica is indicated as being in F#, so the actual note heard is G#5 (or Ab5).

It is just as easy to read and write as tabs.

The C harmonica is the only one whose sheet music indicates the actual sounding notes.

The actual note is D5, just as it is on the transposed score.

Presentation of the 38 notes of a Richter diatonic harmonica, regardless of its key.

The following diagram is valid for all keys of diatonic harmonica.

Below each note, for ease of understanding, I have added the tablature number indicating how to produce that note. These are the actual notes played when using a C harmonica.

Over time, you should learn only the 38 notes of the C harmonica and how to produce them.

The key of the harmonica to be used to play the piece must be specified at the top of the transposed sheet music.

Example

With the help of the tabs

Here is the sheet music for Amazing Grace, transposed to the key of C and played on a Low F diatonic harmonica.

I have added some tabs indications below each note to help you gradually learn which [hole number, draw or blow, and whether a bend or overnote is required] corresponds to the note written on the sheet music.

The goal is to practise reading the sheet music without this assistance (that is, to know which hole to play and how to produce each of the 38 available notes on the C harmonica illustrated in the previous diagram).

Without the help of tabs

Here is the sheet music for Amazing Grace, transposed to the key of C and played on a Low F diatonic harmonica.

In this version, you do not have the tabs provided below each note, which means you need to know the correspondence between [hole number, draw or blow, whether there is a bend or overnote] and the note written on the sheet music for a Richter-tuned C diatonic harmonica.