Concert vs. transposed pitch

Dorico Pro Help

Product
Dorico Pro
Version
5.1
Language
English
Document type
Webhelp
ft:openMode
fluidtopics

Layouts in Dorico Pro can use concert or transposed pitch. This affects the pitches and key signatures on staves belonging to transposing instruments.

Concert pitch

When music is in concert pitch, all notes are written as they sound. This means that players with transposing instruments reading music in concert pitch must transpose the music themselves. For example, if a clarinet in B reads a C in concert pitch, they must play the note D on their instrument to produce the sounding note C.

Transposed pitch

When music is in transposed pitch, the notes written are the ones each instrument must play in order to produce the desired sounding pitch. For example, if a clarinet in B reads a D in transposed pitch, the pitch that sounds from the instrument is C.

Transposing layouts automatically transpose key signatures and chord symbols according to the transposition of the instrument or layout. Transposing and concert pitch layouts can also use different clefs.