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How can I transpose one (a single) staff?

For a video tutorial about Transpositions, you can see our page at https://www.notation.com/TutorialVideos.php

For "transposing a single staff", we'll need to differentiate between 3 different transposing operations that you can do:

1. "Transpose the key" - this is where you transpose the score (in part, by using a "region", or entirely) to a different key, say from D to G, which then shifts the notes up or down. You can use "Staff/Transpose key" to do this.

2. "Transpose an instrument key" - transpose the key of just one staff, such as a Bb clarinet, by a given number of steps, so that the key reads "naturally" for the particular instrument. You can use "Staff/Transpose instrument" to do this, and it shifts the notes for just the one staff, and also displays the changed key signature on just that one staff.

3. Actually change the note pitches of a particular staff. You cannot do this with Musician, but you can with Composer. To change the pitch of the notes by an octave (or other interval), you can do the following:

(1.) Click the "Staff select" arrow of the staff in which you wish to change the pitch of the notes.

(2.) After the staff has been highlighted, use the "Region/Convert region to . . . selection of notes". This will 'select' all the notes in the region so they can be manipulated.

(3.) To change the pitch by an octave, you can use "P + Page Down" key combination ("P" for pitch, "Page Down" for octave down) to change all those notes down one octave. (Page up works to shift notes an octave up. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to move pitches by a semitone with each click).

(4.) If the clef remains treble (bass), just double-click it and change the clef sign to bass (treble).

In Musician you can change the notation of an alto part (for example) to show the part as a bass part, but it will still sound as an alto part. To do this type of transposition, you can use the "Staff/Transpose Instrument" for the staff in question, and simply transpose the staff by one octave.

If you have further questions about transpositions, please see the User's Guide (Help/User's Guide) and use the Index to find "transpose".