transpose manpage

COMMAND

transpose -- Transpose **kern data.

transpose [-b # | -k tonic | -t interval] [-o #] [input] [> output]

-b #		Transpose the input data by the Base-40 interval number, for example 6 means up a major second and -5 means down a minor second.
-k tonic		Transpose **kern data in the input so that the first scale degree of the musical key is is transposed to the tonic pitch. For example, -k f means transpose the music to F Major or Minor. Key interpretations are required in the data in order to use this option.
-t interval		Transpose the input data by the given musical interval. The interval name consists of three components: (1) a direction with a minus or optional plus sign, (2) a letter indicating the quality of the interval: A = augmented, M= major, m=minor, d = diminished, and P = perfect, and (3) the diatonic interval number in the range of a unison to a ninth. For example -t +P5 means transpose up a perfect fifth, while -t -m6 means transpose down a minor sixth.
-o #		Add an additional octave transposition to the -b or -t transposition. -o 1 means up an octave, while -o -2 would mean down two octaves.

The transpose program will transpose musical data by the specified interval, or will calculate the correct interval in order to transpose the music to a specified key. Here is an example of transposing a musical phrase up by a Major second:

    transpose -t M2 sarabande-c.krn > sarabande-d.krn
 

Where the input and output files are as follows:

sarabande-c.krn **kern *clefF4 *k[b-e-a-] *c: *M3/4 {(8G 8E-) 8BBn 8C 4AA- =2 (8c 8A-) 8En 8F 4BBn =3 (8d 8A-) 8En 8F 8GG 8G =4 (8F 8E-) 8BBn 8C 4CC} = *-

sarabande-d.krn **kern *clefF4 *k[b-] *d: *M3/4 {(8A 8F) 8C# 8D 4BB- =2 (8d 8B-) 8F# 8G 4C# =3 (8e 8B-) 8F# 8G 8AA 8A =4 (8G 8F) 8C# 8D 4DD} = *-

In terms of traditional music notation, here is the input phrase and the output phrase respectively:



If you know what the new key should be, you can have the transpose program calculate the correct transposition interval for you. To transpose the music from C Minor into D Minor will yield the same result as illustrated above:

    transpose -k d sarabande-c.krn > sarabande-d.krn
 

More example usages of the transpose program are avaliable on the transpose examples page

trans

The compiled transpose program can be downloaded for the following platforms:
• Linux (i386 processors) compiled on 4 Feb 2008.
• Mac OSX (version 10.2 and higher) compiled on 6 Sep 2004.
• Windows compiled on 1 Jun 2006.

The source code for the program was last modified on 24 Feb 2005.