Purpose of Piano Transcription
Piano transcription is converting music originally written for other instruments into a form that can be read and played by pianists. This can be done by hand on paper or with computer software that creates musical notation. Musicians sometimes transcribe songs and other musical works to help them learn the music, but it is also used for academic research and as part of the process of creating new music. The first step in piano transcription involves understanding the structure of musical notation.
The lines and spaces of a musical staff are home to various symbols including notes, and the height of a note determines its pitch. If a note is higher than the 5th ledger line above the bass staff or lower than the 1st ledger line below the treble staff, it is considered to be sharp or flat respectively. A note’s pitch can also be changed by using accidentals, which are either sharp or flat keys.
When a key on a piano is pressed, the resulting sound is not just one frequency of sound vibration, but a composite of multiple sound vibrations at different mathematically related frequencies. These are called harmonics, and the lower the frequency of a harmonic, the more pronounced its contribution to the overall sound. Only certain sets of harmonics “fuse together” in human listening, and this is what causes us to perceive a single pitch. The harmonics must be within 1.5% of each other in order for this to happen, and the exact combination of harmonics that fuse together varies from person to person.
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What is the Purpose of Piano Transcription?
Once a set of overlapping frequencies is detected, a mathematical algorithm can then reconstruct the original note. This can be done by dividing the total frequency of the composite into its individual parts, and identifying which harmonics are present. The result of this is a musical score with the pitches represented by each musical symbol on the staff.
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The most common type of transcription is a song or piece of music that has been written to be played on the piano. This is often referred to as a piano arrangement, although it can be transcribed for any instrument. If the transcriber is not directly copying a performance (usually from a recording) note for note, however, it can’t be considered a true transcription and would more accurately be described as an arrangement.
A good way to practice piano transcription is to transpose the music into a different key. This forces the transcriber to think about how the music is working together in relation to its key, rather than just focusing on the individual notes themselves. For example, it is possible to transcribe a piece of music into all 12 keys, which can be helpful in helping the transcriber develop their understanding of how to play a piece of music in different keys. This is a skill that is very important for all musicians to master.
