The Whole Horn
A transposing instrument is one whose written notes do not match the concert pitch that sounds. The flute is not one of them. Read a written C and the audience hears concert C — the two are the same thing.
Instruments that read at concert pitch are sometimes called “C instruments,” and they are the ones a pianist can read alongside without converting anything.
For a concert-pitch instrument the table is the least interesting one in the band, and that is exactly the point — every row is the same note twice:
| Concert pitch (sounds) | Flute reads |
|---|---|
| Concert B♭ | B♭ |
| Concert E♭ | E♭ |
| Concert F | F |
| Concert C | C |
| Concert A♭ | A♭ |
| Concert G | G |
| Concert D | D |
This is why the flute is the instrument a director will ask to sound a tuning note or demonstrate a passage: what it plays is what everyone else has to match, with nothing to convert.
The flute is a concert-pitch instrument, so there is nothing to work out: a written C is concert C. The alto flute in G and the bass flute in C an octave lower are the transposing members of the family, but the ordinary C flute every band player holds is not one of them.
The standard written range of the flute is B3 to C7, written and sounding the same. That is the range parts are scored in and the range these pages and the app both use.
The flute reads at concert pitch, which makes it the reference the rest of the band tunes and transposes against. The fastest way to build fluency is to practise the twelve major scales in the instrument’s own written pitch, hearing each note as it truly sounds. See the flute scale-practice page, or read the method behind mastering all twelve keys.
The flute is in C. It is a concert-pitch instrument, so a written C sounds concert C.
No. Written pitch and sounding pitch are the same, so no transposition is needed to play from a concert-pitch part.
A written B♭ — the same note the director names, because the flute reads at concert pitch.
Yes, as far as pitch goes: piano music is written at concert pitch and so is the flute part. Only the range and the clef need checking.
The standard range is B3 to C7, written and sounding the same.
The Whole Horn plays all twelve major scales in the flute’s own pitch, with the fingering for every note.
Get the app → The full transposition chart