The Whole Horn
A transposing instrument is one whose written notes do not match the concert pitch that sounds. The trombone 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) | Trombone 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 trombone 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 trombone reads at concert pitch in bass clef, so a written C is concert C. It is often called a B♭ instrument because its tubing is in B♭ and its slide positions are built on that harmonic series — but that describes the instrument, not the notation. The exception is British brass-band writing, where the tenor trombone is notated in treble clef as a B♭ transposing instrument sounding a major ninth lower.
The standard written range of the trombone is E2 to B♭4, written and sounding the same. That is the range parts are scored in and the range these pages and the app both use.
The trombone 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 full trombone fingering chart — every note with its written and concert pitch — or read the method behind mastering all twelve keys.
The trombone 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 trombone reads at concert pitch.
Yes, as far as pitch goes: piano music is written at concert pitch and so is the trombone part. Only the range and the clef need checking.
The standard range is E2 to B♭4, written and sounding the same.
The Whole Horn plays all twelve major scales in the trombone’s own pitch, with the fingering for every note.
Get the app → The full transposition chart