Why I don't usually transpose unless it is an OC(original composition) of mine

I find myself asking, be it as a composer or as an arranger this question:

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Would it sound better if it was transposed?

My general go to response to this question is no, for multiple reasons, Here they are:

• Composer's intent, be it mine or somebody elses
• General tendency to stay in the original key in an arrangement
• Transposition could in theory make things harder
• Changing keys changes the character of the piece

As a composer, whatever key I decide on at first, I tend to stick with it as my home key. That doesn't mean that I won't make a distant modulation, but if I do, I tend to find my way back again. Occasionally, I will design the piece so that it has a picardy third at the end or its inverse. But the vast majority of my minor key pieces end in the tonic minor, even long pieces such as sonatas. As an arranger, I almost always feel that the best key for the arrangement is that of the original piece. There is only 1 exception to that for me. That one being difficult keys. If for example I come across a piece that I want to arrange and it is in F# major, I will almost always transpose it(that is of course, unless I am arranging for piano). If I want to keep at least 1 sharp, I will transpose it up to G major. If I want to keep its dreamy quality, I will transpose it down to F major. If I'm arranging for strings, that supports transposing up to G major. If I'm arranging for woodwinds, that supports transposing down to F major

Major to minor transposition is harder(be it parallel or relative or less closely related) and usually only reserved for my own works, where I might start in a major key, go to a minor key to represent some dramatic event, and then find my way back to home, back to the major key to represent triumph over adversity. Of course, there are other ways I can express this as well such as dynamic changes or tempo changes, and I will often do these simultaneous with or in close succession to the key change. Also, at least in theory, transposition could make things harder for the players. Like what if my gut instinct when the bass goes out of range was to transpose the entire piece? And what if the piece was in say G major? I would probably get this sort of reaction:

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Why did you even transpose it to Ab major? Just because the bass notes went out of range? That is ridiculous. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? It is much better to change articulations say from arco to pizzicato or from staccato to legato or to simply add a lower range instrument than to transpose from the simple key of G major, to the more difficult key of Ab major!

I might be exaggerating it a bit, but that is just to show that transposition could in fact make it harder for the players. Last but not least, transposition changes the character of the piece. Consider one of the most dramatic pieces in existence, Beethoven's fifth. Now, let's say that for whatever reason, you decide to transpose it to D minor. Well, that is going to lead to total failure to get across Beethoven's intentions. Going from C minor to D minor, would mean that the first movement goes from this powerful angry mood to more of a sad mood or worse yet, make it actually sound like it is supposed to be in a major key. I actually have a bit of evidence to back this up, namely, an arrangement for 4 flutes(or groups of flutes) and piano.

The MIDI audio is not all that good, but it illustrates my point. You still have the drama of dissonance and the drama of sudden dynamics, as you would in any Beethoven example. But the drama that is related to the key of C minor itself is gone. The first theme now sounds more sad than angry and overall, it has more of a major key tendency than a minor key tendency. It sounds more like it is F major than D minor. Now compare this to another arrangement of the same movement that stays in Beethoven's original key, also with a piano:

The arrangement that stays in Beethoven's original key of C minor captures much more of Beethoven's original intention of a dramatic first movement in fewer notes than the arrangement that was transposed to D minor. Of course, this is the extreme of character change but that just shows how transposition can make a very dramatic piece sound not dramatic at all, without having to change to a major key to get that effect.

These are reasons that I avoid transposition unless absolutely necessary. If other changes don't cut it or if the key is hard for the instruments that I am arranging the piece for, then I will transpose, but otherwise, I prefer not to transpose when arranging. When composing, whether or not I transpose and whether I stay in major, stay in minor, or switch from major to minor or vice versa is completely up to me as is the distance of the relationship. But in arrangements, I usually do not transpose. I especially would prefer to not have to transpose when arranging a piece that is supposed to get dramatic feelings across for reasons already mentioned.

What do you think of my reasoning behind avoiding transposition as much as possible outside of your original works?

1 hour ago, caters said:

Going from C minor to D minor, would mean that the first movement goes from this powerful angry mood to more of a sad mood or worse

You said a lot of stuff here, but I'm going to mainly focus on this in my post.

Despite the tortured wishes of people like Jacob Collier, this isn't a thing. If you take a piece of music that was in C minor, for piano, and then perform it up one whole step, it doesn't suddenly sound "more or less X". Especially if the audience is not intimately familiar with the piece.

Specifically because the "X" is entirely subjective and the description only makes sense within your own mind. Key changes within a piece only seem to create some sort of emotional effect because they contrast what came before it. This effect is often more pronounced because this often accompanies a change in the rhythm, or other established norms in the piece up until then. 

"Key" by definition, is entirely relative because intervals are relative.

There are plenty of good reasons to transpose an existing work when you're adapting it for a different ensemble apart from that which it was originally written. Ranges, ease of playing, and timbrel differences. For example, if the original key of X melody line was in a key that would be most suited to the lower range of the oboe, then you should probably transpose it up because it's probably going to sound terrible in the low register. Tin whistles? You're going to want to stay in either E minor or D major on most whistles not just so you don't have to half-hole, but because the upper range is tough on the ears after not-too-long and requires more airflow.

Generally speaking, if you can shift around the key, and run into no timbrel, play-ability or range issues, then it doesn't actually matter if you've transposed it or not.

Because this whole "X key sounds more X than Y key" is nonsense. 

59 minutes ago, caters said:

What do you think of my reasoning behind avoiding transposition as much as possible outside of your original works?

Well, I'd say the important thing to consider is your instrumentation. 

For instance: high notes on an instrument's register will always sound high, and low notes on an instrument's register will always sound low, no matter how high/low the note actually is.

For that reason, there may have differences in timbre (and therefore feel) if you transpose a piece you're arranging, but that's not determined by the key, but by what instruments are playing what parts.

What I mean is: you may get the same point across in diferent keys, depending on what instruments you are using.

1 hour ago, caters said:

Well, that is going to lead to total failure to get across Beethoven's intentions

It may even be necessary to transpose (not due to instrument's ranges) but due to our perception over the extreme registers of each instrumentation.

I hope it makes sense. 

Best wishes, Jean.

I think @AngelCityOutlaw and @Jean Szulc make good points.

1 hour ago, caters said:

Composer's intent, be it mine or somebody elses

I can't speak for every composer, but I'd wager the vast majority of compositions are in the specific key they're in because that's simply how the composer "heard" it in his/her head. However, I would agree that changing the key is compromising the composer's original "intent" of the piece. Whether that's good or bad I suppose is up to each person to decide.

1 hour ago, caters said:

General tendency to stay in the original key in an arrangement

I don't exactly know what you mean by this. Almost everyone would stay in the original key unless the instruments being arranged for can't play certain notes in the original. At that point, I would think physical limitations would take precedence over personal preference. Or I would question whether the instruments being arranged for are a good choice to begin with.

1 hour ago, caters said:

Transposition could in theory make things harder

Yes, and by that same token, it could make things easier (which is why many beginner piano books contain easy transpositions of songs in more "difficult" keys). Key signatures are arbitrary things, anyway. If everyone learned F# major when they first started learning to read music, then C major would be the difficult key. And besides, harder ≠ impossible. That's why there are such things as rehearsals.

1 hour ago, caters said:

Changing keys changes the character of the piece

From previous interactions on this forum, I know this is important to you. @AngelCityOutlaw has already tackled this one, though. There is no "periodic table of keys" that links an emotional state to each Western key signature. That would reduce music down to a science, where all a composer would have to do is string together a bunch of keys to give the emotion s/he wants. In reality, it's much more nuanced than that... because, as mentioned previously, it's all about the relative intervals of the music.

Ultimately, it's your decision whether to transpose or not. I don't think your arguments are very sound as to why you shouldn't transpose, but I think they're moot, anyway. If you don't want to transpose, then you don't have to. No explanation needed.

@Tónskáld

You don't think my arguments are very sound? Not even the one where I explain that the change of key changes character by using 2 arrangements of one of the most dramatic pieces in existence, Beethoven's fifth to illustrate it? The arrangement that was transposed to D minor(the one for flutes and piano) sounds completely different in character from the arrangement that wasn't transposed(the one for solo piano). Now while yes, this is partly due to the difference between flutes and piano and piano solo, I bet you, that if the flutes and piano arrangement was in the original C minor, there would be not nearly as big of a difference in character. In fact, the difference in character might be unnoticeable if both arrangements were in the original C minor.

The fact that the difference in character is so stark between the 2 arrangements I used to illustrate my point comes mainly from the transposition. Transposing from C minor to D minor turned this dramatic, angry first movement into a sad, barely dramatic first movement that sounds more like it is in F major than D minor. The instrument difference is much less of a factor than this transposition. That is more than just compromising Beethoven's intentions. It is crushing those intentions by leaving the drama of the key behind and just having the drama of dissonance and dynamics. All by transposing up a whole step from the original.

3 minutes ago, caters said:

@Tónskáld

You don't think my arguments are very sound? Not even the one where I explain that the change of key changes character by using 2 arrangements of one of the most dramatic pieces in existence, Beethoven's fifth to illustrate it? The arrangement that was transposed to D minor(the one for flutes and piano) sounds completely different in character from the arrangement that wasn't transposed(the one for solo piano). Now while yes, this is partly due to the difference between flutes and piano and piano solo, I bet you, that if the flutes and piano arrangement was in the original C minor, there would be not nearly as big of a difference in character. In fact, the difference in character might be unnoticeable if both arrangements were in the original C minor.

The fact that the difference in character is so stark between the 2 arrangements I used to illustrate my point comes mainly from the transposition. Transposing from C minor to D minor turned this dramatic, angry first movement into a sad, barely dramatic first movement that sounds more like it is in F major than D minor. The instrument difference is much less of a factor than this transposition. That is more than just compromising Beethoven's intentions. It is crushing those intentions by leaving the drama of the key behind and just having the drama of dissonance and dynamics. All by transposing up a whole step from the original.

 

Sorry, we'll have to agree to disagree. If you were to take Beethoven's Fifth and transpose every note up one octave, it would sound far less dramatic even though it would still be in the same key as the original. Or, if you transposed it down one octave, it would sound much darker—and still be in the same key. There's so much more involved than just the key signature.

Your final question in the original post was: 

2 hours ago, caters said:

What do you think of my reasoning behind avoiding transposition as much as possible outside of your original works?

I have answered that question and satisfied the purpose of this post (or so I thought). I'm only trying to be helpful. I took the time to carefully consider your points, think about possible misconceptions, and try to explain each of them as I saw them. I'm not saying I'm right, but I am offering my opinion—as you requested on the outset. You can take it or leave it; I am not interested in arguing about it.