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Writing music at a different pitch than it sounds. Transposing instruments (clarinet in B♭, horn in F) read notes that differ from the concert pitch they produce.
When scoring for transposing instruments, you must write their parts at the correct transposition. Clarinet in B♭ sounds a major second lower than written. Horn in F sounds a perfect fifth lower. Trumpet in B♭ sounds a major second lower. Always double-check transpositions — wrong transposition is the most common orchestration error.
A clarinet in B♭ reading a written C produces a B♭ concert pitch. When scoring, if you want the clarinet to sound a C, write D.
Transposition is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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