Transposing instruments

Transposing instruments term generally designating those instrs. written for at a pitch other than that at which they sound, such as basset horn, cor anglais, cornets, oboe d'amore, saxophone, kettledrums, to name only a few. In the case of woodwind instrs. this treatment permits uniform fingering of an instr. built in several pitches, and in the case of brass instrs. it permits sounding the same partials regardless of absolute pitch.