To transpose means to take the Concert Pitch and figure out what note on your instrument will sound exactly like the Concert Pitch. The easiest way to to this is to memorize the movement up or down the chromatic scale or major scale you need to make to figure that out. Sometimes students get confused with transpositions, so a good way to keep it straight is to remember that the Concert Pitch is What-the-world-hears and your note is what-you-have-to-play for the world to hear the Concert Pitch. Most members of the musical ensemble will think of the note in its Concert Pitch, but you will be thinking of the note in its transposed form: the note-you-have-to-play.

Bb instruments transpose up 2 half steps from the Concert Pitch to get to the note-you-have-to-play.

Eb instruments transpose down 3 half steps from the Concert Pitch to get to the note-you-have-to-play.

F instruments have to transpose up a major 5th (the 5th note in a major scale) from the Concert Pitch to get to the note-you-have-to-play.