Musical transposition calculator, in circular slide-rule format
- maker:
- Wilson, J.
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Musical transposition calculator, brass, in circular slide-rule format. Front 3/4 view of whole object on dark grey
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Musical transposition calculator, in circular slide-rule format, by J. Wilson, England, 1820
The first is by J Wilson and is dated 1820. The second is not signed and dates from the mid 19th century. Because all the notes in a scale have a fixed frequency ratio, music can be ‘transposed’ up or down the various keys. These little devices are like circular adding machines; moving the tonic, or fundamental note, a certain number of tones up or down moves all the notes in the scale by the same interval, so music can be rewritten in a different key. The second calculator has the tonic at the top and reveals the notes in the appropriate major scale.
Details
- Category:
- Mathematics
- Object Number:
- 1987-534
- type:
- slide rule
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- calculator
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- calculator
- credit:
- Christie's South Kensington Limited
Cite this page
Rights
We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.
Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Download
Download catalogue entry as json
Download 
manifest IIIF
Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.
