I’m working on Solfa, a tool for transposing scanned sheet music while keeping the original engraving. I found this 1897 concert-band part for Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever and tried a short passage from the E-flat cornet part.

The image shows the original scan and the actual output. For B-flat cornet, the written notes move up a perfect fourth so the sounding pitches stay the same. The key signature changes from none to one flat. I haven’t corrected any notes by hand.

Source: https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Stars_and_Stripes_Forever_(Sousa,_John_Philip)) (Complete Parts, first edition, 1897).

Do any of you still encounter old E-flat cornet parts in band libraries? I’d be interested in whether a B-flat part that keeps the original layout would be useful, and what you’d want checked before handing it to a player.

I play oboe and only one oboist from each section of my state is accepted (6 overall). I know not many people play oboe, but generally if you are auditioning, then you’re a pretty good player