Using Free Software (FOSS) Technology to Master Angela Bofill's "I Try" in 15 Keys
Podcast: The Health, Science & Technology Podcast
- Episode: 7
- Title: Using Free Software (FOSS) Technology to Master Angela Bofill's "I Try" in 15 Keys
- Produced by: Djere Services Group
- Free Software (FOSS) used in Production: Pop!_OS GNU/Linux, Shotcut, GIMP, Zim Desktop Wiki
- Proprietary Software used in production: Gemini Notebook
- Release Date: September 29, 2026
- Associated article: https://djere.com/using-free-software-foss-technology-to-master-angela-bofills-i-try-in-15-keys.html
Executive Summary
To master Angela Bofill's "I Try", I decided to develop a systematic approach using Free Software (FOSS), but the ultimate goal is deeply human: learning to play the saxophone in a way that heals and encourages others.
The process follows four specific steps:
- Financially supporting the artist: Buying the physical CD to support Angela Bofill's incredible art. In my opinion, this is the single most important step of the entire process.
- Extracting the audio: Using VLC media player on a GNU/Linux computer system to legally extract the track into the royalty-free Ogg Vorbis format.
- Transposing the keys: Using Audacity and the Balanced Scale Pairs System to transpose the track from its original key into the remaining 14 keys.
- Practicing with purpose: Transferring all 15 files to an Ogg Vorbis player and practicing them systematically.
People repeatedly go through unfair and painful things, and our job as musicians is to help them to heal. By absorbing and reinterpreting her music across all 15 keys, the hard work pays off when we can play in a way that makes our listeners stronger, more resilient, more compassionate, and more patient.
"I Try" is just the first song that I've applied this system/process to: over the next several years, I'll apply it to the entire library of songs that I love. I have plans for a future separate podcast that will expand on these ideas, and where I'll actually play the songs, but I don't want to reveal all of those details...yet.
Keywords: Angela Bofill, I Try, saxophone practice, Free Software, FOSS, VLC media player, Audacity, Ogg Vorbis, GNU/Linux, Pop!_OS, transposition, 15 keys, Balanced Scale Pairs System, improvisation, ear training, CD ripping, audio extraction, musical healing, artist support, music education
Step 1: Financially Supporting the Artist by Buying Their Music
In my opinion, Angela Bofill is one of the most consequential musical artists of all time. Though her name may not be as globally well known as some other artists, her music touches me at a very deep level. I've been listening to her music for decades, and each of her songs never gets old: each time I listen to them, they sound as fresh and as innovative as when I first heard them back during the 1980s and 1990s.
During my saxophone practice sessions, I've been improvising along to Angela Bofill's "I Try" for decades, but in 2026, I decided to take it to a whole new systematic level. I used Free Software (FOSS) to develop a system to master improvising over "I Try" in all 15 keys: 0 sharps/flats, 0-7 sharps, and 0-7 flats.
The first step of the process was to financially support Angela Bofill's artistry by buying a physical CD of the "Best of Angela Bofill". "I Try (Remastered)" is track 1. Though Ms. Bofill passed away on June 13, 2024, her estate and her relatives will still benefit from me buying her music, so, in my opinion, this critical step is the single most important step of the entire process. I bought the physical CD of the "Best of Angela Bofill" using my Amazon Prime Business account (see Reference A). If you choose to follow along with my guide, everything will still work if you decide to use a digital format.
Step 2: Extracting "I Try" from the CD in Ogg Vorbis Format
Ogg Vorbis is a royalty-free, Free Software/open source (FOSS) lossy audio compression format that was originally released (Version 1.0) in May of 2000 (see Reference B). It has been my preferred audio format for decades because it was specifically designed to be open and royalty-free while the more popular mp3 format was patented and required royalty payments. The final major patents on mp3 expired in April of 2017 (see Reference C).
To extract "I Try" from the CD that I purchased, I used a very powerful piece of Free Software (see Reference D) called VLC. VLC, short for VideoLAN Client, is a powerful Free Software/open-source cross-platform media player that has versions for virtually every major computing platform: GNU/Linux, iOS, Android, Windows, etc. (see Reference E).
Very Important Legal Note: In the United States (and probably in most other countries as well), it is perfectly legal for you to "rip" songs from CDs that you purchased into formats such as Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, mp3, etc., as long as it is for personal use only. It is also legal for you to transpose the song to all 15 keys (0-7 sharps and 1-7 flats) for your personal ear training practice sessions. It is generally NOT legal for you to share any of the ripped files with others. So when I rip "I Try" from my purchased CD and transpose it to all 15 keys, I'll ONLY use it for my personal saxophone practice sessions.
To rip "I Try" from my CD, I use VLC media player on my Pop!_OS GNU/Linux computer system. My DVD/CD player/burner is USB-connected, so the first step is to find out where the device is mounted on my computer system. To do this, I open a terminal and issue the lsblk -p command. Adding the -p flag to the lsblk command tells it to show the full path of mounted devices. On my system, the CD player was mounted at /dev/sr0, but it might be mounted at a different location on your computer system.
Next, with my CD player plugged in via USB, I insert my CD into the CD player and open VLC. In the top menu, I navigate as follows: Media => Open Disc => Audio CD => Disc device = /dev/sr0 => Play. The CD should open and start playing. Now, I want to right click "I Try" and hit "Save." A new "Convert" dialog will pop up. In my case, source is already populated with cdda:///dev/sr0. Under "Profile", I select "Audio - Vorbis Ogg". Then, I pick a destination file by clicking on the "Browse" button. You can select any location that you want. I chose /home/rdjere/Videos and I named the file 00_bofill_angela_i_try.ogg. Then, I hit the "Start" button and the conversion process begins. Depending on the power and speed of your computer system, the conversion process might take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. Once the conversion/extraction is complete, I'm ready to use Audacity (see Reference G) to transpose "I Try" in its original key to the other 14 keys.
Step 3: Transposing "I Try" Into the Remaining 14 Keys Using Audacity
I've successfully extracted "I Try" in its original key: now I want to use Audacity to transpose it into the remaining 14 keys. To do so, I'll use this formula (see Reference F):
| Key Signature | Minor / Major Keys | Interval Shift |
|---|---|---|
| Key 7a: 7 Sharps | A# minor / C# major | +1 semitone |
| Key 6a: 6 Sharps | D# minor / F# major | +6 semitones |
| Key 5a: 5 Sharps | G# minor / B major | -1 semitone |
| Key 4a: 4 Sharps | C# minor / E major | +4 semitones |
| Key 3a: 3 Sharps | F# minor / A major | -3 semitones |
| Key 2a: 2 Sharps | B minor / D major | +2 semitones |
| Key 1a: 1 Sharp | E minor / G major | -5 semitones |
| /* --- */ 0 Sharps / 0 Flats | A minor / C major | 0 semitones <====== STARTING POINT |
| /* --- */ Key 1b: 1 Flat | D minor / F major | +5 semitones |
| Key 2b: 2 Flats | G minor / Bb major | -2 semitones |
| Key 3b: 3 Flats | C minor / Eb major | +3 semitones |
| Key 4b: 4 Flats | F minor / Ab major | -4 semitones |
| Key 5b: 5 Flats | Bb minor / Db major | +1 semitone |
| Key 6b: 6 Flats | Eb minor / Gb major | -6 semitones |
| Key 7b: 7 Flats | Ab minor / Cb major | -1 semitone |
Angela Bofill's "I Try" is not in the key of A minor/C major (0 sharps/0 flats) on the alto saxophone, but it doesn't matter: the system still works. Just assume that the original key (whatever it is) is your starting point. When you practice playing "I Try", you'll always start in the original key. Then, you practice keys 1a and 1b as a pair, 2a and 2b as a pair, so on and so forth. This may sound a little bit confusing, but let me explain how I do it practically. I just put all of the songs in a folder on my mp3/Ogg Vorbis player and I put it on "List Repeat". In this mode, it will play the first song in the folder, then the second, then the third, so on and so forth. When it reaches the end, it'll go back to the beginning of the list. So let's look at the playlist:
Now comes the actual transposition process in Audacity. First, I'll open "I Try" in its original key in Audacity. I select the entire song, and click on "Effect" in the menu bar => "Change Pitch" => "Semitones (half-steps): -5.00" => check "Use high quality stretching slow" => hit "Apply". Then you would go to "File" in the menu bar => "Export Audio" and export the song to an appropriately named file on your computer system. I like to use the naming convention that I showed above. In Audacity, I'll go to "Edit" => "Undo". This puts the song back in the original key so I'm now ready to repeat the process until I've successfully generated all 15 key files.
Step 4: Transfer "I Try" in All 15 Keys to My Ogg Vorbis Player and Practice
Now comes the final and most important step (besides financially supporting Angela Bofill's incredible art): practicing the song in all 15 keys. What I'm about to say is 100% my personal opinion: you might disagree, and that's okay. People are extremely strong, extremely tough, and EXTREMELY resilient. They repeatedly go through unfair and painful things, and they ignore them. They have to. Their families and friends depend on their strength and their resilience. Our jobs as musicians is to help them heal by playing beautiful, encouraging, replenishing, and uplifting music. This can happen through our lyrics, our musical phrases, our passion, and the joy and pain that we express through our music. Each time I play "I Try", the words of the song, as only Angela Bofill could have expressed them, are slowly making me a better, stronger, more resilient, more healed, more compassionate, more caring, and more patient of a person. My job is to absorb, reinterpret, and be transformed by playing along with her music. In doing so, I learn how to play my saxophone in such a way that people who listen to my playing are healed, become happier, more resilient, more patient, more compassionate, and more encouraged. If we can all get to that point as musicians, then all of the hard work that it took to get to that point will have been well worth it.
Thank you for reading/watching this video/article!
References
[A] Best of Angela Bofill (Physical CD - Amazon.com). Retrieved August 20, 2026 from here
[B] Vorbis (Wikipedia). Retrieved August 20, 2026 from here
[C] MP3 (Wikipedia). Retrieved August 20, 2026 from here
[D] Free Software (Wikipedia). Retrieved August 20, 2026 from here
[E] VLC media player (Wikipedia). Retrieved August 20, 2026 from here
[F] The Balanced Scale Pairs System (Saxtalk.com). Retrieved August 20, 2026 from here
[G] Audacity (audio editor) (Wikipedia). Retrieved August 20, 2026 from here