INPUT ARTICLE: Article: One of the biggest needs your snail will have is adequate food. If your snail doesn't have enough food it will go hungry, but with too much food the water quality will quickly deteriorate. Most snails enjoy having plants in the tank to graze on. They also eat algae, whether it is found naturally on the tank's walls or provided in the form of store-bought algae wafers. Some snails require other food sources, such as fish food or bottom feeder tablets. Depending on the species of snail you choose, you may need to feed it every day or just a couple times each week. Some experts recommend feeding aquatic snails as much food as those snails can consume in under three minutes, twice daily. This will require some trial and error, so make adjustments accordingly. As a general rule, if you provide supplemental food to your snail and it hasn't touched that food in two days, you may be feeding it too much/often. It could also indicate that your snail does not care for that food source, so try different options and gauge your snail's response. Talk to a qualified aquarium expert at your local pet store or at a local college/university to ensure that your snail gets the care it needs. Many municipal water supplies use chemicals like chlorine to treat tap water, which can be deadly to snails (though it's safe for humans to drink). Bottled water will help ensure a safe, neutral water source for your snails, but it can get very costly. Some snail owners with access to an outdoor freshwater source also opt for fresh pond water. Snails need a stable, neutral pH. You can buy pH testing kits at your local pet store, or order them through an online retailer. If you cannot use bottled water or pond water, you can simply let the tap water you'll be pouring into the tank sit out in an open container for 24 hours. This should allow the residual chemicals to evaporate, leaving behind a safe source of water for your aquarium. . If you plan on caring for saltwater snails, you will need to prepare a suitable environment for those snails. Preparing saltwater for marine snails is no different than preparing saltwater for a tank of any other marine creatures, such as saltwater fish or corals. The biggest thing you'll need is a special salt mixture, as household salt cannot be added to water to create a marine environment. Test your tap water for nitrates. You can purchase a water testing kit from your local pet store or through an online retailer. Use purified water if your tap water is high in nitrates, as this water may not be safe for aquatic invertebrates. Common methods of purifying tap water are reverse osmosis, deionization, and ion exchange. Purchase an aquarium salt mix from your local pet store or online. Mix approximately 35 grams of salt mix per liter of water to closely replicate natural sea water. Consider purchasing a salinity measurement kit to ensure that your salt to water ratios are stable. Most aquarium owners who measure salinity use either a hydrometer (typically the least expensive option), a refractometer, or an electronic salinity meter. Some common snail behaviors often result in owners wondering whether the snail is still alive. The best way to care for your snail is to check up on it periodically, especially if you notice it acting strangely. Snails often float to the surface of an aquarium, leading some owners to think that the snail is dead. It's simply got a gas bubble temporarily stuck under its shell, and the problem will resolve itself over time. Some snails withdraw into their shells, which owners frequently mistake as a sign of death. This is an incorrect assumption. A dead snail will hang limply outside the shell, while a living snail may retract into the shell. You can check on your snail by gently pushing against the flap where the shell closes. If the shell remains closed and the snail resists your efforts, it is still alive.

SUMMARY: Provide your snail with food. Treat tap water before using it. Prepare the water for saltwater snails Make sure your snail is still alive.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: If you're simply transposing the music to make it easier for the musician to play on their instrument, the transposition process is the same as if you were transposing the music for a vocalist. Some songs are easier to play on some instruments in one key than in another. Beginner musicians often can play more complex songs if they are transposed to an easier key. If you are playing with a musician who plays a "transposing instrument," however, the process is a little bit different. Transposing instruments are those such as the clarinet, for which a C would sound like a B-flat when played. If you're transposing a song for a transposing instrument, the key of the instrument will tell you how many steps up or down you need to transpose the song. Your interval is the number of steps between the original key of the song and the key of the transposing instrument. For example, if you have a song written in C that you need to transpose for a B-flat clarinet, you would need to move all the notes up a whole step, since B-flat is a whole step down from C. You also can use a transposition chart, that will tell you exactly what transposition you need if you want the song to sound right on transposing instruments. Now that you know the interval you need, all the notes in the song must be moved the same interval. Mark any sharps or flats not part of the key signature so you can come back to them. Move accidentals up or down from the same tone the note would have had in the original key signature. For example, if the song has a C-sharp and C is normally natural in that song's original key, you want to transpose from natural C. With all the notes moved and no accidentals, you should be able to work out what key the song is now in. If you're not strong on your keys yet, there are charts available online that will tell you. If you're working on sheet music, you'll want to note your key signature at the beginning of the song. Now that the entire song is transposed in the new key, you'll need to also move up any sharps or flats that appeared in the song and weren't part of the key signature. Go back to the original song and find the accidentals. Work out how far the accidental moved the note from where it normally would be in the original key signature. For example, if your song has a C-sharp and C is normally natural in that song's original key, the accidental has moved the note a half-step. Find that note on your transposed song and move it up a half-step as well, marking the accidental accordingly. If you've transposed the song correctly, when it is played on the transposing instrument it will sound exactly the same as when it is played on a different instrument.

SUMMARY:
Determine the reason to transpose the music. Identify the instrument's key. Move the notes up or down. Find the new key for the song. Fix your accidentals. Listen to the song played on the transposing instrument.