Perhaps my brain is made from Titanium as it seems equally as dense at times. The Sea Shanty, Blow Ye Winds, is written in the key of F. So, if I take up my F whistle (which I may get if I understand this right) and – LO! The first not of the song in middle C! Woe is me. How do I procede from here? As I scan the tune i see the highest not is D2. IF I start the tune on C in the usual D scale (meaning the base note of the F whistle), what happens? OR do I have to 1) transpose the tune into D? 2) play it as if it was on the D whistle? 3) learn the fingerins for the F whistle (F being the base not with a Bb)? OR am I missing something here? Yes, I know there are sites, including C&F that ALMOST explain this, but, like I said, Titanium. Make it easy for my density.
Hello, Bill…You aren’t gonna like this…Disclaimer: IMHO
A ‘c’ in the key of ‘f’ is the fifth scale step… (f/g/a/bflat/c). If you wish to transpose the song in question to the key of ‘d’, the song would start with an ‘a’ - the fifth scale step in that key… Could you do it this way? Sure…Will your song’s fingering for a ‘c’ be the same as your transposed song’s fingering for an ‘a’ - namely, XXOOOO? Sure…Will all this type of thinking drive you crazy? Sure…Will any of it be fun ? Nope…
Best way is to bite the bullet and learn your F whistle. All whistles have the ‘break’ between hands. It’s handy that these breaks begin at the keys easily playable by that instrument - like ‘d’ and ‘g’ for a D whistle/
‘g’ and ‘c’ for a G whistle, ad nauseum…They are easy to remember…
If you slowly learn your piece, keeping those two notes in your mind at all times, (‘f’ and ‘Bb’ on your F whistle), the other notes are easy to pick out and play. If your learning and playing stayed at this level, this would also drive you nuts. I find, however, that the more you play the instrument, thinking in the key that is correct for the instrument, the quicker the instrument becomes second nature. We’re not talking months…We’re talking days and weeks…Not a bad investment of one’s time…
Bottom line? Bag the heavy thinking concerning transposition and the like…Dig in and learn the song and its fingering correctly from the start. Because all whistles finger the same over their respective ranges, the learning curve flattens out, quickly.
If this made little sense, Bill, please feel free to e-mail me with specific questions, off board. I wish you the best.
Cheers.
Byll
Oh blow your nose in the morning,
and blow you nose hi ho.
Clear away your runny nose,
and blow your nose hi ho.
Sorry. That’s a song in the third grade book, at school, and I can’t help but find alternate lyrics, especially after doing the song countless times with countless classes over countless years.
I didn’t quite understand your explanation of the problem, and I don’t know the tune. But, if the problem is that the tune doesn’t fit into the range of your F whistle, try playing it on a C whistle. The Bb is then played like a Cnat on a D whistle. Does this help at all? If not, please disregard.