I have a C whistle and I wanted to play the song of the month (The burnt old man), but it is in D (if I’m right). Do I have to transpose it, and how do I do that? Play each note one note higher? I can’t play flats yet, that’s why I want to play it in another key (C).
Who can help me?
Thx! Katrien
Welcome!
I just had a simular conversation via email with another whistler.
It doesn’t matter what key your whistle is in, it will play exactly the same. The difference is the pitch that comes out. The C whistle is lower that a D, The high F, Higher! Either way you use the same fingering.
If you put all of your fingers down on any of your whistles, you will still get what we call a “D” note.
For this reason, whistles are meant to be played using music written in D, G, Em etc. You would transpose music if it is not whistle friendly. For example if it is written in Bb or something like that.
Whistles in different keys are useful because we can take something we already know on our D whistle and play it in any other key simply by changing the whistle. So go ahead, play the tune on your C whistle! It will sound just fine.
Best of luck,
Sandy Jasper
Or, to put it simply, pretend the
C whistle is a D whistle, the
low C is a low D, and play the
music…