the title is a bit “confused” or “confusing” but i am confused too
to explain my confusion/question, let me use an example
if i have the notation for a tune/song, lets say “morning has broken” (just because i found this on the top of my desk right now) and its not written 4 whistles and it goes like
EXAMPLE:
C__Dm__G_________F____C ← chords 4 guitar
Morning has bro-ken like the first mor-ning__<- Text >
C___E___G__c*d*B__A__G___A___G___<- notes 4 voice, or in this case whistle
so there is a C i cant play on my D whistle, i could take a C whistle, BUT it would be to much for me, to make in my mind a “D” out of an “C”, and so on, to realize how to do the fingering in this case
…oh my, this sound so weired but i hope its clear what i mean, is it?
so i “transcribe”(is that the right word?) this tune into
4 whistle(D or deepest tone a “D”):
D F A d* e* c* B A B A
now i can play it on a D whistle in the well known fingering, but play it higher as in the notation
or i can use a C whistle, use this fingering as i would on a d whistle and play it as suposed, right? or not?
what happen if i want to play this song on my guitar and whistle together?
is it ok if i know use the C whistle, or…?
i ask this because i have plenty notations which use a lower tone than the D so i cant play it on my whistles and, untill now always “tranbscribe” it which is a lot of work for me
what do you do when you have such notation, can you “fix this in your mind” do you “transcribe it”,…?
i guess some more experiance with dots and also some more understanding in musictheory would help me, but i am not so far yet
GW - Rather than transcribing, I think it would be a lot easier if you played it on the C whistle and just spent a little time getting to know the notes on that whistle - actually it’s the easiest one to remember as there are no sharps or flats - C D E F G A B c rather than D E F# G A B d . Hope this simple explanation helps if I understand your question correctly.
i do understand that the c whistle gives me C D E F G A B … instead of D E F# G A B (d whistle)
but is it realy the usual way to learn all the notzes oin each whistle?
is it not easier to learn it on one (the d) whistle and then use whistles in different keys to play in different keys?
i tought thats on of the special things with whistles that you can use the same fingering for to play in different keys
with your solution i would have to learn the notes on all whistles in each keys, right?
It works in all directions not just from a D whistle then on to another whistle. if the original piece is in C it still works the same way. Learn it on a C whistle and then play it with the same fingerings on any other whistle as you used on the C whistle.
Besides, most of us don’t think much about what the notes are that we are playing in most tunes. Yes, we can stop and think about it if we like but most off us are just playing the intervals not caring particularly which whistle we are playing them on. It’s called “playing”. Right?
Holy Cacophony Bat Man!!
I’ll remind myself to avoid any sets you play in should I chance to meet you at a session
Andreas,
As you know a tune learned on the D whistle can be easily played on any other whistle key. What you have also realised is that to learn to play a tune written in C requires you to play the C whistle with C fingerings and that’s not easy if you have become accustomed to playing on D whistle. It’s not an impossible task but would take much time dedicated to whistle to be able to sight read and play for any whistle key. So for now I reckon transposing is the easier option, especially if you are in the learning stages of reading standard music notation.
For transposing I would suggest EasyABC it will also exercise your sight reading skills and is easy to use with play back and transposing tools built in.
The best tip for getting started in EasyAbc is to load a tune you know then alter it in the editor,
for example change a note value and find it in the notation and understand how your edit has altered original notation it’s a simple but effective exercise for anyone with a basic knowledge of standard music notation.
It is not, and I wouldn’t recommend it. I think it’s bad advice.
Transposing for instruments is a long-standing tradition.
The Clarinet, for example, is properly called a “Bb clarinet” because its music is transposed. If you play a Bb on a piano, you would play the fingering that we call “C” on the clarinet and the notes would sound the same.
This is normal and desirable. If a clarinetist suddenly got it into her head to play the Eb Alto Clarinet she would not have to learn new fingerings because the person who wrote the sheet music for the orchestra already transposed the notes for Eb Alto Clarinet. The clarinetist can use the same fingerings that she is used to on her Bb Clarinet for the notes she sees in front of her and everything sounds magically happy.
Another reason we do this is it makes it a little easier to change between woodwinds. For example, a “D” fingering is the same on the flute, on the Alto sax, on the Tenor Sax, on the D whistle, on the oboe, on the upper register of the Clarinet, etc.
Now, you don’t have a composer transposing the music for you, but it’s really not a hard skill. If you can count, you can transpose.
That may be true if you play the tune/song on a D whistle.
But if you play it on a C whistle, as if it is a D whistle, then you won’t need to transpose your guitar chords, because you really are playing it in C.
Andreas, I think you got the transposing into a D-whistle setting right, you just did not call it transposing
Andreas, if you have a lot of songs written in the keys of C and F, it may be worthwhile to learn playing a C whistle and reading the sheet music for these keys directly. It saves you a lot of transposition work. It will tax your brain for a while, but I think learning to read the music in keys of C and F playing a C whistle is a useful thing, next to learning to read music notated in keys of D and G and playing it on a D whistle. C is the next most useful whistle key.
Followed by Bb, for music in Bb and Eb. With three whistles you got 7 major keys covered, from 3 flats (Eb) to 3 sharps (A, played on a D whistle). So you don’t really need to learn reading music for 12 different whistle keys. 2 or perhaps 3 should be enough for most cases.
If you learn to sight-read music from sheet music you will adapt to read for a C whistle, and for a Bb whistle if needed. You won’t think about the note names. For Bb everything is just one line on the staff lower than D, which is easy to see. For C it is half a line lower (one tone lower than D).
But if you got the songs in your head, and play the guitar, you can just grab the whistle which fits the guitar setting, and do it by ear. Much preferable than reading dots or mucking about with transpositions!
As well as the other sensible options mentioned by others, you could transpose the tune into D and play it on your D whistle and put a capo on the guitar at the second fret.
