i found this abc from thesession.org…ive got a key of ‘D’ of whistle,i want to know some theory
1.how do i play in the key of eminor as mentioned in the abc file(K: Emin),Ive got a clarke sweetone Key of D whistle
2.How do i play the ‘F’ and ‘C’ note as mentioned in the abc file in a key of d whistle
X: 1
T: Cooley’s
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Emin
|:D2|EBBA B2 EB|B2 AB dBAG|FDAD BDAD|FDAD dAFD|
EBBA B2 EB|B2 AB defg|afe^c dBAF|DEFD E2:|
|:gf|eB B2 efge|eB B2 gedB|A2 FA DAFA|A2 FA defg|
eB B2 eBgB|eB B2 defg|afe^c dBAF|DEFD E2:|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_minor
Em is the relative minor to G major and so therefore, Em has one sharp (F#) just like G major. You play the Fs just like normal (the F hole is sharp on a D whistle) and play the Cs natural (half-holing the B note or cross fingering OXXOOO)
If you find any tunes in Bm, those are played with two sharps (F as normal, open holes for C). Bm is the relative minor of D.
that means i need a whistle in the key of g to play anthing in eminor or hit my “F” note…right
D whistles play F#. You need F# to play in Em. So you can play it easily on a D whistle.
A d whistle can play the keys of G and D easily, and A with a little work.
That means they can also play Bm, Em and F#m (the relative keys of G,D, and A)
Most everything on The Session will be in those keys.
Also, please notice that, for Cooleys Reel, it isn’t really in Emin. It’s in E dorian. That means that all the C’s are sharp, so there’s no half-holing or cross-fingering to worry about. Just play the notes as they are on a D whistle.
thanx Wanderer and benhall.1 i hope ill get better with that theory in mind…
Just to test my understanding - and please can somebody more qualified confirm - the given tune has all the c’s sharpened as accidentals (?correct term?) so all the notes in the tune are the ones played normally on the D whistle?
If so then ignore the key signature and play your D whistle - its effectively in D. Unless a guitar or similar wants to join in. Then its his problem not yours. I have found this crops up quite a bit - a key signature indicates a tune with non-native (?correct term?) notes for the D whistle, then either doent use the non-native notes or modifies them on-the-fly to the native notes. That key with three sharps does it quite a bit.
One day I will understand, until then I will learn, or make it up as I go 
Ok, some background: if you take a D whistle and play from low D to middle D, that’s a D-major scale. The old name for this scale is D Ionian.
If you take the same D whistle and play from low E to middle E, that’s an E-Dorian scale.
Play from low F-sharp to high F-sharp (one octave, still), that’s an F-sharp Phrygian scale.
From G to G, that’s G Lydian.
A to A, that’s A Mixolydian.
B to B, that’s B minor. (The old name for this scale is B Aeolian.)
C-sharp to C-sharp, that’s C-sharp Locrian. You won’t see tunes in Locrian modes. (If you know of any, please post them here! I can’t imagine what they would sound like.)
Those are the seven modes.
Each mode has a certain pattern of half steps (like F-sharp to G, there are no notes in between) and whole steps (like G to A, where you “skip over” G-sharp in between–one whole step equals two half steps).
Major – W-W-H-W-W-W-H
Dorian – W-H-W-W-W-H-W
Phrygian – H-W-W-W-H-W-W
Lydian – W-W-W-H-W-W-H
Mixolydian – W-W-H-W-W-H-W
Minor (Aeolian) – W-H-W-W-H-W-W
Locrian (unused) – H-W-W-H-W-W-W
Each of these modes has a different feel–this is subjective, of course, different people might describe these different ways. Major is very familiar to us; most popular songs are written in major keys. Dorian more a gentle melancholy, but not really sad, a little darker than major. Phrygian has a bit of an Eastern sound to it to me. Lydian to me has a bright, happy sound. Mixolydian is another that has a bright, bold sound. Minor (Aeolian) has a dark, sad feel–this isn’t the “gentle melancholy” of Dorian, but more the weeping, despairing, gnashing-of-teeth variety. Locrian isn’t used; if it were, anything in Locrian mode would have a deeply unsettled feel and when it ended, would seem that it had just “cut off”–it would never resolve in the way the ear wants it to.
On a D whistle, you have the diatonic notes D, E, F-sharp, G, A, B, and C-sharp. You can also get a good C-natural with either half-holing or cross-fingering, and most folks are also able to half-hole a pretty decent G-sharp after they’ve played for bit. Some can also half-hole a good F-natural, though how well this works depends in part on the whistle itself. So those are the notes on a D whistle that you have to work with, so you can play easily in D major / B minor and it’s related modes. G major / E minor and its related modes are also very easy on the D whistle. Most players can handle tunes in A major / F-sharp minor and related modes pretty easily, as well as C major / A minor and its related modes.
–James
Thanks James for those mood descriptions - that helps me get a grip on the point of modes.
Sometimes all it takes is a slightly different way of explaining the same thing and another piece falls into place… your description was one of those.
I was going to say that there aren’t a lot of Bm tunes but The Session has 290 of them–none of which I know and only two or three I remember having heard (Man of Aran comes to mind).
There are 421 Em tunes and I know a lot.
2364 D tunes,
2348 G tunes
585 A tunes
It doesn’t list any F# minor tunes
hi, ben. after reading your response, i grabbed a book i have with Cooley’s in it. as you correctly point out, all the C’s in the tune are C#. in the version i have here, there is only one occurrence. it is in the B part, and it repeats … so the C# happens twice…
now comes the dumb part… if every occurrence of the C is a sharp and that definitely makes the tune in Edor… uhm… why don’t those who write it out, use the two sharps key signature? why put one sharp in the key sig and the other sharp as an accidental within the body of the tune? … makes no sense to me. what is the logic (or is there some rule out there someplace) that would prevent somebody from using the Dmaj/Edor key sig?
just curious… (the answer is probably something akin to … “just cuz.”)
be well,
jim
Is there a chart that tells what guitar chords go with what modes? Like E dorian for example? Or A mixolydian?
Not dumb at all. Well, not on your part, jiminos. The answer is very simple. It’s because they’ve done it wrong. The tune is in E dorian, and you are quite correct in thinking that the key signature for that is 2 sharps. Whoever posted it to the sesh.org simply used the wrong key signature.
We’re talking about the sesh.org here. There is no F# minor available to post a tune in. But I’ll bet it actually does have some tunes in F# minor. They’re probably just posted as A major tunes, just to get the key signature right.
i can’t recall ever seeing a “handy dandy modal guitar chord chart” out there… doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist… just means i haven’t seen one…
somethings do come to mind, however… a mixolydian differs from an ionian scale in the seventh (it differs at another spot, but the seventh is a critical difference)… the easiest way for me to explain is with this example… in the mode of G ionian the seventh is F#.. in G Mixo it is F… so… using that… virtually every 12 bar blues progression is a mixolydian progression … G, C, D7… or E, A, B7… most classic country stuff from the 50’s and 60’s is mixolydian…
for dorian… i’m thinking if you look at the key signature… two sharps is D ionian/major or E dorian… you should be able to get away with using the standard chords of the key signature… so for E dorian… Em, F#m, G, A, Bm, Cdim(?) and D… try that and see if it works for you… (my chord theory is a little rusty)
there is a book floating around out there someplace called “chord chemistry” by Ted Greene that is based entirely on theory… outstanding book. it’s been 30 years since i’ve worked through it, but memory tells me it is well worth it if you can find a copy. i might even still have my copy around here someplace…
be well,
jim
BTW… thank you, Ben… i kinda thought that was the case, but it seemed a tad uppity to me for me to accuse somebody else of being wrong when it could just as easily be me that is wrong.
wow! It even has a section devoted to the modes. Thanks
fjohnsharp, let me know if you decide to get the book, and if it does indeed have the charts. i might be interested myself in looking at the charts, if, indeed, they are laid out modally. otherwise, i’ll just do what i’ve always done… i’ll just noodle it out.
thank you, mr. sIm0n. somehow, i am not surprised that it is you that found the requested charts. well done.
be well,
jim
but icant make out if all the keys are fingered normally like for F=F# in the d whistle,why do we need key signatures what is thier purpose…
They are not.
F-sharp and F-natural are two different notes on the whistle. You have to half-hole to get F-natural.
The notes on the D whistle are the same notes on the orchestral (silver, Boehm-system) flute…only the D whistle only has diatonic notes of D scale unless you half-hole or cross-finger to get the chromatics.
Key signatures work for whistle as they do for any other instrument.
The key signature along with the tune structure (especially the note you “land on”) determine the key and / or mode.
–James