I’m soliciting opinions about playing D minor (Dorian usually) tunes on the whistle. In particular whether people prefer to play them on a D or a C whistle?
I’m thinking about tunes like Julia Delaney, The Tempest and Jennie’s Welcome to Charlie. If I play them on a D whistle, I have to jump the low Cs up an octave, which can spoil the flow a bit, and sounds a bit odd, although I can get used to it. The advantage is that the c and c# are both available with standard fingerings.
Playing on a C whistle preserves the range, but the c# becomes a half-hole fingering, and also playing tunes in more usual keys then requires a change of instrument. I’m curious to know if anyone who plays these tunes and others like them simply ignores the c#s and plays only c naturals, and if this is considered to clash with fiddlers who play the c#, or whether it’s considered an acceptable ‘quirk’ in ITM?
I suppose there’s no one rule that fits all situations (cf Julia Delaney will sit easier on the C but I’d play the Tempest on the D). It’s whatever suits you best really. You wouldn’t want to play C and C# against eachother but there again, it depends on the tune and where the note occurs when it comes to choosing your whislte.
The simplified answer is that a C whistle using EDor fingering is the right tool for DDor tunes. But …
You’re more or less “burying the lede”. It’s the Fnats that are the main issue - not C/C# or the need to fold notes below the bell note. The minor 3rd interval D-to-Fnat is what defines Dorian as a minor mode, and constant Fnats are usually awkward on a D whistle. Like many session players, I almost always carry a D/C whistle pair and switch to the C when the tune’s mode or key calls for it.
As for minor vs. Dorian … the difference is the flattened Dorian 6th (B/Bb in DDor). And a D whistle gives you little flexibility in that regard. C whistle gives you both notes as the C#/C fingerings, so again it’s the “right” choice.
Actual concert pitch C# is rare in trad Dorian or minor tunes, except as an accidental. It’s the raised leading tone for melodic minor or harmonic minor, neither of which is common in trad. So having C and C# easily available on a D whistle is no real advantage.
Of course, sometimes you find yourself launching into a DDor tune with a D whistle already in hand. In which case it’s good to be ready to handle that. And in some cases, such as The Tempest which you mentioned, I might actually prefer D whistle* - the half-holed Fnats are easy to finger in the context of the melody, and sort of sliding to and from them adds a certain character.
Jenny’s Welcome, on the other hand, is a sort of pathological example where both C/C# and F/F# are fungible and ambiguous because the tune morphs freely between D Dorian and D Mixolydian. And either a D or C whistle will require you to cross or half-hole as needed (e.g., G# fingering on a C whistle) to execute the setting you want.
I think I agree that’s it’s probably more “natural” to use a C whistle for most D “minor” tunes. However, there is a very accomplished whistler locally who can play literally anything (Irish anyway) on a D whistle, and doesn’t use a C whistle at all. I was curious to know what the general practice was amongst trad. enthusiasts.
Regarding the c#s, my experience is that although many tunes are ostensibly Dorian or Aolian, that natural (as in sharp!) 7th often creeps in, especially with fiddlers, and as I wrote before, I’m curious to know whether the clash of a fiddler’s c# with a whistler’s c nautral is considered an ‘acceptable dissonance’ by the trad. purists.
It’s the Fnats that are the main issue - not C/C# or the need to fold notes below the bell note. The minor 3rd interval D-to-Fnat is what defines Dorian as a minor mode, and constant Fnats are usually awkward on a D whistle. Like many session players, I almost always carry a D/C whistle pair and switch to the C when the tune’s mode or key calls for it.