D#

Whistle
1

It’s that time of year again - and I swear our music director doesn’t quite get the concept of diatonic music!!!

He’s chosen a part for me, for whistle. The song is in the key of G, but there’s a D# in it. I have both a D and G whistle.

I’m leaning toward the G whistle, or I’d have to be in the second octave on the D for most of the song.

Is there any other way, other than half hole, to get a D# on either of these whistles?

Is there any other way, other than threatening bodily harm, to get an organist to understand diatonic music???

2

[quote=“missy”]

Is there any other way, other than half hole, to get a D# on either of these whistles?

[quote]

No.

On the D whistle you’ll halfhole the 6th hole, on the G whistle the 3rd hole.

You can try xxo xxx on a low G but I’m sure it will be too sharp, except perhaps on a Susato low G. (Susatos usually do crossfingered notes such as xox xxx B flat better than most whistles.)

These halfholed accidentals really shouldn’t worry you- all it takes is some practice to get the pitch right.

3

I would use the G whistle and half-hole the second hole from the mouthpiece to get the D#.

That is, unless you’re one of the skilled few who can simultaneously vent and half-hole a high D#. :open_mouth:

4

Then again, you could be one of the clever few to cover half the e hole

5

As Peter kinda said, the cross fingering on the G whistle should work quite well - equivalent to Bb on a D whistle, fingers xox xxo or xox xxx in lower 8ve and usually xox ooo or xox xoo in 2nd 8ve - try your whistle and see which work best… and none of them is unduly tricky with a little practice, especially for the occasional accidental. You said the tessitura (range) of the G was more suited to the piece anyway? On the D whistle there is no alternative (except maybe in the 3rd 8ve where xxo xxx may work, if wolfily) to half-holing for D#/Eb unless you want to drill a hole for R4(little finger)!

FWIW, most whistles offer more tolerably usable cross-fingered accidentals than they are often given credit for, IMO, though it varies a lot from brand to brand and even individual whisltes of the same brand may respond differently.

As for your organist…glue up his “black” notes!

6

FWIW, I checked this on the Susato low G. First octave xoxxxx is spot-on D#, though the timbre is a bit rough. Second octave xoxooo is around 10 cents sharp, and is the only D# cross fingering that works in that octave.

I agree with the others. Just half-hole or cross-finger when necessary. No big deal.

7

That is, unless you’re one of the skilled few who can simultaneously vent and half-hole a high D#.

Not sure why anyone would want to do that. I don’t know about other whistles, but on the Generations and Feadogs I play, venting D and lifting (or half-holing for D#/Eb) the E at the same time gets you an off-pitch, harsh, sometime squaky, closer to E pitched note. Like Peter said, just simply close all fingers, except vent/half-hole the E finger. There’s no need to vent middle D, and chances are if you did it wouldn’t sound very clean.

8

Thanks for all the suggestions - I"ll play around and see what works “best” (and cleanest) for me.

9

You could always try a recorder :devil: :swear:

On second thoughts, I’ll get me coit :stuck_out_tongue:

Geoff

10

Yeah, that’s true, but if you do, make sure it’s one of the cheap plastic ones and that you don’t tongue every note. We wanna keep it as down-to-earth as possible. :stuck_out_tongue:

11

You mean one of these? They also come in shocking pink and blue. Take your pick - oh and tonguing is obligatory :smiling_imp:

Geoff - Who plays recorder (among other things)

12

Those are actually not bad for the price (~$5 US). I have the green and blue. It’s fun watching condensation roll down the bore, and the green is obviously perfect for Irish music. :slight_smile:

13

nah - Tom’s actually already playing recorder on a part in the song.

He has several of the things, down to a baritone…

14

I used to have a clear plastic Bulgarian kaval. When you played it, it would fog up inside (but not around the fingerholes giving an interesting pattern) and if you played long enough the “condensation” would begin running out.

The coolest thing was, around 20 years ago, a guy made a full set of Scottish Highland bagpipes out of clear plastic and used a clear vinyl bag to boot.
It was cool to see it fogging up inside, to see all the reeds vibrating… but the foul part was seeing the “condensation” dripping off the end of the blowpipe and pooling up in the bottom of the bag…