Hello to all! Hopefully a few of you may be able to help me. I’m trying to locate a website where I can find the free sheet music to “Danny Boy.” Some websites want me to buy the music first, but us whistlers would rather spend our money on new and expensive whistles. Thank you all for your help.
Kevin
Here’s one…it’s piano music, but maybe you can adapt it well enough.
Danny](http://www.free-sheet-music-for-piano-and-guitars.com/kbd/danny-boy-pno.gif%22%3EDanny) Boy
I just did a search (on Yahoo) using the keywords Danny Boy & sheet music & free…this is the first one that came up. There may be more, in more useable format.
Redwolf
P.S.
Obviously, it’ll need to be transposed, if you use that particular gif. Do you have Scortch, by any chance?
Redwolf
Kevin,
You often will find this tune under the title of Londonderry Air. I don’t know if you know ABC notation but here are the ABC’s for it. Basically, the capital letters are low and the lower case is high. It’s in 4/4 time and the key of G. You can figure out the time and phrasing as you play around with it.
Bruce
X: 1
T:Londonderry Air
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:150
K:G
FGA |: B3 A BedB| A-G E2 z GBc| d3 e dBGB| A4 z FGA|B3 A BedB|!
A-GED EFGA|B3 c BAGA| G4 z def| g3 f fedB| d-B G2 z def| g3 f fedB|!
A4 z ddd| b3 a ageg| d-B G2-G FGA| B-ed-B A-GEF |1 G4 z FGA :|2 G4-G2:|
Sorry redwolf, i have no idea how to transpose piano into whistle language, if there is a difference at all. I’m quite illiterate when it comes to this sort of stuff. Thanks for your help though.
Kevin
Sorry folks, i forgot to write that i have no idea how to do the abc’s or much of anything for that matter. i can say the abc’s (most of them) but sadly i have no idea what they mean for whistles.
kevin
It’s mostly that you’d want it in a different key…this one goes pretty low.
Hmmm…let me do some more searching. I have a copy of the sheet music (for the whistle in D, I think), but it’s copyrighted, so I can’t scan and post it. Let me see if I can find something else on-line.
Redwolf
Here you go! This site is awesome for sheet music, btw. I’m including links to both the tune and the main page:
The](http://www.tinwhistler.com/music/%22%3EThe) Wandering Whistler Music Site
Redwolf
JC’s ABC Tune finder has seven versions, none, however in D or G. That’s usually the first stop for any traditional music, just because they have almost everything
Ah . . . Londonderry Air – It’s been a favorite melody of mine since I learned it as a French horn solo for state competition in junior high school some decades ago. I’d been playing French horn for about three months, so you can imagine what it must have sounded like. And for some reason, even though sometimes I can’t remember what I did yesterday or where I put my glasses, I can still remember that music and can still see it there on the page.
Although the French horn was laid aside aftert high school, I can still fake the tune on the piano, and play it on a harmonica, so when I got a whistle a month or so back, I had to piddle around until I figured out where it lived on a D Sweetone. There immediately followed the following conversation at my house:
mrs.gonzo – “I never thought I’d have to make this rule, but there will be no more ‘Danny Boy’ in the house.”
gonzo – “That wasn’t ‘Danny Boy’; that was ‘Londonderry Air.’ It’s only ‘Danny Boy’ if you sing it”
mrs. gonzo (who did not appreciate the value of this distinction) – “Well, no more ‘Londonderry Air’ in the house, either”
The problem, you see, is that the range of this piece is too much to play it in the 6-finger key (D on a D whistle), so you have to play it in the 3-finger major key (G). This results in a sustained 1-finger, second octave high note that, in the hands of an inexperienced whistler, can cause the aquarium to fog, the windows to shake, the paint to peel, and the pictures to fall off the wall, and makes the children cry as well. I’m pretty sure that if one was doing this at work, there would be an OSHA regulartion requiring hearing protection for both the whistler and anyone else in the building.
So until I get better at it and can hit that high note without causing the circuit breakers to trip, I now have a lawn chair set up in the garage that’s there just for playing this piece. And this I offer this suggestion – it sounds much better on a low whistle.
Just a bit of trivia for you…my uncle is a direct descendant of the blind fiddler from whom the Londonderry Air was transcribed in Limavady…“blind Jimmy McCurry”
The McCurrys were of Scots blood, brought over to work on the railway along the north coast or to work the land…they are traditionally from the Magilligan area…a place near Limavady long associated with music and song.
Boyd
http://www.strathspeyinmay.com
[ This Message was edited by: boyd on 2002-06-02 17:05 ]
Kevin ~ I’ve played this in different keys and would be happy to send you a copy if you can’t find it. Send me an email if you wish. Gm 
I had a girlfriend once who was known as the London Derriere.