This site had all the songs from Mudcat’s Digital Tradition data base, and there were thousands, this site however had among other things pennywhistle tabs for every song. The site is not affiliated with mudcat and was there just because the originator found it easy to do so, there was never any contact info. The site may come back, it may not and that is a HUGE loss.
Every year around this time I get the itch to play Christams tunes and as I can not read music the tabs from this site were my life line. Of course I would print the pages and over time would stupidly throw them away instead of file them.
So the questions I have are these.
Does anyone know any more about the site and what might have happened, and
Where can I find tabs for Christmas music?
Thanks in advance for any input.
Nick
Hmm … Yes, the numachi site and domain seem to be down. Too bad. Maybe it’s temporary for a move of servers or domains. The whois record is valid through 2010 and was updated recently. You could try calling the whois contact:
Reichert, Brian
55 Crystal Avenue #286
Derry, NH 03038-1725 US
+1.6034346842
reichert [at] numachi.com (probably won’t work, of course)
Meanwhile, you can access the original Mudcat DT database directly or download a version for local use:
As mentioned elsewhere, Mark Bell’s Whistle and Squeak site has some easy carols with whistle tab (including my recent contribution of The Breton Carol).
If you can handle ABC notation, there are several ways you can convert an ABC file to standard notation with tablature:
o Use the Concertina.net converter for ABC → MIDI, then the Tablature Karaoke program to produce whistle tab from the MIDI. (Thanks to this post for the tip.)
As for learning standard staff notation from tab notation, there’s a fairly easy way to do it, at least for the pitch values.
Think of 2 stacked whistle tabs, one on top of the other. Mentally align the bottom tab so that the top hole (B hole) sits on the middle line of the staff, and each lower hole matches up with a lower line or space, alternating. The bottom hole (D hole) should sit just below the bottom line of the staff.
Do the same with the topmost tab, aligning it so that the bottom hole sits on the second staff line. The G hole should sit right on top of the staff.
The C note is in the space between the top and bottom tabs.
Now for any tab fingering, just match up the bottom-most blackened hole of the tab with the corresponding staff line or space, and voilà, you have the staff position in standard notation.
[If someone with graphics skills could diagram this, it might be clearer!]
Guru, funny you should mention graphic skills, as that is what I do for a living, but your conceptualization makes sense to me as you have described it. My ability to put concept into practice however remains dubious, regardless, thanks for the hints, links and your indulgence.
It’s not hard, and you’ll be glad you did.