El condor pasa

Whistle
1

I know that this is not the usual music played here but I would like to learne this tune (El Condor Pasa).

So does anybody here have the dots or a midi-file of this tune, or does anybody know where to find a midi-file, I would be very glad. :laughing:

Thanks.

Peter Juul

2

if no one shows up with anything by this evening, i’ll figure out the notes for you. but i’m just going to write them like e, a, g, a… isn’t that song wonderful on a whistle?

3

Here’s link I found the other day looking for this very song (scroll down the page and there are two versions). http://www.runasimi.de/y-kuntur.htm You’ll have to transpose for D whistle.

(It’s actually pretty fun on whistle.)

4

Thanks for the link.

I’m not that good on musical teory. How do I transpose it to D-whistle. :confused:

Peter

5

I lived in Peru for some years.

There is a story among the Incas down there that when Pizarro arrived and was surveying his recently-conquered domain that he heard an old Inca playing that tune. He asked “What is the name of that song?”

“It has no name.” the old inca replied. “Where did you learn it?” asked Pizarro. “Our people have always played this song” replied the old Inca.

“And how old a song is it?” asked Piazarro. The Inca repied “The song is older than the mountains”.

Anyway, it’s an old story and an old, old tune. Enjoy. :slight_smile:

Doc

6

Actually, you don’t have to transpose it. It is written in the key of C which has no sharps or flats. Our D whistle plays F# and C# but can easily play C natural. The “Kuntur phawan” version has no F’s in it anywhere and we can play the C’s as C-natural (OXX OOO on most whistles) so we can play the tune as written. There is one low-G# accidental and several high-G# accidentals but we can half-hole the G to get these sharps (XX_ OOO). We’d half-hole these notes if we transposed the tune so we might just as well save ourselves the trouble and play it in C.

There are two second-octave C’s in the B part that I’ll probably experiment with and see if a lower note will fit there. My second-octave C’s still shriek pretty bad.

Music majors are cleared in hot on my shade tree explanation!

7

He’s right. I didn’t look carefully enough.

walrii, if you have a C whilstle, try playing the tune as written. It starts a hole higher on the whistle (and the half-holing differs), but I found the second octave C to be easier even though OXX XXX is higher than OXX OOO. To me it seems to shriek less. Then try the same fingering on the D whistle. Let me know what you find.

8

If anyone has a Native American flute handy I did an arrangement that’s here:

http://www.geocities.com/sheryl_coleman

The limits of the NAF don’t allow it to go up into the second octave in second part, though… I’ve never tried it on the whistle though, but I will now.

Sheryl

9

If one wanted to ‘play along’ with the Simon & Garfunkel version of the tune–for learning purposes, etc–I believe a low G whistle will work with no especially difficult fingerings. (I could be wrong–they don’t call me ‘Tin Ear’ for nothing.)

Tom D.

10

Oh Lord… I’m having 70’s flashbacks… aiiiieeee…
Dave

11

hey, 70’s flashbacks are the best.

12

To further your 70s flashbacking, there are two El Condor Pasa midis here: http://sglyrics.myrmid.com/midi.htm, amongst a thick collection of other S&G songs. Scroll down to “E.”

Big brother won’t let me stream audio at work, so I can’t hear the key(s) until tonight. But a MIDI note-bender, such as MIDI-Notate (free 30-day trial) can transpose keys for you.

Ayyeee!

13

Here is a link
http://www.xaphoon.com/
PDF midi and tabledit. It’s in F but just move up one note and you are in G.
tabledit is cool - worth downloading the player.

14

Forgot to say check the sound sample link as well. There is a lovely mp3 played on the Xaphoon.