This may be obvious to some of us, even perhaps to many, but it wasn’t to me and I thought I’d share it.
Last year when Brigitte posted that she and Colin needed to sell some whistles quick, I decided to help out and took the burgundy B. I thought at the time that it would be handy to play for singers. It isn’t a Bb, I realized, but a half-step wouldn’t make that much difference and it was available.
Well last night I thought of another use for it. It’s a third down from the high D, so I can play the same music as the high D is using and have instant harmony. It’s not quite that simple, of course, to do well, but It’ll be fun to fool around with.
Neat idea. Sounds like you realize already that constant thirds are probably not going to sound very good. Also, you have to be a bit careful of the key/chords.
And if the epiphany fails you, you can always slide the whistle over your wrench for some extra leverage to loosen those nuts on a flat tire.
Neat idea. Sounds like you realize already that constant thirds are probably not going to sound very good. Also, you have to be a bit careful of the key/chords.
Yes, I’ll have to figure out how to vary the interval in pleasing fashion, but I’ve been looking for an excuse to learn ( and use ) a little musical theory.
And if the epiphany fails you, you can always slide the whistle over your wrench for some extra leverage to loosen those nuts on a flat tire. >
Or fill it with lead, and use it as a persuader of another sort.
I think I figured out the problems with harmonizing your B whistle in the key of D, and that would be that you’d have to play a F nat’s. and Bb’s, that’s all. JP
It is mine, my precioussss, gollum, gollum, my birthday present, yes, my preciousss. >
That nassssty little squeaker has stolen my precioussss. We hates 'im.
JohnPalmer:
I think I figured out the problems with harmonizing your B whistle in the key of D, and that would be that you’d have to play a F nat’s. and Bb’s, that’s all. JP
Thanks, John! I’ll struggle with it a bit and see how it goes. Now I just have to find someone to play a high D for me while I work this out …
Hmmmm. My daughter plays flute, so maybe I’ll dragoon her into playing with me.
It is really a very good whistle to play tunes which are set in E. Since this key sounds great on guitars, it is not seldom used in ballad-singing. Just play the whistle as if you were playing a tune in G on the D-whistle, and you actually play E. I hope this helps in giving you some usefull ideas on how to profit from the whistle. (Actually I found it hard to spot a whistle in that key, and I envy you a bit owning a gem like that!)
I agree with Wilfred that B whistles are great for playing along with tunes in the key of E, and he’s also correct that it’s hard to find a whistle in that key… and it’s really hard to find a high-end one.
I’m a big Dubliners fan, and they did many of their tunes in the key of E.
Unfortunately the soprano E is almost as hard to find as the soprano B… I have Susatos in both keys so I can play along with my Dubliners CDs.
Thanks cwmwl and raindog1970! I thought I had a gem when I first saw and played it, but it’s nice to hear you both say so. I’m off now to bother my daughter and get her to play some harmonies with me.
Our group does “The Parting Glass” in C#m. We chose this key because we do it with 3-part vocal harmonies - C#m puts the different vocal parts right in everyone’s range. I play along on a B whistle - it works quite nicely.
