Will someone tell me what one does with
F whistles. One plays them, of course,
but what keys do they get you that you
would use playing with other instruments
(e.g. banjos, guitars, etc.)? Thanks.
In a band I used to play in the vocalist would often sing in F. The flute/whistle player apparantly didn’t want to play flute in F so it was the F whistle. I have a certain amount of high frequency hearing loss which seems, paradoxically, to make high frequency sounds more unpleasant than they normally would be so I hate the things. High G whistles are worse, of course. I guess you could also try some country rags which are sometimes in F-Beaumont Rag, for instance. I’m unsure whether it would go better on an F or a C whistle but it works fine on a C.
Steve
I am curious for a good answer too. I have an auto recorder in F and all I can do with it is play harmoney on songs where the Penny isn’t needed as it would drown out a singer.
I sure haven’t found a song that HAS to be played in that key yet, either!
An F whistle also plays in Bb and Gminor.
There are a number of tunes in Bb (2 flats) and F (1 flat) some with melodies that reach below what can be played on C and Bb whistles.
You often see folks songs where the guitarist play the tune in D or G, but uses a capo to move the song up 3 frets (3 half steps). This transposes the keys from a D to an F and the G to Bb. It is often done to move a song into the power range of the singer. A song written in C might be transposed down to Bb so that the melody doesn’t run higher than the singer’s range.
Exactly.
The F whistle (I like the lower F than the short one, which is shrill) will produce the note “F-natural” with all fingers covered. Ergo, it plays the F-natural scale going upward: F,G,A,Bb,C,D,E,F.
You’d finger it as if the tune were written in D (or whatever relative key) but the sound is just in a different scale.
So, say someone wanted to play “Merry Blacksmith” in F major and you only know it on the D whistle in the regular D key. Grab the F whistle, finger it exactly the same as on the D whistle, and you’re all set.
If someone wanted to play the “Musical Priest” in D minor, but you only know it on the D whistle in B minor. Grab the F whistle, and, again, finger it the same and you’re all set.
Jim,in answer to your post an easy method is to simply count four notes above the key you are playing so that in F ,you can play B flat,with Bflat you can play Eflat etc.Blues harmonica players call this cross tuning and Lee Oskar harmonica 's come with a very good,detailed description of this and, by the way,the Lee Oskar low F is one of the nicest.I hope this helps you buddy. 
Mike
Pick up the flook cd “flatfish” there is a bunch of alto F on the album. Colin Goldie recomended the key to me when I orderd a couple whistles and it truley is a wonderful key. Borders on the register of high and low, as you well know. Hey get it?
The reason to have a (low) F whistle is because they are insanely cool. The only “practical” purpose I’ve run into is to play along with other people who have realized this, like Mike McGoldrick, Lunasa, and Flook.
For instance, on Lunasa Otherworld, tracks 1, 5, and 9 are on low F whistle.
The only reason I’m aware of for a high F whistle is your fingers are too small to play a regular D whistle. (I have the opposite problem – fingers too big for a high F.)