Hardcore Newbies Only - Silent Night

Whistle
1

Ok, so I’m a Newbie - less of one than I used to be and more of one than I will be. I can still remember the holiday season back in 2004, just a couple months after I started playing. I was diligently playing scales, reading my whistle book, and learning “Oat’s and Beans.” But I really just wanted to learn a Christmas tune.

So this is for all us Newbies. In simple notation, plus a simple recording - I offer “Silent Night.” The notation works for any whistle key you have - just cover the number of holes from the top (top is where your face is, haha), blow a little harder if there’s a + because the note is in the second octave. Listen to the recording for simple tune timing - it’s played about as simply as can be, with no ornamentation or interpretation.

So you can take your whistle and the notation, hide in the room, garage, car, or outhouse where you are learning whistle - I hide in my bedroom. Take a few minutes and noodle out the tune. Play it again, and again. When you feel satisfied you are doing pretty good, pat yourself on the back. Take your whistle out of your hiding place and play the tune for your fish, dog, spouse, flatmate or any other living thing with an interested and tolerant ear.

Here’s the notation:

Notation in a PDF file: http://members.cox.net/tofutaco/SilentNight/Silent%20Night.pdf

Sound file for the tune: http://members.cox.net/tofutaco/SilentNight/Silent%20Night.mp3

The tune is played on an O’Brien Soprano D, all copper (including the fipple) whistle. There’s no processing, so you can tell exactly what it sounds like. Here’s what my copper body whistle looks like:

There you go. Have fun. :smiley:

If you are a non-newbie, you read this far, and can still remember what it was like - well I hope the nostalgia is nice. If you can record and post “Silent Night” with ornamentations or interpretation, and simple explanations of what they are and how to do it, that would be dandy. You know that’s what we want to do next. After all, you’ve been here at one time yourself.

Happy Holidays y’all. Maybe I’ll do “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” next…

2

Nice sounding whistle. Thanks for your efforts in sharing a Christmas carol.

Best, John

3

No-I’m not a newbie, really I’m not. No, not me. Umm…thanks for the whistle tab… :slight_smile:
Merry Christmas,
-W

4

I am proud and happy to be a newbie, and know other newbies and oldies here. I like your web site and the flag map. You and I must have been lucky at the same time, I have a son who is 21 and a son 17. They both live at home. I told them when they are done with high school and if they go to college they can live at home rent free. But if they do not go to college their rent here would go way up. Thank you for shareing that version of Silent Night. I am also a newbie in our praise band, and will be playing that song and some other carols next Sunday, with low whistles. Thursday I plan to go to my first session. I will be a newbie there also. Reading from the whistle forum I know better than to bring a low whistle to a session. :slight_smile: Being a newbie can be fun, yes think about it,
it is exciting to do new things, and there are more of us then the others. :laughing:


Happy Holidays :slight_smile:

5

The great thing about Christmas tunes is that they are among the easiest to learn by ear. We already know the melody by heart, and it’s just a matter of finding the first note and then taking it from there. I think Christmas songs are good ear training for the ear-challenged.

6

Good luck at your first session Tommy!
-W

7

Cool! Glad to know I’m not the only one hiding in a closet butchering carols/torturing the cats! :smiley:

LOL–I’ve been trying God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman. I learn just about anything better (at least initially) by sight and had to write it down myself to pratice, otherwise I’d get lost trying to play it thru’. Still not sure I’ve got it quite right–here it is and feel absolutely free to correct any errors y’all see (the sooner someone shows me my errors the sooner I can fix them.).

xxxxoo
xxxxoo
xooooo
xooooo
xxoooo
xxxooo
xxxxoo
xxxxxo
xxxxxx
xxxxxo
xxxxoo
xxxooo
xxoooo
xooooo
(repeat)

xooooo
oxoooo
xxoooo
xooooo
oxoooo
xxxxxx (upper octave)
xxxxxo (ditto)
xooooo
xxoooo
xxoooo (or is it xxxooo?)
xxxxoo
xxxooo
xxoooo
xooooo

Chorus
xxxxoo
xxxooo
xxoooo
xooooo
xxoooo
xxoooo
xxxooo
xxxxoo
xxxxxo
xxxxxx

xxxooo
xxxxoo
xxxxxo
xxoooo

xxxxoo
xxxooo
xxoooo
xooooo
oxoooo
oooooo
xooooo
xxoooo
xxxooo
xxxxoo
xxxxxo


(I only hope I didn’t just embarass myself too much…)

8

How, by admitting you torture cats? :smiley:

Here’s how it plays on the Serpent Village Smithy I’m hooting on right now:

Thanks for playing along!

9

I tried yours Daniel…like it even better than mine. Mentioned to the 15 year old HEATHEN that now I needed to figure out why I liked yours better.

She replied ‘Because you’re not any good with either one.’ :angry:

She outran me this time.




(Ya think maybe it’s not just the cats I’m torturing? May have to folllow her around the house playing scales to see if her head explodes. :smiling_imp: )

10

Did you make that tab and if you did where would someone get a program like that and if not where did you find that tab? It makes me jolly. :slight_smile:

11

I think you are talking to me.

Go here: http://www.chiffandfipple.com/cf-MARCH2005/
Scroll down the page to “VI. FONT”

12

Here’s how it plays on the Serpent Village Smithy I’m hooting on right now:

Serpent Village Smithy, Please tell me more. Is it something I can make with a lump of steel and a bit of heat’n’ and hammer’n’.

13

In the interest of peace on earth and good will to hardcore newbies :wink:

xxxxoo
xxxxxo
xxxxxx
xxxxxo
xxxxoo
xxxooo
xxoooo
xooooo
oooooo
oxxxxx
oooooo
xooooo
xxoooo
xooooo
oooooo
oxxxxx
oooooo
xooooo
xxoooo
xooooo
oooooo
oxxxxx
xxoooo
xxxooo
xxxxoo
Repeat

xxxxoo
xxxxxo
xxxxxx
xxxxxo
xxxxoo
xxxooo
xxoooo
oxxxxx
oooooo
xooooo
xooooo
xxoooo
oxxxxx
oooooo
xooooo
xxoooo
xooooo
oooooo Harmony
oxxxxx oxxxxx xxxxxo xxxxoo
xxoooo
xxxooo xxxxxo
xxxxoo oxxxxx

14

How about this more compact notation? Numbers refer to number of fingers used. I find it quite easy to use. BTW I don’t vent the top hole for second D.
I haven’t much of an ear. Years ago I had to finger pick the tune on the guitar to be able to sing along but after five years whistleing I’m chuffed to find I can play carols pretty much by ear right off. Still takes an age to learn a new tune though.

Silent Night
21242124 5’5’06’6’2 116’012124
116’012124 5’5’3’5’06’4’ 6’242356

15

You guys! I take it you’re not familiar with ‘abc’ format. DEFGABc is the lower octave and defgabc’ is the upper octave. You can download freeware that will read the tunes and play them for you at any speed or pitch. There are archives on the internet of tunes larger than anyone could have a use for.

Here’s a gigantic archive: just type in a tune name. http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/FindTune.html

Here’s a basic into to the idea: http://staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/

Here’s a great freeware you copy and paste tunes into:
http://abcnavigator.free.fr/

It’s all extremely easy to use and useful.
Tony

16

So, like, if I’m playing my high G Thin Weasel…
…will I, like, have to know more of the alphabet?

I’m messin’ with you Tony. :poke:
I know about ‘abc’ notation. I just did the cover the holes style for ease of use in any key for us rank newbies. :tomato:

Peace-out ma’ Brutha’

17

You liked mine better because I’m so darned cute! (play along with me, it’s good for my tiny ego) :smiley:

I have a 16 year old heathen myself. He wants a Didgeradoo (http://www.didgeridoostore.com/) in D so he can drone while I play. :boggle:

Oh the things we do for the heathen. :wink:

18

:astonished:

OhMyGod—I wish I’d known about those a long time ago. Would’ve been a darn sight cheaper than the trombone she’s got for band! :smiley:

Don’t know as it would be any easier to listen to her practice on… :wink:

19

I know about abc and read music. Just thought bare numbers might be useful when the tune is known but not the playing of it. Perhaps a more useful use of numbers would be 1 for tonic 2 for next tone up etc then a player could choose their own key and understanding of intervals would be absorbed. Could easily write a prog to convert to abc or dots in a chosen key.

20

Here’s an irony. Silent Night is not an easy tune to play in a convincing way. I’ve been at this game for 4 years. Semi-newbee. I can play jigs no problem. Some reels. But I’d hesitate to try SN in public. To make it sound good you’d have to get some vibrato and “bent” notes in there, and that’s not easy.
If you make a little mistake on a jig people hardly notice. But on one of those slow pieces filled with emotion, the same mistake spoils the whole mood.