Not to drive this into the ground, but let me see if I understand what I think you said. By starting it on E with my D whistle, have I transposed it to a different key than Lee shows on his cheat sheet (G)? If so, will this cause grief if I ever play this tune with an ensemble? I suspect that this is a naive question, but I don’t want to learn a bunch of stuff wrong and then have to relearn it correctly later.
Lawrence
Well, it is in a different key than G, but that’s because it’s a minor tune. E minor, that is. In other words, if the cheat sheet starts with the notes you’ve given, the key it’s in is not G…it’s E minor. So yes, you’re playing in the same key as the cheat sheet, but no, you’re not in G.
If you later play with an ensemble, you may or may not need to transpose a tune (or play it on a different whistle), but it won’t be because you learned it “wrong”…rather, it will be because you and they will need to find a common ground. It’s just the nature of the beast…when you play with other instruments, you need to find a key you can all agree on. The more you play, the easier that will be.
Redwolf
Coventry Carol, a simple quiet tune.
The ABC Tune finder has one version. Looks like it’s arranged for guitar. It also looks a bit different from what I recall playing…
On my sheet. the Key of G means Key-Signature G (one sharp instead of D’s 2 sharps). Which means that on a D whistle you play a C natural rather than the C sharp.
The usual cross finger for C natural on a D whistle is from top to bottom: 0xx000 (or 0xxx00 on some whistles). The C Sharp on a D whistle is 000000 (all holes open).
Hopes this helps you …
What’s confusing him is that G and E minor have the same key signature. So that tune is actually in E minor, not in G.
Redwolf
Lee you are a LEGEND,
What a GREAT idea, even at sessions the hardest part is starting off,
I reckon ima gunna copy your idea for all my tunes,
Thanks HEAPS
DAVID
I printed out the Coventry carol. is it the case that the top note on each chord carries the tune?
brian
That’s usually the case.