Here is a great tip that really helped me to understand how to break free from the normal fingering patterns.I have not yet seen this tip but maybe I just missed it so if this is a repeat I’m sorry.
Anyhow,like the rest of you I have struggled with whistles for many years and of the tips that have heped me ,this is one of the best but not the easiest.
So,if you know some tunes in G, which is 3 fingers down on the left hand,try transposing them to A which is 2 fingers down on the left hand.So A.would be the starting note.Please note that not all tunes in G start on a G but I hope you get the idea.What this does if make you work at breaking out of the old formular and get into some C sharp and G sharp notes .
Boy does this make a nice change and if you can persist I have found it really helps you understand the way you can move tunes around to different key.
Hope youn find this helpful and not too frustrating.
I agree. Transposing tunes - whether by conscious effort or accidentally (see below!) is a great way to learn more about the structure of tunes in general. Perhaps starting with some of the more natural transpositions, eg. D ↔ G or Adorian ↔ Edorian on a D whistle, might be easier as a start, but G ↔ A isn’t too far out either. What is too far out is transpositions that require too much halfholing, eg. playing a D tune in Ab.
Actually, I once in a while accidentally start a tune in a wrong key, and often get a couple of bars into it before thinking “hey, that’s not the way I use to play it”.
Thanks for the tip Phil.I just tried this on Off to California which I’ve only up till now played in G and it works nice-n-easy in A with only one half hole on G# to worry about.Can you or others suggest a few easy tunes or sets to work on?Cheers,Mike
[ This Message was edited by: mike.r on 2001-10-15 07:28 ]
I’m not sure if you are suggesting that this is best accomplished by ear, but I have been wondering for a while if any of the inexpensive programs suggested for using the ABC music notation, and transposing that to printable music are capable of simply transposing a song up or down a few notes.
Along the same lines, try looking at a tune in C and playing it in D. That just takes a mental shift up one note also.
I’m not sure what key highland bagpipe music is written in, but if you finger the written high F as a B, and go from there, it works fine. In general, every place I see bagpipe ornamentation, I try to put in a whistle ornamentation, and it all seems to work out.
Melody Assistant ( $15 a year or so ago ) will do the transposing for you. You can transpose from one key to any other key or stay in one key and transpose up or down one semitone. This can be repeated several times to go up or down several semitones. I just tried it out by putting in the scale in the key of C. I then used the pitch change twice to move up to D and there was my scale with the proper F# and C# added. Their web site is http://www.myriad-online.com/enindex.htm .
High G# is a regular note for me, but the success of that note is often determined by the type or brand of whistle played. Many whistles can play G# using XX0 XX0, fingering. Yet, one whistle might let you attack it straight on, while another will only allow it to sound while slurring to it from another note. Regarding other notes, I have a Susato low D that will never let me half-hole an F. The sound turns scratchy and just dies away when the F is in tune. High Bb is a note which is sometimes attainable with XX0 XXX. If these fingerings don’t work, then it’s off to half-holing it, which is great for finger sensitivity and ear training.
That tip about transposing is an interesting one, Phil. It’s the stuff that playing by ear is made of. You might also try transposing up just a half tone. JP
