Holiday busking revisited

Whistle
1

After reading Kar’s post about “playing out” during the Holidays, I got to thinking it might be fun to do a little busking for charity this season. I haven’t played on the streets in years because I don’t need the money and there are plenty who do, but I do enjoy it, and I figure if I donate any “take” to one of our many local charities, it would be well within the spirit of the season. Anyway, I just spent a happy and productive hour figuring out how many Christmas, Advent and Epiphany songs I could play easily on the whistle, and came up with a good list, but I’d love to add to it. Suggestions welcome!

Here’s my list so far:

O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Sleepers Wake
Prepare the Way, O Zion
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
O Little Town of Bethlehem (“Forest Green”)
Of the Father’s Love Begotten (plainsong)
Adeste Fideles
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
See Amid the Winter Snows
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
Angels We Have Heard on High
Joy to the World
Away in a Manger (both tunes)
Once in Royal David’s City
Christians Awake
In Dulci Jubilo (“Good Christian Men Rejoice”)
The First Nowell
Silent Night
In the Bleak Midwinter
I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In
Good King Wenceslas
Ding Dong Merrily On High

I’d like to find a relatively easy key for Greensleeves/What Child Is This…I’m not having a lot of luck picking it out today (my ear’s off). I’d also like to add some Chanukah songs, and any other Christmas carols people can suggest. Thoughts, anyone?

Redwolf

2

Redwolf -

I gave my student Greensleeves at our lesson last week, though I don’t have my stuff with me today. Drop me an email to remind me and I’ll send you the notes tomorrow.

While reading your post I had a thought, though - maybe you could find one of the Salvation Army red bucket things and ask the bellringer if you could play a few tunes there. It would give you practice, give the ringer a break, and be much more welcome to the public than the ring-ring-ring of that bell. :wink: People might then donate more.

Just a thought. Email/Remind me about greensleeves, I think it was pretty straightforward in whatever key I have it in.

3

I’d actually thought about that (the bellringer idea). We have a nice older fellow with a beard like Santa’s who does the Salvation Army bit at our local Safeway every year…maybe I’ll ask him if he’d like some accompaniment :slight_smile:. I was even thinking that the bell would be a nice counterpoint to “Ding Dong Merrily on High.”

Thanks…I’ll drop you a line re Greensleeves.

Redwolf

4

I chose the version of greensleeves on my website specifically because it was easy to play on the whistle. Give it a look-see.

http://www.tinwhistler.com/music/sheet.asp?code=greensleeves

5

whoops..ignore the double post! :slight_smile:

[ This Message was edited by: Wandering_Whistler on 2002-11-19 10:32 ]

6

That’s it! Many thanks. You know how it is when you KNOW you’ve played a song before (and you know it wasn’t hard), but you can’t remember the starting note, and when you try to find it you keep sequeing into something else? That’s where I was with Greensleeves today…I finally gave up before I threw the whistle out the window in frustration :slight_smile:. Too many songs in one practice session, I guess.

Redwolf

7

Last year I played with carolers
in hospitals and we did some
pop carols, too. To my amazement
I actually enjoyed them–
Frosty the snowman–first note, high D

Rudolph the rednosed reindeer–same
first note

Jingle Bells,

Santa Clause is coming
to town.

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas,
in G–much good fun!

8

Here’s a thread from Lee Marsh last year, it’s a cheat sheet of starting notes for various christmas tunes. Very helpful.

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=1472&forum=1

9

Just today I was figuring out God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: it’s not hard, sounds pretty good.

Thanks for the Greensleeves, incidentally; I’ve been meaning to pick it up one of these days.

10

We Three Kings is another that works.

11

DOn’t forget good king whats his nuts, and Ould Langsyne, Did you say Silent Night I forget… Ah well…

12

Thought of a few more when I was at working with the chorus this afternoon:

“Deck the Halls” (very easy)
“Sans Day Carol”
“Un Flambeau, Jeanette, Isabella”
“Patapan”
“Fum, Fum, Fum”
“Il Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant”

Redwolf

13

Because phpBB (our bulletin board) software displays posts by auto-generating tables, it doesn’t like posts with internal tables. So I’ve reformated my table from the previous post that Beth (Ava.) mentioned above. I hope this makes it easier to read.

Christmas Carol Worksheet.
Title: Here We come A-Caroling
Key: D - Starting: DEF#E
Title: Over The River and Through the Wood
Key: D - Starting: AAAF#G
Title: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Key: G - Starting: DGGF#
Title: The First Noel
Key: D - Starting: F#ED,EF#G
Title: What Child is This
Key: G - Starting: E,GABcb
Title: Joy to The World
Key: D - Starting: dc#B,AG
Title: Bethlehem
Key: G - Starting: B,BBA#B
Title: Jingle Bells
Key: G - Starting: DBAG,DDD
Title: God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
Key: G - Starting: E,EBBA
Title: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Key: G - Starting: D,GGAGF#
Title: We Three Kings of Orient Are
Key: G - Starting: B,AG,EF,GFE
Title: O Come, All Ye Faithful
Key: G - Starting: G,GDG
Title: O Holy Night
Key: C - Starting: EEE,GGAAFA
Title: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Key: G - Starting: E,GBBB,
Title: Silent Night, Holy Night
Key: C - Starting: GAGE
Title: Angels We Have Heard on High
(The Westminster Carol)
Key: G - Starting: BBBd,dcb
Title: O Christmas Tree (O Tennenbaum)
Key: G - Starting: D,GGG,ABBB
Title: Away in a Manger
Key: G - Starting: d,dcB
Title: Deck The Halls
Key: D - Starting: AGF#E,DEF#D
Title: *Deck the Halls (alt)
Key: G - Starting: dcBAGABG
Title: *Once in Royal David's City
Key: D - Starting: DFG2,GGFGAAF,
Title: *White Christmas
Key: G - Starting: B,cnatBAG,B,c#d
Title: *Good Christian Men Rejoice
Key: G - Starting DG,GB,Cnatd,ed
Title: *It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Key: D - Starting: DB2,FAG,ED2,ED2

In addition to the above list,

White Christmas (“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the one we…”) works wonderful on a whistle.

\

Enjoy Your Music,

Lee Marsh

[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2002-11-21 14:11 ]

14

Oh, I am loving this thread.

Getting some great ideas!!!

It has motivated me to pull up a few of my dulcimer books. Written in the key of D.

Christmas Wonder and Christmas Sweetness by Maiden Creek Dulcimers have a few great selections of unfamiliar carols.

My dream, is the same as your Redwolf… just never had the nerve to do it solo.

A friend of mine and I played once at a historical house during a christmas high tea shindig… It was fun, our payment was the clothes on our backs… Literally.

The lady provided for us 1800 attire to fit into the theme and then just said, you want it? So now we have the outfits to go with our performances.

My dream is to get with other whistle players and do christmas duets for charity.
That way there is safety in numbers :slight_smile:

One book that I have found helpful is
33 Christmas Carols for Three Recorders.
by Susato Press. It has a Renaissance flair to it.

Have fun, and thanks for the inspiration!

Laura

15

Too bad we live on different sides of the country, or we could team up! I’m a little nervous doing it on my own as well…I’m hoping to find a guitarist or somesuch to come along for fun :slight_smile:

Redwolf

16

The whistle will work alone
on Christmas carols, perhaps
even better alone than accompanied.
Volume matters, and if you
have something loud lower
than a D, it might be
a good idea to bring it
along, too. Generally
you may find it best to
pitch tunes high, cause
the high notes carry.

As far as being nervous,
that goes with the territory.
After 10-20 minutes one gets
so oxygen drunk that the music
takes over. I usually have the
following feeling: my God, in
30 seconds I’m going to take
a whistle out of my bag and
start playing as loud as I
can–here! This can’t be
happening… Also I make various
excuses on that day as to why
this isn’t a good day for it,
not really… Courage, mon brave!

17

On 2002-11-19 12:16, Redwolf wrote:
Too bad we live on different sides of the country, or we could team up! I’m a little nervous doing it on my own as well…I’m hoping to find a guitarist or somesuch to come along for fun > :slight_smile:

Redwolf

Ooooooooo… and I could of been that guitarist!!!

My biggest concern would be the dejavue (spelling) that I would get playing outside again in cold temps.

It reminds me of those dreadful marching band days. Wearing gloves with the fingers cut out. Hmmmm… I wonder how an aluminum whistle would hold out in those conditions?

The mall would be a good place to play.



Laura

18

That music help sheat is fantastic! It’s amazing how just having the first few notes gets you started so fast. One of the BIG problems I have, is that I’ll sit down to practice and totally have a brain fart, and I can’t think of any songs! :roll: But I’d really like to play next year.

19

Aluminum whistles go flat, I’m
afraid, so it helps to have
a tuning slide. Malls tend to
arrest you. Gloves with
the fingers cut off work
fine–if you’re daft enough
to be out there. Longjohns
help. If you dress warm
enough it’s not so bad–
marching bands don’t wear
down parkas, I recall.

20

Ya, my husband mentioned that to me as well.
The mall would be the wrong place to play.


Shucks Redwolf, I was going to send you a midi of a three part arrangement of the French Carol ‘He is Born’.

The program that I am using… Musedit allows me to export it as a midi. It sounds fine playing through the musedit program. However once I convert it over to midi. Well, the parts are not falling in the proper places and the song gets all jumbled up.


Sorta interesting, yet, not what I intended it to sound.

I was planning on sending it to ya with the idea, that we can at least share in the desire to play together for charity.

Well, good luck in your corner of the U.S.

Laura