flats on a whistle? I know you half-hole for sharps, but don’t know how to do flats. Also, does a Clarke “D” take as much breath as a Clarke “C”?
Thanks,
Sara
I am new to whistling but I have some music background in other instruments and know a “bit” of theory so hope this helps.
As far as I know a flat has an equivalent sharp. An Eb is the same as a D#. A Db the same as a C#, etc.
However, I was just looking at a song that had a couple of flats in it and quickly realized it was written in Eb and so meant to be played with Eb whistle (I think it was Eb) which has flats in its native scale (without half-holing).
God bless,
Mo
[ This Message was edited by: MoR on 2001-12-08 23:26 ]
Sara,
On a whistle, a flat is a sharp. In other words a D# is the same note/fingering as an Eb, A# is Bb, G# is Ab etc(for our purposes at least, on some instruments it is slightly different) The easiest way to understand this is by looking at a piano keyboard.
Thanks for the information - I didn’t even think about the flats being equivalent to sharps. Thanks again,
Sara
Whisltepeg.
Good point about other instruments. There are no Fb or Cb on a guitar. An Fb is an E and a Cb is a B, period. Same with sharps the other way. No E# (F) nor B# (C). (At least that’s what I learned).
A additional note: depending upon the key, even though and Fb is an E, it still will get notated as an Fb because you can’t have 2 E’s in a key (ie. Eb and E) so you make it Eb and Fb.
Erik
now i am quite new to the whistle but not music. now i know that whistles are not cromatic insturments, meaning that you can not play all acidentals. a nice example i would use would be a C whistle, no sharps no flats. don’t you need cover half a whole to achive some of the acidentals.
Well you can play the sharps and flats that are natural to the key in which the whistle is made, you just kind of have to “trick” it by half-holeing, cross-fingering, etc, to play in keys other than it’s natural key.
Sara wrote:
Also, does a Clarke “D” take as much breath as a Clarke “C”?
Yes, they both require a huge amount of air.
My D Clarke has a split in the fipple wood, and therefore sounds not quite right. Si I think I’ll try the tweak of flattening out the airway to see how well it works and how easy it is to screw up.
Charlie
Thanks for all the replies! I now understand all the sharps and flats. 
Chas,
Thanks, I figured it would probably take as much air as the “C”, but I just wasn’t sure.
Peace be with you all,
Sara
Just a note to say that half holing
really does work on sharps and flats.
It takes time and considerable practice,
but I think one
can get all the accidentals in every
key in which a whistle plays.
First I thought half holing was
impossilbe for me, then I thought
I could do it, then I thought it
was impossible–but now I think
all the time I’ve spent practicing
half holing has really improved
my technique. When half holing becomes
second nature, the whistle becomes
a chromatic instrument that feels
like part of your body.