Key help again, please

Whistle
1

Hi there,

I experimenting learning a tune without dots and such. Its one of the tunes that I have on my phone to keep me amused while I work, so I hear it a lot. ‘The Bantry Girls Lamment’ from the Joanie Madden album. I started picking it out (D whistle) without playing along - I could hear it in my head. Or at least I could hear the pattern of the tune. I wound up playing starting on either D or G.

Then I played along with the CD, and found that I was starting on A.

Was I playing in a major key (D/G) from memory when it should have been a minor key (Am)? Or is this a pentatonic(?) tune that fits in three ‘places’ on the whistle? If the former then I need to work on my listening/remembering skills. If the latter, then maybe I did alright.

Or I could be wrong three ways…

Any help would be gratefully received (even if its option three - wrong thrice).

2

Good morning, DrPhill. The song is performed in the key of A Major.

Best to you.
Byll

3

If it’s the tune I’m thinking of (starts [Dmaj] DE | F2F2 F2ED | A3F A2B2 | AF3 E3D | E4 or something like that) it’s in a major key. This means that it would fit on a D whistle played in D major, G major or A major. From memory, I didn’t think it had the seventh degree of the scale, so there wouldn’t be any G#s to get in the way if you played in A instead of either D or G.

Does that help?

4

I’ve thought about this again, and you are RIGHT, Phill. It is, indeed, pentatonic. Good ear you have there. Now all you’ve got to do is have the confidence that you are hearing things right.

:slight_smile:

5

Thank you both Ben and Byll, you have answered my question completely.

Seems that my ear and my memory for tune shapes are working better than my memory for music theory. (I thought an A would be a minor). Still the theory in the end should be the least important.

Maybe I will be able to wean myself off dots slowly… but checking with the experts gives me more confidence.

A year and a half at CFU (Chiff & Fipple University) is paying off.

Phill

(Crossed with Ben: Pentatonic was easy - I counted the notes that I had.)
EDIT: Or is pentatonic more complicated than just five notes?

6

Yeah, I tried counting the notes, too. But, being an accountant, I found that I could come up with any number from 4 to seven, depending on what was required. :wink:

7

:smiley:

8

From the sound of the track, it wouldn’t surprise me if Joanie’s performing on an E whistle in G fingering (for A major).

9

Wow, you can hear it as an E as distinct from a D or an A whistle :boggle: ? Puts my delight at getting the right key into perspective :sniffle: .

Ah well, perhaps I am not really at the CFU yet.

10

Well, you can’t be positive without visuals. But there are clues such as timbre and register crossings on ornaments that can give it away.

I’d say you’re doing fine, Phill. :wink:

11

Ah, yes, I can see how that might work.

I started late, and travel slow, but I am enjoying the journey and the people I meet.