keyless low D an sheet songs..

Irish Flute
1

i was looking around at some traditional sheet songs on the internet, and i was curious to know if there’s a way to play danny boy on a keyless low D (the sheet song i got has a low C in it, i think its in E flat major or some such nonsense. i was curious if there was any way to translate it over into D dorian or whatever the low D tuning is. or if you know any fun traditional songs to play, ill take that as well. thanks alot. peace out~
Evan

2

I play it in G. That way I don’t have to “octave” any of the notes below the tonic.

3

G works for me:

X: 1
T:Danny Boy
O:Ireland
M:4/4
L:1/8
%%ID:00000636
F: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/gettune/00000636.abc
F:http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/gettune/00000636.abc 2006-03-26 21:43:26 UT
K:G
FGAB3AB | edBA GE3 | FGBd3ed | BGBA3FG |
AB3ABed | BAGE3FG | AB3cBAG | AG3defg-|
g2ff eded | BG3 defg-| g2 ff edBA-| A2dddb3 |
aage gdBG-| G2FGAB3 | cBAG AG z2 |]

BillG

4

Yes, G is the obvious key for flute. It’s a good “learning” tune because:

(a) Most people know the tune so well that they can work it out by ear, always the best way of learning a new tune

(b) It covers a wide range of notes. The high b in the second part is great for practicing the second octave.

I say this as a newbie who used this tune for practice (as well as it being a plain good tune anyway, despite it being played so often).

5

Also, there’s something about the key of G that tends to inhibit the desire of folks to start singing along, heh, heh.

6

aren’t we required to play danny boy at least twice a day?

7

I remember once doing a fund-raising gig for a club. We were doing background music, and someone requested “Danny Boy”. We had a vocal mic set up for a later spot, and to our surprise a guy from the audience jumped up and took the mic when we started to play (in G!). Needless to say, he couldn’t sing to save himself, and his embarassed wife kept calling to him to sit down. He would have been in the doghouse that night!