Keys/Modes and all that...

Whistle
1

I know from past interactions that some of you here are well acquainted with music theory. Several years back I had created a small chart as a quick reference for myself to help remember the keys playable on different whistles. I should state (though I’m sure it will soon become obvious) that my music theory is very basic at best.

What I was aiming for was to create a chart that would illustrate what keys (pertaining to Irish music) are playable on common whistles; that is D, Eb, F, G, A, and Bb (all of these except for A can be had in a Generation or other commercially available brand). For the sake of a simple chart I did not include keys such as C# or B that can be had in a Susato or Burke (for example) but are less common. I also did not include any scales that require half-holing or cross-fingering beyond the common Cnat.

I think that the Dorian row in this chart is a little redundant and misleading by adding the “m” after the key to indicate “minor”. In other words, saying E Dorian is sensible enough and saying Em Dorian is either incorrect or redundant. Could someone maybe shed some light on this for me.

This isn’t of great importance as it’s not something I even use anymore but another topic on the board got me thinking about it again. I organized the chart in a way that made sense to me as a whistle player but if you have trouble reading it then let me know. Basically the black boxes across the top represent the whistle key. The boxes underneath them in the same column represent other keys that can be played on that whistle. The darker ones on the lower half indicate the second major key (and related modal scales) playable on that whistle thanks to the Cnat cross fingering.

Thanks in advance for your insight. If you are interested in using this chart for yourself please feel free to (though I’d recommend staying tuned to check it’s accuracy).

Cheers,
Johnny

2

On a related note, so to speak, whatever happened to the “Whistler’s Little Circle of Fifths?” The link to Annie’s site in past threads is broken. I thought I saved a copy of the .pdf file on my computer but can’t find it!

3

It’s still there, just cleverly hidden. Under Technical Resources:

http://www.angelfire.com/mo/sassafrassgrove/WhistleRoll/whistlelinks.html

4

It may be a redundancy from the pedant’s perspective but there is nothing wrong with describing your Dorian modes as Xm as long as you don’t to those Dorians as a key signature (in terms of current western signature system) application.

5

To avoid all the redundancy, and because so many Irish tunes have notes that flip back and forth anyway, the “whistle transposing chart” I made for myself years ago simply listed, for example on a D whistle:

1st D maj/mix
2nd E dor/min
4th G maj
5th A mix/dor
6th B min

Also it’s handy (the way my mind works anyhow) to have the range visible at a glance, because if a tune’s lowest note is the tonic it can be based on the whistle’s 1st but if the tune’s lowest note is up to a fourth below tonic it would more likely be based on a whistle’s 4th.

My chart lists whistles in every key up the chromatic scale: one never knows what key one will need to play in at a gig.

I suppose the 4th should say G maj/lyd and I should have 7th C lyd but I’m almost never looking for the lydian mode.