I’ve been learning Marino waltz, a lovely tune which I think is by John Sheehan from the dubliners. It was originally played on the fiddle.
If played on a “D” whistle, the tune drops to a low “C”. I think the low “C” in this tune is quite important to the melody so can anyone suggest how to get around this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rC-xt3bnUk
One option is to transpose the tune to G. That allows use of the leading 7th that you like.
Best wishes.
Steve
Thanks Steve
Problem with me is I’m musically illiterate 
I do know that the very first note that the tune starts starts in is “g” in the second octave. Unfortunately I wouldn’t know what the leading 7th was. To start any other note than on the “g” (on a d whistle) would mean a lot of half holing wouldn’t it?
Actually, the original is in G, hence the problem of the low C notes. (Here C is the 4th, not the leading tone.)
Chrisp, just transpose those C notes up an octave to c, and you’re there. That kind of folding is perfectly idiomatic when playing a fiddle-centric tune on whistle (or flute or pipes). Yes, that note is important to the melody, but the higher c will sound fine once you get used to it.
Or you can transpose the entire tune to D, which fits within the whistle range (with the one F-nat instead of the Bb/A# in G). That does start you on high d’ in the A part (|'d2 a2 f2|c4 f2| etc.), which may sound shrill depending on your whistle (and the presence of dogs or bats). Or play the D setting on a low G whistle for the original key.
Yep, those settings are fine, Steve, and more or less what I play. I learned it originally from a friend of mine, Mike O’Hara, a D/C# box player from Mayo. It was made quite famous a few years ago by an Irish TV advert from the Bord na Móna.
http://www.heartland.ie/multimedia/video/marino-waltz-advertising-campaign
In fact, I think I’ll go dig me some peat right now.
In fact, I think I’ll go dig me some peat right now.
The idea of using the BnM briquettes is ofcourse you don’t need to.
Now who was the bass player in the Rats again?
Damn, you made me look that up. Very funny. 
So we’re back to the discussion of “hard core” ITM again?
Best wishes.
Steve
(Editor of County Clare’s Feakle Matters)
Thanks MT,
It’s quite difficult, my brain is telling me to go down to the “C” and then up to the “D”. To play up to the “c” and then down to the “D” takes some getting used to, and some breath control.
I have though about doing this with other tunes in the past but always thought that it wouldn’t sound right, I guess practice makes perfect
As for transposing the tune to a lower whistle, I could try that on my low “F” whistle but I have not learned ABC. I have only ever played by listening unfortunately.
Not unfortunately, Chris. By all means, think about acquiring music reading skills. But if you can learn The Marino Waltz by ear, you have a skill that many players envy. 
Play the C an octave up, and you’ll be fine. Yes, the large interval in the “wrong” direction (7th down instead of 2nd up) sounds weird at first. But the listening ear is remarkably good at virtualizing the octaves and hearing a continuous melody line.
Just think of fingering c down to D as the “same” as playing c up to d (played xxx xxx, no vent), but dropping the pitch and your breath pressure on the d.
When younger I learned some Bach’s cello suites on the alto recorder ( in f ) and there were some low E notes you had to play with all holes covered ( F ) AND half covering the hole at the end of the tube with your knee. Tricky but it worked; that was just half step down though. I just been trying to play a C like this with a a D whistle and it doesn’t work that much. Another solution : a D7 whistle, with a C hole : go down this page http://whistle-shop.yolasite.com/excalibur-gold-narrow-bore.php
Instead of trying to play the high C in place of the low C, play a low E in place of the low C. The effect is almost the same, no one will know any different, and if you play with someone else you’ll be in harmony with them.
That said, MTG’s advise about learning to read is good. It will open up a whole new world of tunes that you can explore.
Thank you everyone
Sure, you can substitute chord tones: E,G, even A (for C6/Am). Or alter the melody in other ways: CDE → EGE etc.
But if Chris is not used to octave folding, I think he should really start with that. It’s such a fundamental technique and sound on trad whistle. And it’s easier, too - in the sense that when you’re playing a tune on the fly, you don’t have to think about implied harmonies to figure out what note to play. That itself takes some skill and experience.
Good luck, Chris, have fun. 
While I use octave folding on flute and whistle - mostly in tunes that are in faster rhythms, I’ve found, by listening to countless recordings of myself and others, that folding on slow tunes is distracting and ill suited to making the point of the phrase. Further, I’ve found that folding on notes that are not native to the instrument are even worse, such as accidentals, or even Cnat, which can vary wildly on whistles due to makers construction, air pressure, finger placement, and prior note sequence.
As you know this technique is unique to these instruments and must be used judiciously - and even go so far as to eliminate the note completely in order to keep from drawing attention to an out of place or sour note. When playing with another instrument that can produce the note IE: accordion, fiddle - it’s far easier to let them, especially in slow tunes, sound the note in an instant rather than try to ‘fake’ or fold it. My experience informs me that if I can produce an accurate harmonic, the tune flows and is heard as an enhancement, rather than an ‘oops’.
As you’ve said this technique takes some skill and experience. But as I’ve said, in my earlier post, if you play the tune and substitute the notes as I’ve indicated, I think you will hear that they are suitable and not complex.
All this said - Thanks for your careful and knowledgable moderation - it’s a big help in a sea of opinion.
Totally OT. Ballyjamesduff, huh? My wife’s people come from there. When we finally tracked the cousin’s down, we found they had come down there from the North four hundred years ago. Seems the folks there refer to the family still as ‘the new people’. . . 
Bob
OT? I’ll say! 
Hehe.. No, not really. It’s about fuel.
To be honest my first reaction to the OP was to post a comment : ‘For some reason I suddenly feel like lighting the fire’. which I didn’t because that would have derailed the thing from the get go. To be honest the tune is so closely associated with the commercial that I have never played it (or heard it played) other than on nights where the company descended into silliness, ending up playing tunes from tv commercials or themes from tv series (like the Glenroe one, which itself is a speeded up version of the Glen Nephin Cuckoo, Cuichín Gleann Neifin)
MT got it right with the Bord na Mona reference but failed when making the distinction between Bord na Mona briquettes (as advertised), made from industrially harvested peat ( 'Bord na Mona, turning the Midlands into a brown desert/moonscape’) and turf as individual people harvest from the bog.
Visually the difference is :
and even there the turf is hopper turf (the hopper being the machine that squeezes the turf into long brown sausages, cf. the tune ‘The Cat in the Hopper’), cutting by hand has nearly died out.
No no, Gumby, I didn’t get it wrong. You see, because I am such a manly man, seeing the advert inspired me to go out and cut my own. No girly briquettes for me, no sir! Just as seeing a McDonald’s commercial inspires me to slaughter my own beef. Manly men are like that.
The problem is that I drove all over San Diego yesterday looking for a peat bog, without success. And I thought we had everything here in Southern California. I did find a Pete Boggs in the telephone directory, but he was completely uncooperative.
As for turning lovely landscapes into moonscapes, no worries here. Because large parts of San Diego already look like moonscapes.
