Name this tune?

Whistle
1

Can anyone name the second tune Vinnie kilduff plays on this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X17HLvE7MWY&NR=1
And is there you tube video of the same tune played on a D whistle?

Much appreciated

Chris

2

Waitin’ for that link, there, Chris.

3

Thanks for reminding me Nano, it helps to have the link :blush:

4

:slight_smile:

I know it as Bill Hart’s Favorite. Lovely version by Vinnie, there.

5

Thanks Nano,

I’ve looked up Bill Hart’s Favorite and found many variations. It seems it can be played at least three ways on the same whistle. I’m music illiterate, but i found out i could start the tune on an D crann, or a E roll, or a B roll, if that makes any sense? Although I know what sounds right, I never know why or what i’m doing on paper :blush:
What would be the usual, or written way to play this lovely simple tune?

Thanks for any advise

Chris

6

Just to first mention that I’d never tried it in E before, and you piqued my curiosity. I found that the tune’s basics are indeed playable in that key. As for B, no. On a D whistle that key doesn’t work for the tune as I know it, but A does serve just fine. There’s no half-holing necessary with the keys of D, E, or A, anyway, unless you prefer to half-hole your Cnat instead of crossfingering it.

The tune as I know it typically starts on D, and is in D Mixolydian mode (D scale but with a C natural instead of a C sharp), if that helps you at all. I’ve often heard it referred to as an uilleann piper’s tune, so D makes sense so far as that goes. Still, why not be able to play it in all three keys just in case? D’s the best bet in my locale, at least for playing with other people, but what’s usual for your locale might be different.

That said, in this case Vinnie played Tatter Jack Walsh first - if he had been playing a D whistle it would have been in D, as is typical - then went on to Bill Hart’s, which in this case with a D whistle would have been in A. I don’t know if that was a matter of Vinnie doing what is usual to him, or if it was for the sake of stagecraft that he chose that key. Again, for me D would have been “normal”, but that doesn’t make A wrong - especially with Vinnie playing it! :slight_smile:

7

Opps :blush: I meant A not B

Thanks Nano

8

Years ago I heard a mandolin version of Bill Hart’s that, IIRC, started in D and then went up a 5th to A. Might have been Eddie Furey… Might have been someone else…

Anyway, whoever it was, I’ve played it that way ever since.