I’m relatively new to playing a whistle… a year or so. Did an online tutorial, have a handful of songs that I can play with some level of proficiency… very slowly trying to increase that.
The few whistles I have (Walton, tweaked Sweetone, and a cheapo, made-in-India low D) are all D whistles… hence my question…
With Christmas coming up, I’ve been asked to play “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In” at our church, along with the band that typically plays on Sunday mornings. The sheet music they have is in a key of F. I’ve found music for the song in keys of Bb and C as well at http://www.christmascarolmusic.org , but not in the key of D.
I guess my question is this: should I be looking at picking up a whistle for the key I need, or is it not so hard to figure out how to play a different-keyed song on a D whistle? Not sure I asked that question right; like I said, I’m relatively new at this…
You couldn’t really play in F or C or Bb with a D whistle. Normally what you’d do, is transpose the music (in your head or on paper; I could tell you how to do that if you like) to D. But if you’re playing with other folks they might not want to transpose all their music too. In which case, if you’re palying in C or F (I assume this is C major and F major? ie, no sharps/flats and one flat, respectively), those are the two keys a C whistle can play easiest (assuming the songs fit the range; it’s like how you can play in D and G on a D whistle). A C whistle, probably a Gen or Feadog (if you can find a Walton’s Mellow C those are lovely, tho’ on mine you gotta push it some to get it at pitch), shouldn’t be terribly hard to find at local shops.
Here is my chart for helping me remember which keys I can play on which whistle. I have been taking a few of the simpler tunes I know well and trying to learn them in at least two keys on the same whistle. It does involve some half holing practice.
(The red letter designates the nominal key of the whistle. the black letters are the easiest secondary keys to play, and the grey are possible but Oy!)
For this song in the key of ‘F’ I would choose the C whistle.
This song will then start on XXX XXX and end on XXX 000 (which is F on a C whistle).
Ask someone in your music group to show you how to transpose the song from F up to G on the sheet music (very simple). Then simply play the new G version on your C whistle but still use the normal D fingering that you already know. The end result will be the tune in F and all will be well.
Thanks TheSpoonMan and anniemcu. I guess what you’re saying is that a D whistle has enough notes in common with the G key that it’s not too hard to play G key notes on a D (and the same for F key on a C whistle)? Are there fingering charts online that show how, for example, how to play G key notes on a D whistle, or F on a C whistle (you mention half-holing for some notes…)?
Adrian… when you say “use the normal D fingering…”, you mean play the C whistle as if all the holes covered would be a D instead of a C?
You don’t have to half-hole notes on a D whistle to get the key of G. The only difference is the C. In the key of D, it’s a C#, in the key of G, it’s a C natural. So, where you’d play all holes open in the key of D for the C#, you’d play OXX OOO (generally) for a C natural in the key of G.
And in response to your question to Adrian, yes. This is a handy thing about whistles. If you learn a tune on a D whistle, you can play it the exact same way (same fingering) on any other whistle and it will be in that key.
Of course, that handy thing isn’t so handy when you consider that you have to have a different whistle for each key you’re going to play in. That’s generally not a big deal for whistle players though.
If you visit the ‘Praise Whistlers Abroad’ board I think you will find some people that have whistles in many different keys so they can play with their church music groups. Less keys are used in Irish sessions generally. The only keys I don’t have yet are F# and Ab.
pmac,
Just a thought, I transcribe my music through a program called Finale Notepad which is a free program that you can download online. You can copy the music as written then transcribe the whole piece with a couple of clicks.
