Absolutely new to music and whistles both. I played recorder in grade school but failed miserably and haven’t touched anything since. As I creep up on the title of senior I’m doing things to challenge my brain a bit, plus I have a new job that allows me 12 hours of personal play time and I need to keep from being bored.
I was going to try and make my own pvc whistle but decided to buy a Becker instead. I’m very sensitive to shrill sounds and have large enough hands and long fingers so I bought an Alto A. YAY!! It just arrived in the mail.
I’m on youtube watching beginner whistle videos. Now that I’ve got Mary and her Lambs figured out, I’m on to Frere Jacques but the last three keys played by the video tutor don’t sound right to me.
Here goes : DEFD / DEFD / FGA / FGA / ABAGFD/ ABAGFD / DED / DED … the E in the DED doesn’t sound right to my ear. It goes higher when my memory of the song goes lower. It should sound ding DONG ding .. not DING dong DING.
I’m sorry .. I know I’m not explaining this well. I don’t know the correct terminology just yet but I’ll learn. I do however have a good ear and this just doesn’t sound right and I can’t find the correct sound I’m looking for.
It needs a low A but you haven’t got one so they’re substituting the E (you could also try the regular XXOOOO A, which will sound the octave above the one you’re ‘hearing’).
edited to add: there are two D’s xxx xxx and oxx xxx according to the notes I’m reading (thank you Peter for showing me how to explain my finger positions using the x’s and o’s)
If you’re starting with all-holes-closed for D, starting in the second octave (instead of the first) will allow you to drop down at the end.
For sure, or transposing up a fourth to play in nominal G (edit: as now cross-posted by the OP) but, given the subtext of the OP, maybe one step at a time!
This is why I only made the one suggestion in my original post. But, since you asked…
‘Nominal D, sounding A’ = you’re fingering D, but playing A because you’ve got an A whistle (doesn’t matter at all if you’re just playing solo).
‘Transposing up a fourth to play in nominal G’ = playing four keys higher so your ‘fingered’ key note is G (actually sounding D because you’ve got an A whistle and everything sounds four notes down, which again doesn’t matter if you’re just playing solo).
I’m willing to admit this is beyond my comprehension at the moment but it sounds right on the whistle so I’m happy.
Now I’ve got two baby tunes to play with so I can get comfortable with the holes and breathing. I’m sure I’ll be driving everyone near me crazy for the next little while.
I think I’m starting to understand what you were saying. When I bought my whistle I didn’t know that the same fingering on a D plays a different note on an A. Do I understand that correctly now?
.. which brings up more questions.
Am I up for an enormous challenge because most of the lessons and charts available are for a D while I’m playing in A? I need beginner notes and challenges but can’t find any specifically for an A whistle. Everyone seems to teach with a D and I think it’s giving me grief. When I play their charts it doesn’t sound right (and not because I’m honking away .. which I am by the way!) So then I’m searching for notes in A which has me reading all kinds of music stuff that’s beyond my abilities. Any thoughts on how I might deal with this?
Please don’t suggest I buy a D .. the sound makes my ears bleed .. figuratively for anyone that doesn’t realize I’m kidding! Many life times ago I bought a whistle when I was in Ireland, thinking I’d learn to play but to me the sound was so shrill and I gave it up. I didn’t realize I could buy a low sounding whistle until recently so now I’m trying again.
I also ran across two different fingering charts for a D whistle labeling different fingering the same note. EG: C# on one chart as OOOOOX and on the other chart as OOOOOO. Do I dare ask how that’s possible? or if it’s an error? (if you think it will confuse me just tell me to move on and I’ll leave it be)
Am I up for an enormous challenge because most of the lessons and charts available are for a D while I’m playing in A?
No. It’s only an issue if you want to play along with demos, tracks etc. done on the D.
I need beginner notes and challenges but can’t find any specifically for an A whistle. Everyone seems to teach with a D and I think it’s giving me grief. When I play their charts it doesn’t sound right (and not because I’m honking away .. which I am by the way!) So then I’m searching for notes in A which has me reading all kinds of music stuff that’s beyond my abilities. Any thoughts on how I might deal with this?
Just carry on playing the D stuff on your A. Most folk visualise all whistles in terms of D fingerings anyway, so not a problem for solo learning unless you’ve got perfect pitch.
I also ran across two different fingering charts for a D whistle labeling different fingering the same note. EG: C# on one chart as OOOOOX and on the other chart as OOOOOO. Do I dare ask how that’s possible? or if it’s an error? (if you think it will confuse me just tell me to move on and I’ll leave it be)
Definitely possible. The OOOOOO is basically the ‘true’ fingering and the OOOOOX probably assuming a supporting finger that’ll have negligible effect on tuning for that note. Likewise you’ll find different fingerings for C natural (OXXOOO, OXXOXX, OXXXOO, OXXXOX etc.) because whistles vary there.
Thanks Peter, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer all my questions.
I doubt I have perfect pitch but I really hear the difference in notes and when they don’t sound right to me I’m on the hunt to figure out which key plays the right note and I end up with a whole different configuration to my fingers than what they were showing me.
If you’re working with demo tracks, videos etc., bothered by the different notes you’re playing and don’t like ‘shrill’ D whistles, you might seek out a really gentle narrow-bore D. Which will be quieter and less piercing up high, but probably also much tougher for you in requiring considerably more breath control to play at all.
Better avoid the word ‘key’ when you mean which hole(s) or finger(s) play(s) the notes. Because that’s confusing when keys have various established meanings here (eg D whistle, A whistle, D scale, A scale, mechanical devices for opening or closing holes) but never just bare fingers/holes.
Watching videos but also following note charts. For some reason some of my notes don’t match their notes. Even squawky notes usually sound like they belong there and just need practice but I’m getting notes that don’t sound even close to what I know the song sounds like.
Thanks for the info on the narrow D. I’ll look into that.
Better avoid the word ‘key’ when you mean which hole(s) or finger(s) play(s) the notes. Because that’s confusing when keys have various established meanings here (eg D whistle, A whistle, D scale, A scale, > mechanical > devices for opening or closing holes) but never just bare fingers/holes.
Thanks .. it will take me a while to learn the correct terms and I appreciate someone letting me know I’m saying it wrong so I can learn the right way.
Yes, yours are a fourth below theirs. As Peter said, this is no problem when playing alone (from charts etc. everything should be internally consistent regardless of the key) but only when you’re trying to play along with these clips. What is striking though is that only some of your notes seem to be wrong. So maybe your whistle is seriously out of tune in itself… I don’t really know Mr. Becker’s reputation, but judging from the clips he provides on his site he isn’t a particularly capable player himself.
