I avoid playing tunes written in the key of C, but a vast amount of non ITM music is written in this key. Much of the time I am able to transpose the music or find the same tune written in D, G or A.
I was wondering if there are whistlers out there who just bite the bullet and routinely play music written in the key of C using D Concert Pitch fingering? Am I correct in assuming that this practice is not that common for beginner to intermediate players?
I am of the belief that there is a pefectly good C whistle in my whistle bag that needs fair and equal playing time.
I am also able to sight transpose music and believe in taking the easy way out whenever possible. For example, if a song was written in Bb, there is no way that I could ever play that song in Bb on a D whistle, but I could look at the music, transpose it in my head to the key of G, and then play the music on an F whistle (if I had one) to get the song back into Bb.
You have really got to learn to be a slacker. Then you’d have more time to watch TV or hit on the babes.
Am I correct in assuming that by this you mean that instead of the Bell Note on a C whistle being interpreted as a written D note using D Concert Pitch fingering, that the Bell Note on a C whistle is interpreted as a written C using C-fingering?
In other words, to play music written in the key of C played on a C whistle using C-fingering would yield a Bell Note that sounds a C note, whereas using D-fingering would yield a Bb sounding note. So am I correct that this then requires knowing two separate fingering patterns for a note in the same position on the staff?
I suspected this would happen one day. I just don’t know if my brain-finger connections can handle this. Mutepointe - obviously if your head can transpose on the fly, you don’t have any trouble with what I see as two different sets of fingering for the same written scale.
I don’t understand what this means but that has more to do with my knowledge than yours.
The bell note on a C whistle is going to be a C and that’s that. You can pretend it’s a Bb (I often do if I’m transposing and not trying to get something back into the original key) but it’s still a C.
I don’t know about the fingering pattern thing. Again, my lack of knowledge.
In the words of Tim Gunn, “Make it work.” Good Luck. Someone will come along and answer your questions much better than I can.
I have no real knowledge on what I’m writing. I was trying to clarify in my head how the key of the music, the whistle, and the sound produced came together.
Up to this point I’ve interpreted a written D note as “all fingers down on the whistle” whether I was playing a D, C, Bb or whatever whistle (i.e. using the whistle itself to transpose where needed). But if instead I interpret a written D note with only 5 fingers down when playing a C whistle I now have what I have been calling a “different fingering pattern”.
The words I need to express this simple meaning is what ends up confusing things. In any case, thanks for the postings.
this practice is not that common for beginner to intermediate players?
I’ve only been playing about a year, having learnt to read music (to a degree) within that time-frame as well. I routinely play and read in C, D, F and G although some of my “D” instruments do have a low C “lead-in” note ie. a hole for the right-hand little finger, for music that requires it. As yet, anything else gets “folded” to fit the instrument or transposed to suit my reading capabilities 
Yes, and it may be quite useful to learn to read music written in C or its associated modes, for playing on a C whistle in the key/mode as written. Even more important if you want to play written music from other traditions, which can have loads of written music with ‘C’ signature.
If you actually use a C whistle or some other key whistle to play such ‘key of C’ music is not too relevant and only becomes important if you play with others.
You may be playing some of the ITM music noted in C on your D whistle, by using C natural and F natural, and this can be fine, if there is no bottom C note, like perhaps in a D minor tune. Playing the same with different finger pattern on a C whistle just gives you a different expression, as you use a lower whistle, and it may sound nicer.
So, yes, go for it and learn reading ‘key of C’ written music for C whistle!
Ahem…
Anyway, a C whistle plays in B# major, a D whistle plays in D major and an F# whistle - I have 3 - plays in Gflat major. It is indeed very confusing. Good luck.
But seriously folks, if this forum has anything to offer in these troubled times, it’ll be a clear ruling on what transposition actually means (and how to talk about it) with diatonic instruments. Starting with the absurd contention that the whistle is a transposing instrument.
I get it that to play the C whistle, with music in a key signature of C, and not using Concert Pitch fingering (D-fingering) that I will have to get my brain to memorize the fingering shift that occurs to use C-fingering. Like I had said, I suspected this, but never attempted it. I had always played the C whistle using the D-Concert Pitch fingering.
Since I have no foundation in music theory I try to learn a little theory when these things come up by filling in the blanks, however, much of the time I can’t grasp the theory and just end up taking it on face value. So the bit of theory should support the following so here goes:
I have a C whistle and I’m going to play with “all fingers down” a note that is written on the page in each case as a C
1 - if the music has a key signature of C and when the note is played it will sound a C
2 - if the music has a key signature of D and when the note is played it will sound a Bb
3 - if the music has a key signature of G and when the note is played it will sound an F.
Are items 1 to 3 correct?
I don’t really understand what that lot means, but I suspect the answer is ‘No’. You appear to me to be trying to do two consecutive stages of transposition in one go. Firstly, you’re trying to mentally ‘transpose’ so that your fingerings which you think of as ‘D’ fingerings are now ‘C’ fingerings. And secondly, you’re trying to transpose to a ‘whistle-friendly’ key depending on the key signature. In which case, in No 2, the note written as ‘C’, but in a D signature, is going to be a C#, so would end up as either a B natural or possibly an E natural. No 3 is going to be correct (if I adopt the mental approach that I think you’re taking - couldn’t swear to it though.)
Clear the decks, Pipebender. It’s all been confusion up until now.
You have a D whistle. It plays in the key of D. (It can also play in the keys of G and something else if you’re careful, but ignore that for now.) Key of D has two sharps, C# and F#. It’s not too difficult to play a Cnatural, with an alternate fingering. You can also play an F natural with an alternate fingering, although that’s a little more difficult. It is possible (unlikely, but possible) that your piece of music does not include these notes. You might be able to play it straight off.
Most people will take the easy option and buy a C whistle. Whistles are not chromatic instruments. They are limited in the keys you can easily play.
What the replies up till now have been trying to get across, is that if you’re playing on your own, you can play in whatever key suits you. Yes, you might have to transpose, but if you don’t feel you have that skill, here are two approaches.
#1. Play the thing as it’s written. It sounds wrong. Shift it up (or down) a note on your whistle until it sounds right. You need to have the tune in your head for this to work.
#2. Buy (or otherwise acquire) a C whistle. Job done.
The “all fingers down” business is the bell note of the whistle. If it’s D, that’s D. If the whistle is C, that’s C. etc., without exception. It doesn’t matter what the key signature of the music is. The note you are playing stays the same.
Yes I was thinking that. Again, by ear!
Thanks for this clarification. I’m probably making this harder than it really is.
My main instrument used to be cornet. Since cornets usually come in Bb, when playing with other instruments I got used to sight transposing sheet music in the following way - raise the music by one “note” and add two sharps to the key signature. When I whistle tunes in C, I pick up my C whistle, and do the same thing - add one note and two sharps to the key signature.
Playing in more exotic key signatures is slightly harder. Sometime I close my eyes! At other times, there’s a handy guitar chord over the music with a capo setting for the guitar to essentially play in D.
The big advantage of having a whistle in the key that the music’s written in is that even if you stumble upon a wrong note, it’ll almost always be a note in the right scale, so it shouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. (For instance, if you’re playing a tune in C on a C whistle, you might hit an F rather than an E giving some creative tension, but you’ll never hit an F#, which would only be creative in a jazz setting!)
Life is too short to spend my energy transposing. I did it in my youth when it seemed cool but today I just choose a whistle in the key the tune is written in and get on with it. As an old folkie I go by the rule that music has to be fun first… Bob.
Thats… that’s precisely when you transpose…
There’s a tune called “The Parson of Eltham” which is in F. I used to play it on an F whistle. No problem.
I’m trying to get used to my new improved super-duper low D, so I’m concentrating on that at the moment.
My crib notes have the first couple of bars of each tune, in ABC.
For the Parson of Eltham, this is “B2G2B2A2F2A2|B2G2B2A4c2|” - that’s what’s on my crib.
If it’s transposed for a D whistle this becomes “G2F2G2E2D2E2|G2F2G2E4A2|” - I have to make this change in my head.
If I get the first two bars right, I’m away. If I don’t, I tend to play “The Roaring Barmaid” instead. (“GFG EGD|GFG EGD|”)
I’ll work on trying this and see if my brain turns to mush 
It’s not too hard. If you want, you could write
in the notes exactly one note above the printed
notes, and just pretend the key signature is in
D instead of C. This is what I used to do on
clarinet if I was reading music for C instruments
like flute/piano/etc. Eventually reading up one
note becomes just another skill.
No. You just play the written music as written for the instrument, if you play from the dots. So for C whistle you play the written notes in signature of C
C as XXXXXX
D as XXXXXO
E as XXXXOO
F as XXXOOO
G as XXOOOO
A as XOOOOO
B as OOOOOO
Transposition means shifting a melody up or down by a constant interval into another key.
Most tunes in C in folk idioms work better on a G whistle or F alto recorder than on a C whistle. They tend to be in plagal modes, dipping below the lowest C in the tune. The G whistle and F alto recorder both have enough range to cope with songlike authentic-mode C major tunes too. The only C tunes that really need a C whistle (or C descant recorder) are wide-range fiddle tunes like “The Braes of Auchtertyre” or “Mrs Hamilton of Pencaitland” - there aren’t a lot of those.