So I’m trying to play this tune.
I’m having trouble with the key which is A minor.
What whistle would this work best on?
The tune on Youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MySmjmuU5Rs&list=PL7CAAEAE4E7A43BB2&index=57&feature=plpp_video
And on Session;
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/445
More like E Aeolian on that recording.
What whistle would this work best on?
Just a normal D whistle (folding a couple of notes) to play along with the recording, or an A whistle if you want to read the music with ‘D’ fingerings.
Or a G whistle (key note nominal/fingered ‘B’) if you don’t like half-holing all those 'F’s.
D whistle works with the recording. Key of E minor (Aeolian). Nice tune. I love Klezmer.
Gotta get down on Freilach …
Try a C whistle in B minor fingering → A minor (viz. TheSession setting). No half holes needed.
If you don’t mind what is a B minor fingering? Is that the imfamous finger capo?
Ive got a lovely Mellowdog C. 
Thanks!
Same as my ‘G whistle (key note nominal/fingered ‘B’)’, allowing for transposition to recorded key…
Just a one-finger keynote (B) instead of two (A). (‘Finger capo’ won’t work here!)
No. 
It’s just the regular old B minor (natural minor/Aeolian) scale: B c# d e f# g a b.
Which is one of the normal scales on the whistle (because B is the relative minor of D, dontcha know). The flattened note is then played as a C-nat, but you still have to half hole that starting note as an F-nat (or just leave it out).
But now that you mention it … you could use the infamous whistle capo on a C whistle, and play the dots on TheSession as-is in A minor. You have to remember to finger C-nat as xxx xxxx and Bb as xox xoo. And again, half hole or omit the starting note.
Of course, none of this applies directly to the Lúnasa recording - which, as Peter and R. Small said, is played in E minor. For that, you can use a D whistle and follow the Em setting in the Comments on TheSession (well, sort of … it’s not entirely correct). Or as Peter said, play it in B minor on a G whistle. Or in A minor with capo fingering on a G whistle. So many choices …
Yep, that’s right.
Actually, it will! … Capoed Am fingering on a G whistle. Well, a high G whistle, anyway. I, for one, sure can’t manage the whistle capo 4-hole stretch for C-nat xxx xxxx on anything lower than a C whistle.
Aye, of course (I was forgetting the RH pinkie)! So perhaps what I really meant was…
You sure about that?
Nope, I meant G whistle. Fixed it.
Of course it is. That’s why it’s infamous. 
OK, mercy for Maki …
X:1
T:Freilach
S:Lúnasa - Lúnasa - 07 - Iúil
N:For D whistle/flute
Z:MTGuru for C&F 2012-07-14
M:4/4
K:Em
BEGE EGBG|A2AG ABG2|GBdB GBdB|A2AG ABG2|
GAAG GFF=F|E6- ED|GAAG GFF=F|1 E8:|2 E4|]
BEGB|e6 dc|B6 B2|eBeB e2dc|B6 B2|
e6 d2|f8|eBeB e2dc|B6 BA|
GABc BcBc|BcBc B2A2|AEEA AEEA|AGAB A2G2|
GAAG GFF=F|E4- EDBD|GAAG GFF=F|1 E4:|2 E4 z4|]
X:2
T:Freilach (B minor)
S:Lúnasa - Lúnasa - 07 - Iúil
N:For G whistle/flute
Z:MTGuru for C&F 2012-07-14
M:4/4
K:Bm
FBdB Bdfd|e2ed efd2|dfaf dfaf|e2ed efd2|
deed dcc=c|B6- BA|deed dcc=c|1 B8:|2 B4|]
fBdf|b6 ag|f6 f2|bfbf b2ag|f6 f2|
b6 a2|c’8|bfbf b2ag|f6 fe|
defg fgfg|fgfg f2e2|eBBe eBBe|edef e2d2|
deed dcc=c|B4- BAfA|deed dcc=c|1 B4:|2 B4 z4|]
Note that A part Bar 6 and its B part Bar 14 twin are played several different ways throughout. Just go with the flow.
It isn’t a freilach, it’s a klezmer listening piece (dobriden or dobranotsh). Can’t recall if it’s got a name but it it’s pretty widely played in the klezmer scene (and VERY much better than that dull expressionless mess Lunasa make of it).
The half holing on a D isn’t bad. Tunes like this are why I so often recommend that people learn the simple skill of half holing.
Another approach might be a nifty Ahava Rabah whistle by our own Dan Bingamon:
http://www.bingamon.com/jubilee/store/whisethnic.htm
It’s great fun to play your favorite Celtic tunes on one of these and have them come out Klezmer.
Thanks everyone.
Especially thankful for the transciption MTGuru, I’ll be able to use that right away.
Paul, I’m going to use this as an excuse to by one of Bingamons whistles. 
I like Lunasas playing of it, but readily concede that it may not be true to the spirit of Klezmer.
Any clips or vids you know of that are better representative of the genre?
We play this at our session all the time, so much so I’m starting to get sick of it. Whoever shared it first at the session learned it from an official Lunasa tune book. I don’t know if they changed anything, but I just play it on a D whistle and looking at your Youtube video, it seems to fit in the way we play it. Maybe just do it by ear, there’s not much in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOKnUKIZ_Kc
Azoy gait es!
One more thing. Here is a site with a really nice selection of sheet music for Klezmer tunes. They are available on PDF for printing or downloading, plus there are MIDI files for the tunes.
http://www.manchesterklezmer.org/pages/repertoire.html
Zol zayn mit mazl!
The people who put that Manchester site together have moved to Edinburgh and started our local group here.
Corrected and updated versions of the tunes here for a while:
A good source for Klezmer tunes is Mel Bay’s Klezmer Collection For C Instruments by Stacy Philips. Lots of tunes with explanatory notes by Philips. This is fun stuff to play and lends itself pretty well to the whistle. Though it does require a good bit of half-holing.