I know this topic has been around before etc. But I’m curious if anyone knows if there is sheetmusic on the net that I could check out that I don’t have to start rewriting that are set in D or so on… 8-/
Not very good at understanding exactly how to transfer(or whatever the word is…) the notes and so on…
–Jukka
Hej Jukka,
I don’t know of any places you can find sheet music for Klezmer music.
What I did was getting myself a Bb whistle (Generations are good and not expensive) and tried playing along with some of the tunes/songs I know.
The trick is that most solo parts in Klezmer are played on either clarinet or fiddle, and these creatures are not bothered by sharps/flats in any scale in a way the whistle does - so it does require some half holing here and there to get the tune. Also you need to use half-holing to accomplish the wonderful lilting slides on and off notes that is so characteristic to Jiddish folk music.
I managed to play along with ‘Alle Brider’ and some other solo parts which are not to virtuoso and fast.
Good luck
Jeroen
What exactly is Klezmer music?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klezmer
I trust this link will be an informative introduction for you.
I have to ask…Mr Talasiga, are you bored?
Holy doodle! I have enough trouble with klezmer on clarinet and flute. Doing it with an unkeyed whistle would be like swimming in a mink suit.
OTOH, Jubilee Musical Instruments will make you a whistle in a harmonic minor scale, good enough for some klezmer tunes. Haven’t tried them but I hear they’re loads of fun.
Yes you will get two melodic modes for Klezmer on a harmonic minor tube
And you will get the Carnatic (South Indian) Hemavathi’s mode from the harmonic minor’s fourth note which is basically a Dorian BUT with an augmented fourth. I think I have heard this song type in some Eastern European musics also but I don’t know wheteher Klezmer catches it.
Here is interval info:
Harmonic Minor (Hijaz Maqam or Raag Kirwaani’s scale)
2:1:2:2:1:3:1
Ahava Rabba (Raag Basant Mukhari’s scale)
1:3:1:2:1:2:2
Ragam Hemavathi’s scale (Middle Eastern and Eastern Euro. name not known to me)
2:1:3:1:2:1:2
Here there is a video of the Ahava Rabba whistle made by David Bingamon. Very funny instrument!
Where do I get one of those?
hm… better still does anyone have aproximate measurements for this whistle, so I could make one myself.
I have one of those whistles, and it’s really fun. I love to play Celtic tunes on it and hear how they come out: instant Klez!
Somewhere on his site, I think Dan has a tonehole calculator that you can use to plot the size and position of holes in all keys and modes.
There is a tune with two names: Itzikel, and Frailach, that is klezmer based but is played by many Irish musicians. Kevin Burke plays it on his solo album and Lunasa plays it on their debut album. You can find the music on thesession.org.
Oh, and you can play it on a D whistle with only 2 fairly easy half holes.
Using TWCALC (from the Jubilee site previously mentionned), talasiga’s scales, some chunks of copper plumbing pipe, and a Sweetone head, you’re on your way!
For a quiet and very funky whistle for oros, try an A length tube with holes for this scale:
A Bb C# D E F G
The stretch for the augmented Bb-C# is a bit long, but doable.
I’ll see what I can do for measurements if I have time.
You can get brass tubing from specialshapes.com or a local Hobbytown store. And yes, the TWCALC program will do a six hole verision of the Ahava Rabba mode. However, it is better to have that mode in seven holes simply because a lot of Jewish music (and Arabic as well) descend down to that extra lower C note.
Please write to me if you need help with the tonehole positions.
BTW - I’m making plans to have the Ahava Rabba mode whistle available in additional keys. I’ve done it by special request, but my website will have a ‘cart’ entry set up for different keys and the how much stretch it is for the fingers.
Lunasa played a piece called Frailock
Also known as Frailach or Itzikel
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/445
In the first Lunasa tune book, it is transposed into D.
If you copy/paste the ABC from the session into
http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
you can hear the tune.
If you get win2abc, you can transpose the midi file,
or the abc to any key you want i.e. from say C to D,
or Bb to D, etc
If played slower the first time round, then slightly faster
the second, and ‘go for it’ on the third,
you can really get people dancing.
Keep in mind that Jewish music can be other modes as well, major, minor, ahava rabb, misheberak, adonai moloch, and others. The modes are named after certain songs.
Ahava Rabba (Raag Basant Mukhari’s scale)
1:3:1:2:1:2:2
Can be done easily on whistle:
F# G Bb B C# D E F#
Yes, of course you can, if you cross finger or half hole to obtain a Bb that satisfies. And if you can do that you will get the other relative modes I mentioned earlier including B harmonic minor.
Can you do this at speed though, great speed? Listen to Klezmer.
Thats the the good thing about a Bingamon tailor made whistle.
Even a beginner will be able to be at it at speed.