Most of the written whistle music I have seen is in D and I know the most popular whistle key is D.
A good portion of the music I have seen though is written in G. The D whistle allows you to play in G fairly easily, but. . . do most people do this, or do they just play the tune on a G whistle?
In other words, when I play a tune “in G” on my D whistle should I finger it as if I were playing it on a G whistle, or should I learn it based on the D whistle fingerings?
I suppose this only makes a difference if I’m playing with someone else (which I’m no where near ready to do yet) but I want to make sure I’m learning the right way.
(And yes, I know I should throw away all the papers with the little dots and just close my eyes and use my ears, but I’m not quite ready for that yet.)
Any song can be played on any whistle and in any key (depends which whistle you have in your arms to make playing in that key easier). So I doesn’t really matter if you play it on the G or D whistle if you’re in the key of G since the tones are the same, fingering will ofcourse be different. Play what feels/sounds better.
For me it depends on where the tune “lies”. If the lowest note is below D then I have to either play the whole thing up an octave (and possibly run out of range - or hearing - up high) or use a G whistle.
I have a D that’s very easy to play in the second octave (Dixon alloy) so that’s my first go-to solution at the moment. My Susato mezzo G is the next choice.
Most (sane) people play it on a D whistle, by cross-fingering (or
half-holing) the C natural. That is why you want a good cross-
fingering for C natural, so you can play easily in G and E minor.
In fact, if I wanted to play a tune that is in G on a G whistle, I
would first transpose it to D, so I can use the same fingering-to-
note relationships that I’m used to for the D whistle. Now you’re thoroughly confused. Enjoy.
For Irish-type tunes, the first way is less common. For many tunes, you’ll find the tune will end up out of range on the high or low notes of the tune. Most G tunes are “designed” to be played on a D whistle anyway. So the second way is the usual way, and more common. But try both, experiment with both, and have some fun.
And, BTW. if you were actually using a G whistle, you’d have a choice of either way also, depending on the circumstances.
That’s right. And the fact that you asked the question, and already understand the difference means that you’re definitely on the right track. Excellent! A++
I’ve not been at this too long myself, so take this with a grain of salt…
I figure I should learn to finger the various notes (looking at the dots that is) on the whistle at hand. So, if I have a D whistle and see a G tune, the right thing for me is to play it on the D whistle.
The problem is when I grab my G whistle and look at the dots. My solution has been to only look at the dots with the high D in my hands. If I want to learn a G tune on the G whistle, I transpose it to D, learn the tune then throw away the dots and play it on the G. I might be messing with my future here.
I only use the dots as a memory aid for this note or that. The “tune” comes from my head. But as I have CRS, I sometimes need some dots to help me along while learning a tune.
I’m hoping that I will be able to shift gears and learn the fingerings for the same dots on more than one whistle. But I might just learn the ear approach and forget about the dots. Whatever comes first I guess.
I think you are already going about this the right way.
Having whistles in several keys is like having a guitar capo.
A guitarist can play chords in Eminor, then put a capo on the 3rd
fret, and play the exact same chord shapes, and that tune will now
come out in Gminor. Likewise, I have learned to play Julia
Delaney in the minor key that is one step higher than the tonic of
the whistle. This means on a D whistle it is in Eminor, and on a C
whistle it is in Dminor. Traditionally it is played in Dminor, so
when I’m at session I know I can play it on my C whistle and it
will be in the same key as all the fiddlers. If someone gets the
crazy idea to play it in Cminor, I can pick up my Bb whistle and
use the exact same fingerings I’m used to.
I don’t think it’s worth the brain power to learn new notes names
for the fingerings on each whistle. That’s why we have Eb Alto
Saxes and Bb Tenor Saxes, so saxaphone players don’t have to
learn a bunch of different fingerings for the same notes. The
transposed music has already done the work for them!
- up high) or use a G whistle.