reading music help

Whistle
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Two questions:
1/Is there somewhere I can find an explanation of key signatures . . . I understand that I can look at the number of sharps and flats and recognize what key a song is written in, but is their somewhere on the web where this is easily explained?

2/Is there a whistle page that illustrates the notes actually played by whistles in keys other than D . . . If I’m using my Chieftian A and playing xxxooo, what note actually is that? With time, I can work my way up the scale and think it through, but I’m basically lazy and would like not to have to work that hard.

thanks, randy

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  1. http://www.chiffandfipple.com/whistlekeys.html - about 2/3 down the page there are some tables.
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For key signatures, try this page:
http://musictheory.halifax.ns.ca/9key_signatures.html</a>

Matching fingerings to scales is not too hard to figure out. Every whistle uses the same fingerings, but it sounds the notes of the major scale that corresponds to its key (along with secondary scales, which we can talk about later). For example, an A whistle plays the A major scale like this:

A = XXXXXX
B = XXXXXO
C# = XXXXOO
D = XXXOOO
E = XXOOOO
F# = XOOOOO
G# = OOOOOX
A = OXXXXX

You’ll notice that the fingerings are the same as the D major scale on the D whistle. I can create a chart that has the fingerings under the staff for all the scales. I’ll post it when I’m done.

~ Thornton


[ This Message was edited by: ThorntonRose on 2002-03-29 11:58 ]

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On 2002-03-29 11:02, tomcat wrote:

1/Is there somewhere I can find an explanation of key signatures . . . I understand that I can look at the number of sharps and flats and recognize what key a song is written in, but is their somewhere on the web where this is easily explained?

I have this from my daughter’s flute teacher. The rule works for sharp keys we are likely to encounter, but I’m not through thinking about the rule for flat keys, which isn’t as clean as the one for sharps. What I’m giving you here is what he told me.

If the key consists of sharps, find the rightmost sharp in the signature and go up a half-step from the note indicated. That’s the name of the key. If the key consists of flats, again find the right-most flat in the signature and go down four whole steps from the natural to find the name of the key.

If the key has two sharps, for instance, the rightmost sharp will be C#. Go up a half-step to find D, the name of the key and the note the scale starts on. If the key has one flat ( Bb ), go down four whole steps from B – counting B as “one” after the manner of intervals – to find F, the name of the key and the note the scale starts on. If the key has two flats, the rightmost one is Eb. Go down four whole steps from E – counting E as “one” – to find Bb, the key name. Similarly, with three flats the rightmost one is Ab. Count down four whole steps to find Eb.

It seems to work, and has helped me. If anyone has comments, I’d sure like to read them.

2/Is there a whistle page that illustrates the notes actually played by whistles in keys other than D . . . If I’m using my Chieftian A and playing xxxooo, what note actually is that? With time, I can work my way up the scale and think it through, but I’m basically lazy and would like not to have to work that hard.

My suggestion is that you keep on doing it the way you have been. With time and practice you will find you can do it more quickly and easily, and the skill you acquire will greatly improve your musicianship.

Hey, no pain, no gain … :smiley:

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Great stuff! Thank you all…I’ve bookmarked pages and will be referring to them often. As they sometimes say here in Texas, “Dat heps a-bunch.”

randy

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But then you get all these A tunes that go well on a D whistle (The Rambler, Walsh’ hornpipe just to name a few) and then you’re wondering again.

Get around that: play by ear.

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Here are some scale/tab charts for D, C, and A whistles:

D](http://home.mindspring.com/~thornton.rose/tunes/ScalesTab-D.gif%22%3ED) whistle - D major, G major
C](http://home.mindspring.com/~thornton.rose/tunes/ScalesTab-C.gif%22%3EC) whistle - C major, F major
A](http://home.mindspring.com/~thornton.rose/tunes/ScalesTab-A.gif%22%3EA) whistle - A major, D major

Dale, if you like these charts, I will make a full set for the C&F site.

Tomcat, here’s a tip for you. Unless you just want to do it, for now don’t worry about learning the notes that correspond to the fingerings for the A whistle. Just learn tunes in D, then when you want to play them in A, pick up the A whistle and go. The tunes will come out in A automagically.


[ This Message was edited by: ThorntonRose on 2002-03-29 13:08 ]

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It’s easy to recognize keys when the signature has flats, too:

Flats are always written in order (from left to right) as Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb, and the key is always the next to the last flat - so that the key of Bb has two flats (Bb and Eb) and Eb has three flats (Bb Eb and Ab). All you have to do is remember that a signature with only one flat is the key of F.

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Kendra –

I like your method. It’s much easier than the rule my daughter’s flute teacher gave us.

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They made me learn it by heart when I was a baby: si-mi-la-re-sol-do-fa, fa-do-sol-re-la-mi-si. I guess I’ll still remember it when I’ll be lying on my death-bed.

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I posted this last January under the topic -
Modes and Keys: Theory resouces on the Web.

On 2002-01-15 13:45, LeeMarsh wrote:
Thought I’d post a few sites I’ve run into that help to explain Modes and Keys and other theories musical:

Hope this helps you further to …