In May I started playing whistle with our church praise band. I only played in the key of d and thought I could play other keys by just switching whistles. A tune came up in Bb (More Like You) so I grabed my tweeked Bb Generation and started. I was way off. The fingering sequence was not right so I told them I was limited to the key of d. The thought of learning a new finger sequence for every key bolloged 
my mind. I kept looking at the music and it came to me to transpose the Bb music to the key of D and then play that with the Bb whistle. It worked. 
Perhaps someone might care to expound on this? And where did the praise board go?
Hi Tommy,
All that music transposing messes with my mind. The praise board went down a few months ago and there has been a new one started.
Here it is.
http://www.praisewhistlers.com/
Cheers,
Kathy 
All I had to do to go from Bb to d was move each note up two times.
I did it right on the Bb music with a red pencil. So a d note on the Bb music went up to a f. I played the red notes and fingered the Bb whistle like it was a d whistle.
Thank you for the praise band site address.
Yup, that is how it is done. I have learned how to do that on the fly for a couple of keys that are really close to D.
Your welcome and thanks for the explanation, I just need to see it on paper and I think I would get it.
Cheers,
Kathy
I could mail you a copy of it? The other thing I was hoping someone might explain. After written music is transposed to the key of d- any other whistle key can be used and it will sound right but in a differant key.
I could mail you a copy of it? .
Thanks Tommy that would be nice if you wouldn’t mind. I can PM my address, or if you have it scanned, you can send it to me in an email.
The other thing I was hoping someone might explain. After written music is transposed to the key of d- any other whistle key can be used and it will sound right but in a differant key
This part I understand, most of my dulcimer music is in D and I use it all the time. I just pick up another whistle and play it as if it were a D whistle. How neat is that?! 
Cheers,
Kathy
I have been having transposing problems for the last 8 years with praise bands. Of course playing a Bb trumpet with C instruments is what has caused me to just learn the tunes by ear and not to follow the music too closely. However when you do get the dots lined up, it can give you a lot of confidence to play. I always just find the key of the piece, choose the whistle for that key (D whistle for D, G, A and Em) etc. and play by ear, often going up the octave. Have fun now that you have it figured. The more you go figure, the easier it becomes 
I use Van Baskoes Karaoke Midi player to transpose a tune and slow it down so that I can learn to play it by ear. If you hav’nt looked at that option, it is well worth considering. The midi files on the net cover nearly any tune you choose in the praise area and the benefits of not being tied up in the dots are awesome.
Ian
Do it by ear. My praise team gets a list of songs via email, so I usually just work out what I need at home. Of course, I very seldom play the whistle in church, as I’m a bit more useful on the El-guitar. The whistle usually only comes out on the old-time songs.
This is how I transpose though: I don’t think in terms of note names. Never have (it’s a guitar thing, I think). I think in terms of scale steps.
in D: D=1 E=2 F#=3, etc… I just figure out where my starting note is and think of the rest in numbers. Works for me.
I realize it may be rather difficult to change the way you think on this. I never had to change, so I don’t know how difficult something like this would be. Probably easy for people with a folk baground and hard for those with a school band background. Ah, the epic struggle between the band kids and the DIY music kids. DIY struggles for validation, and Band kids struggle just to be cool 
Joking.
Good luck.
I could mail you a copy of it? The other thing I was hoping someone might explain. After written music is transposed to the key of d- any other whistle key can be used and it will sound right but in a differant key.[/quote]
I figured it out looking at a Susato whistle fingering chart. If you have one.
All their keys are lined up togeather. The key of Bb is two notes down from the d. So if you take a sheet of music in Bb and use a colored pencil move each note up two notes. Bb becomes d, c becomes e, d becomes f#, Eb becomes g, f becomes a, g becomes b, a becomes c#.now the colored notes are in the key d. Then with your Bb whistle play the colored notes.
And of course if a key is above the d it would be brought down.
[quote I just pick up another whistle and play it as if it were a D whistle. How neat is that?!
Cheers,
Kathy [/quote]
It is very neat.
It is very neat. We don’t need to know how it works, just that it does work. [/quote]
That is true for solo playing. She is reluctant to move away from D and G with her whistle and flute playing at this time. Renee and I play a lot of duet songs and we have to make sure we are both on the same page as far as that goes. It kind of limits us, but I am working on her.
Why does it work? Close your eyes if you scare easily: It is math!
I refuse to believe!
Transpose??? What are you talking about? I just pick up a whistle in the right key and there I go. I have found out that many of our songs are in the key of E, or get transposed to the key of E, and occasionally find using my low D, I can figure it out on it, but I just play the notes and don’t really think of transposing. Don’t know if that makes any sense or not.
Good Lord. Take a music theory class. I will, too: time for a refresher.
No offence meant.
Plan B is just to grab anything, blow like crazy, and trust your musical instincts. Been woorking for me for 20 years.
The musical equivalent of 42 is to learn to sight-sing, then learn to play musical instruments by ear.
I started out the other way around. Written notes translated into oboe fingering. To sight-sing (to the extent I could) I would imagine the note the oboe would play. Sight-singing was precarious and I had difficulty transposing.
It’s much easier if you can sight-sing. If you don’t have perfect pitch (and most of us don’t), you have to read intervals and imagine the sounds before you sing them. Now learn to play an instrument by ear. Read the music, imagine the sound, and play by ear. You can read ahead. You can transpose. You can read music for any instrument you can play by ear.
Yeh, it’s either as simple or as complicated as you need it to be. If I had to play in all manner of keys and didn’t have my transpose-o-matic duct-taped to my brain stem, I’d have problems. As it is, a D, G, A, and Bb whistle let me play just about anywhere.
Being comfy with half-holes helps.
Being able to read chords by sight from the guitar and bass player helps a lot, too.
And when everything goes pear-shaped, keep a tambourine handy.