I really love sea chanties but often they are in a key I’m NOT ready for. ie: a great chantie comes up in the key of F. Obviously not played on a D whistle. I’m a low D player mostly. So, if I want to play this chantie in F, what whistle do I use?
And if it is in Bb, then what?
Got the picture?
I have a good range of whistles and want to play chanties - they really sound good on whistles.
Any assist greatly appreciated.
BillG
Bill, if it doesn’t go below the low F, an easy choice (for both) would be a low F whistle - the “D” and “G” major fingerings on an F whistle play in F and Bb majors.
Plus there are a lot of nice F whistles out there - I love my Serpent Low F, but the two Overton Low F whistles I’ve tried were wonderful, too.
I really like these, too; but I just transpose to
a D instrument.
Me too. I play most chanties by ear anyway, so transposing them is pretty simple.
Redwolf
True. I have and love my Hoover F. Is F and Low F a different beast? I’ll give the chanties a go on that and take it from there. Thanx a bunch.
Glad to see other folks enjoy sea chanties as much as I do.
Any other suggestions greatly appreciated.
BillG
Bill, a “F” whistle (according to Generation, anyhow) is tiny - smaller than a High D. I have trouble playing one, and I have fairly narrow fingers for a man. A “Low F”, in common usage, is about halfway between a High D and a Low D in size.
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Bill, a “F” whistle (according to Generation, anyhow) is tiny - smaller than a High D. I have trouble playing one, and I have fairly narrow fingers for a man. A “Low F”, in common usage, is about halfway between a High D and a Low D in size.[/quote]
Thanx - then I have a Low F. It’s a pretty good size - almost like the Low G. Makes me feel better just knowing. I appreciate the reponse.
BillG
Depending on the range (if there are notes below the F, but no lower than C), you might want to use a C whistle. The “c-natural” fingering gives a B-flat, so there’s your F-major scale. “Lady Franklin’s Lament” (AKA “Lord Franklin”) works well that way.
So where does one find sheet music for Chanties? I love them, and it would be great to find some sheet music with whistle-appropriate tunes, but I wouldn’t have the first clue where to look.
Could we list some?
Banks of Newfoundland
Greenland Fisheries
Way, haul away
Fiddler’s Green
When first I came to Liverpool,
I went upon a spree.
My money alas I spent too fast,
Got drunk as drunk could be.
And when my money was all gone
Was then I wanted more.
But I man must be blind
To make up his mind
To go to sea once more.
More?
The bible is the Stan Hugill “Shanties from the Seven Seas” book. The guy sailed and collected em and tried to organize and catalog it. Its nearly scholarly so not like a big songbook with chords and such.. You can mail order it from LITM. If you live near any historic maritime places, they usually have a copy in the museum gift shop, like at Mystic for example.
I’m no expert, but I don’t think either of these particularly qualifies as a chantey: “A song sung by sailors to the rhythm of their movements while working.” My understand is that they are usually call-and-repsonse in… ah, heck, I could ramble on, but it’s late, and this seems to be a pretty good webpage:
http://www.ancientmarinersct.com/chantey.html
I love to hear them sung, but they seem a very odd thing to play on whistle…
Do you mean “Haul Away, Joe”?
Aweigh, Santy Ano (Santy Aana, Santiana, Santa Anna, Bay of Mexico)
Blood Red Roses
Reuben Ranzo
Whiskey Johnny
Blow the Man Down
Blow, Boys, Blow
Lots of MIDIs at http://www.contemplator.com/sea/
Yes, Haul Away Joe.
I always thought Sea Shanties included all songs
that sailors sang about their work, not merely
the songs designed to push and pull.
If the latter alone qualify, what do we
call the others?
Concerning push-pull songs, there are
other work songs, especially chain gang songs,
which I like, too. When I was working the
weeding crew in Washington Park in Denver,
I taught my colleagues some of these.
Tourists would be walking among the
flower beds where we were weeding,
and one of us would
sing out:
"Jack O’ Diamonds was that Grizzly…’
and the other six of us would come in
in unison:
‘Grizzly Bear!’
‘Jack O’ Diamonds was that Grizzly’
‘Grizzly Bear!’
‘He came a huffin and a puffin like a…’
‘Grizzly Bear!’
‘He came a huffin and a puffin like a…’
‘Grizzly Bear!’
Errr… sea songs? Sailors’ songs?
Thanks. Nothing is as happy as
a philosopher with a new distinction.
I perform some sea chanteys for school assemblies and in the WhiskyTones. Some of the generalizations given above were pretty vague. Shanteys are divided by the kinds of work that are done while singing them (short-haul, capstan, etc). There are also shanteys for when the crew came into port and was getting ready to disembark and vice versa.
As far as orthodoxy in the tunes’ origins, Hugill included various types of work songs that were adapted for use at sea, some of which started as slave gang songs. The most adaptable for whistle will be dogwatch chanteys, which were songs for relaxing and amusement during the dogwatch or on Sundays. They have longer melodic phrases and are “prettier.” Capstan shanties can be good to, because basically, the guys were walking in a circle and didn’t need a rhythmic “heave.”
Someone above described a short-haul shanty like Haul Away Joe. That would not be as interesting on instruments, period, as it needs the singers come in regularly on the “pull.” Very short phrases and purposefully repetitive. I perform Haul Away Joe for kids a lot and its just two short phrases, really, adinfinitum.
Some people just use the term “sea songs” to avoid wrangling about what constitutes a shanty, exactly because some will only include those tunes designed to be sung while working. But there are also “canal” sea shanteys from upstate NYork that further bend the category. I don’t remember seeing those in the Hugill book.
And just to make it clear, shanteys are confined to SUNG songs only, so no matter how many episodes of Popeye you watch, the College Hornpipe is not considered a sea chantey.
There are 400 songs in the Hugill book with extensive notes about variant versions. I highly recommend it.
I like Haul Away, Joe, i confess. Play it on the flute;
have recorded it with a weird whistle
accompaniment. Kinda haunting.
I just found and ordered Sea Songs by Howrad Hornstein at
http://www.ancientmarinersct.com/sea_songs.html
and will give an appraisal when it arrives.
Great posts above, thanx.
BillG
I know that there’s a gentleman that plays in our local hoolie that plays some chanteys on his Howard Low D that I’m sure he’s just transposed by ear or whatnot and it just sounds awesome 
Definately, definately, definately sounds cool on a low whistle… especially with a high whistle coming in every so often…
If only the Chieftains Film Cuts album wasn’t copyrighted! WOW! The treasure island tracks are just awesome… not chanteys but definately gives you a sene of being out on the ocean!
Take care,
John