I’m looking for one of Daniel’s Ahava Rabba whistles. I don’t know much about eastern music, but for some reason that hasn’t stopped me from offering to supply some of it for a couple of upcoming theme evenings in our community. Before I plunk down some $$ on a new whistle, I thought I’d ask to see if someone out there has a lonely one they’d like to liberate. PM me if you Hava Rabba; I Needa Rabba.
While I’m at it, I’ve read a few favorable posts during the last couple of years about these whistles . I’m assuming players have been referring to the brass version, which is the one Daniel has posted clips of. Is there anyone who has played the plastic one who can offer up their opinion? I’m particularly curious about volume. I’ll be playing outside and am thinking that the plastic might be a bit less likely to clog, but wonder if it might be a bit quieter than the brass.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve got one of Mac’s whistles, and I do like it alot, but I find that it’s quiet. Really quiet. A plus for some situations, but not for outdoor playing.
I’ve emailed Daniel to get his take on the volume comparison between his CPVC and brass whistles. If anyone out there has played both, I’d love to hear what you think.
Take a standard D whistle. Tape over half of the bottom (B3) hole so that the fingering xxx xxo produces an in-tune Eb. Tape over half of the second (T2) hole so that the fingering xoo ooo produces an in-tune Bb. Voilà - You Hava Rabba: D Eb F# G A Bb c d.
I like flexible plastic electrician’s tape for this. I tape the bottom half of the holes, but you can experiment. Try squashing the edge of the tape down into the tone hole a bit for a good combination of intonation and aperture. A little blob of blue tack putty underneath the tape inside the tone hole can also help.
Of course, on a D whistle you can play Ahava Rabba in F# with no modifications, as long as you can finger a good Bb on your whistle: F# G Bb B c# d e f#. If you need it in D, play that same fingering on a Bb whistle, and it will transpose down nicely.
The range of the tune will determine which approach works best - modified D, or unmodified F#.
Ahava Rabba is based on the 5th of the (ascending) melodic minor scale. So anything that can play melodic minor can play AR.
Thanks MT, I appreciate the tip. This looks helpful for the Eb and the Bb, but the c is a bit of an issue when using tape. I just grabbed a Sweetone here at work for a quick try with tape on it, but to get the c would still take the usual alternate fingering or half-holing. I prefer half holing, but that tape on the second hole has thrown the cnat half-holing out of whack. It’s more like tenth-holing to get the cnat in tune when there’s tape on hole T2…feels rather unnatural.
Yes, that’s right. The standard cross-fingered Cnat oxx ooo still works fine, though, since you’re covering that second hole anyway.
How about this … Tape modify only the Eb. That’s the tricky one. Then play a standard cross-fingered or half-holed Bb. On most of my whistles, I get a decent Bb with xox xxx in the first octave, and xox ooo in the second. And the half-holed Cnat is unaffected, if that’s your preference.
Also, using the bottom note on your whistle as the tonic is not particularly useful for the types of traditional musics performed in this scale - please see Daniel’s comment for explanation in the above topic.
Other than Klezmer and Middle Eastern trad, in India the raag Basant Mukhari is in this scale. Hope this assists your themes evening.