I only started playing about a month ago and am deciding at the moment which whistle to buy next, getting very confused (I have a Feadog D at the moment, the brand most available in Aust).
I just want to know if each whistle in their different keys require different fingerings (it makes sense that they should).
So, if I read an E in some music, I know what to do on my D whistle - would the fingering be different on a different keyed whistle?
Am so embarrassed at my lack of knowledge, going to remedy that asap! (with your help of course)
Thanks,
Fiona
[ This Message was edited by: Fiona on 2002-02-13 02:16 ]
Well..I dont play it so much as just stand there and look good …Sometimes I even play
Air Whistle with it. But as to your question,
Yes..You’ll need to change your fingering,
C and D keys can be played the same, Looking at my Hunny Bunny’s fingering chart that came with her Sasuto also solved a mystery,
Since I’ve begun learning the whistle again ,I’ve noticed that my fingering for “D”
was all wrong, And we couldnt figure it out.
Turns out I’ve been fingering for a key of “G”, seems I picked this up from my misspent youth, I used to carry a whistle as a boy, turns out the thing was a G whistle
G’day Fiona! (I’m a half-Aussie, so get more of your mates on board).
Re the whistle, it’s my experience that the real cheapies (Generation, Walton, Feadog, Clarke, etc) are so-so at best - you might think your playing’s terrible, but it may be a squeaky whistle (this happened to me as a new learner). You could do yourself a favour and spend a bit more for something that will sound a lot better; my recommendation would be an Oak, but there’s also Susato. A bit more again and the Dixon would be great. And if you want to spend hundreds, take a drooling look at the “high end” whistle section!
Let’s say you have a D whistle and an A whistle. You’re sheet music is written for D. If you play it on your D whistle, it will be in D, but if you play it using the SAME fingering as you did on the first, but this time on the A, voila, you have the tune in A.
On the same two instruments lets say you have written music in G. On the D whistle it plays in the key of G, and on the A whistle a G major tune will play in the key of. . .D!
The problem arises when you find something written in the key of F, for example, and you try to force a D whistle to play it as written. Not impossible, just really difficult. What I do, in this instance, is transpose the written music to something that think I can play. In this example I might simply look at the music and try to play UP one full note, when I see an F, play a G. (Deep breath. . .if I do this on a D whistle, I’m taking an F tune and playing it in G, right? Okay!)
Lets say I really DO want to play this F tune in F. What do I do? I have two choices (others may have more, but this is what I would do). Let’s say I am not able to do the mental transposing. I would use some handy-dandy program to rewrite the music into the key of D or G. If transposing it to D gets me all the right notes, I would beg/borrow/buy an F whistle, and play it (now written in D) with standard D fingering, and as it’s on an F whistle, it will come out in the proper key of F. If I didn’t get all the notes I wanted by transposing to D, I try transposing to G. All the notes look playable? GREAT. Now grab a C whistle and use your standard fingering, (on your D whistle this would give you a G major with no problem) and poof! F!
Its good to hear from some folks downunder. I spent 2 years in Geelong when I was a kid and have some fine memories: Anglesee, The Apostles, a trip to Ballarat, Roo’s and Koala’s off the side of the road, camping and penquins at Phillips island, bragging that Prince Charly had attended our school (Geelong College), and most of all swimming and body surfing on the best beaches with the best surf anywhere. It was good to be a 10 year old.
Well come to the world of whistles and irish music. If you looking for some locals in Melbourne, you might check some of the following leads.
Harper’s Hearth, Melbourne (Victoria)
Harper’s Hearth is a small harping circle, located at a private residence in Melbourne’s South Eastern Suburbs. Last Sunday Afternoon 1.30-4.30. Contact: Morgana
Keast on (03) 98077 633.
Tyghress,
Wow, thanks! I don’t know about Fiona , but between your explanation and Grannymouse’s yesterday (in the “whistles in different keys” thread)I finally understand.
Debra
Tyghress, your explanation was brilliant. I have another question along the same lines:
Take a D whistle and a Low F whistle (non-tunable), two bar-B-que skewers, and an empty match box, a Donegal reel in D myxolydian, a ball point pen, a pregnant weasel, and a funeral march in Eb minor. Using only straight lines, how do you finger the Db? (It’s melodic minor.)
Take a D whistle, invert it so the holes are on the bottom, with your right hand on top, wrap your fingers around and cover the top three holes with your middle, ring and pinky. Now (misquoting T.Servo) suck instead of blow!
BTW, a non-musician asked to try my whistle, and of course made a bit of a hideous noise in trying. I had her try a G instead of D note, and only fared slightly better. Then I stumbled across the magic phrase. “Don’t blow into the whistle; breathe into it.” Voila! good sound!
Take a D whistle and a Low F whistle (non-tunable), two bar-B-que skewers, and an empty match box, a Donegal reel in D myxolydian, a ball point pen, a pregnant weasel, and a funeral march in Eb minor. Using only straight lines, how do you finger the Db? (It’s melodic minor.)
What we do out here in Kansas is we just get as many whistles as possible, and bug the neghbors dogs like there’s no tomorrow. Until Grandma finds out and she hides them all in the shed, except maybe just one.
Then you learn to play that feadog D as good as you can.
Then Maybe, just maybe, Grandma will pull another out of the shed
On 2002-02-13 12:30, nickt wrote:
Cripes Lee! Know any places like that in good old sun-drenched Sydney?
Nickt, Now NSW, hardly any leads there on sessions :roll:
Yea, Right, here’s a start…
From Sessioneer:
Carlisle Castle Hotel, Albermarle Street Newtown, Sydney, NSW
Every Saturday starting around 8:30pm, intermediate mostly tunes.
Contact Name: Jan Buckley (jansbuckley@hotmail.com)
New Church Hall, 4 Shirley Rd, Roseville, Sydney, NSW 2069
The Church Hall likes behind and below the Church with access down the path to the left of the Church entrance. 3rd Sunday of the Month starts around 2:00pm, Complete Beginner Tunes Only.
Contact - Trish Barker +61 2 9416 2402 - scottishfiddlers@primus.com.au
Notes: All musicians welcome although the accent is definitely on fiddlers and the quieter acoustic instruments. All levels of fiddlers are welcome from the professional to the beginner as long as you have an interest in learning new tunes by both sheet music and ear. Additional meetings are often held as well as demonstrations, refer to our website for details http:home.primus.com.autimbarker.
From Ceolas Session List.
Sydney:
–Carlysle Castle Hotel, Newtown, has informal sessions from 8:30pm till late. All musicians and singers welcome. When you see the Red-Haired girl you know you are at the right place. All kinds of music is welcome with the focus on Irish.
–Kitty O’Shea’s Oxford St Paddington has a session from 3.00 til 6.00 with musicians and singers featuring almost exclusively Irish tunes and songs.
From F.R.O.G for New South Wales. (Sorry I’m not familiar with the Sydney area to know which are 'burbs of Sydney and which are a good hike away, so I thought I include all of them.)
Includes Folk Clubs as well as sessions and celtic/irish.
Sodens Hotel, Wilson St, Albury (New South Wales)
Border and District Folk Acoustic Group 1st Wednesday.
The Squirrel Pit, Panorama City Hotel, Durham St, Bathurst (New South Wales)
Bathurst Folk Club: 1st Friday & 3rd Tuesday 8.30pm.
Cool Creek Cafe, Bellingen (New South Wales)
Folk Sundays.
Blackheath Neighbourhood Centre, Blackheath (New South Wales)
Folk 1st Friday 7.30 pm.
Black Cat Cafe, 47 High St, Bowraville (New South Wales)
Nambucca Valley Folk and Fun Club 1st Saturday 1.30 pm.
Braidwood Hotel, Braidwood (New South Wales)
Braidwood Folk Club 1st Sunday 4pm.
Commonwealth Hotel, Cooks Hill (New South Wales)
Newcastle Throsby Creek Folk Centre 2nd Sun 7.30pm.
Castlereagh Hotel, Dubbo (New South Wales)
Dubbo Folk Club 3rd Sunday 3 pm. jwebb@tpgi.com.au.
Wollongong City Tennis Club, Foleys Rd, Gwynneville (New South Wales)
Illawarra Folk Club 1st and 3rd Fridays 8pm.
Sutherland District Trade Union Club, 57 Manchester Rd, Gymea (New South Wales)
Sutherland Folk Group 1st and 3rd Tuesday 7.30pm.
Senior Citizens Hall, William St, Hamilton (New South Wales)
Newcastle and Hunter Valley Folk Club 1st Saturday 7.30 pm.
Beatrice Taylor Hall, Edgeworth Davia Ave, Hornsby (New South Wales)
Hornsby-Kurin-Gai Folk Club 3rd Friday 8pm.
The Beehive, 8 Lewis St, Islington (New South Wales)
Folk Club 2nd and 4th Sunday, 7.30pm.
Clarenden Hotel Theatre, Lurline St, Katoomba (New South Wales)
Blue Mountains Folk Music Club.
Katoomba Hotel, Main and Parks Sts, Katoomba (New South Wales)
Irish Music Session Sundays 7 pm.
Triton Hall, 44/142 Addison Rd Community Centre, Marrickville (New South Wales)
Bush Music Club Concert Party 1st and 3rd Monday, 7.30pm. Bush Music Club Session Night Fridays.
Duke of Wellington Hotel, 69 Regent St, New Lambton (New South Wales)
Celtic Music Session 3rd Sunday 4 pm.
Glengarry Castle Hotel, Redfern (New South Wales)
Session Fridays 9pm.
Neighbourhood Centre, Hall 2, West Market St, Richmond (New South Wales)
Macquarie Towns Follk Music Club 1st Sat 7.30 pm.
Carlisle Castle Hotel, Albermarle Street, Newtown, Sidney (New South Wales)
Informal sessions Sat 8.30pm. All musicians and singers welcome.
New Church Hall, 4 Shirley Rd, Roseville, Sydney (NSW)
Sez 3rd Sunday 2pm. home.primus.com.autimbarker
Trademans Arm Hotel, Palmer St, East Sidney (New South Wales)
Folk 2000 Session Sundays 2pm.
Tamworth Regional Music Centre, Marius St, Tamworth (New South Wales)
Tamworth Country and Folk Music Club 1st Mon 8pm.
Thurless Castle Hotel, Cleveland Street (New South Wales)
Irish Session Sundays 8pm.
CWA Hall, Junia St, Toongabbie (New South Wales)
Western Suburbs Folk Music Club 2nd and 4th Fridays 8pm.
ARCC Hall, Tarcutta St, Wagga Wagga (New South Wales)
Wagga Wagga Folk Society 4th Friday.
Welby Community Hall, Currocubilly, Welby (Mittagong) (New South Wales)
Southern Highlands Open House 1st Saturday (except January
Note that a couple of the sessions made 2-3 of the above lists, I’d try those first.
Nickt, let us know how it goes and when you run out of leads. These should give you a bit-o-time to wander… and
Enjoy Your Music,
Lee Marsh
[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2002-02-13 15:31 ]
Thanks everyone for your help, I am rather confused still but I think once I try taking everyone’s advice it might make sense.
I was horrified to learn that there were whistles in so many keys, when I mastered the D I thought I had it made. Obviously not.
I bought a Walton’s Little Black D today, it’s so easy to use! For anyone in Melbourne (I’m guessing not many), I bought it at The Music Place in Sth Melb.
Very important: when you have mastered the D, you’ve mastered all the keys because the fingering’s the same. It’s only when you want to play a different key to the bell note of your whistle that it gets complicated. Do what I do and just pick up a whistle in the relevant key!
I thought this was a site about breeding gorillas at home. At least that’s what Google said.
Seriously, Welcome Fiona! Don’t be intimidated by the whistle keys. It’s just more opportunities to play different instruments with the same basic set of skills. There are hugh differences between the voices of a soprano D, a low G and a low D, all with characteristics and charms of their own. Think of it as a musical feast!
, but between your explanation and Grannymouse’s yesterday (in the “whistles in different keys” thread)I finally understand.