for those of you who play in bands, do you ever find yourselves switching whistles in the middle of a tune, say, to slip into a higher key? just curious.
meir
i didn’t, but i’ll give it a try someday. for this i think i’d like to switch from low D to high D,
and the whistles should be from the same maker and the same material. i’d only use it for certain airs.
i heard finbar furey doing it sometimes.
I switch from whistle to flute a lot, or sometimes from whistle to guitar.
She will start a tune out with the flute and switch to one whistle and then another.
But of course we would expect this of the master of all whistlers.
I have a friend who saw Joanie attending events during the all Ireland finals last year. She said when Joanne got up to play their was no comparison she was by far leaps and bound above anyone who attended any of the events.
I am hoping that Joanie will be putting our a new Cherish the Ladies CD soon.
That is if she hurry’s up with putting a studio together.
I often switch between a D and an A, or a C and a G, to change the quality of sound in a tune. Other times, I change materials - like aluminum to brass to wood…That change is more fun for me, than the audience…Through a sound system, that change is not very noticeable…
Best.
Byll
Quite often C to D or vice versa. We play several major to minor Ceilidh arrangements and mid/northern european pieces. It is only, however, a matter of time before a whistle reaches Mach 1 and leaves the stage..
Trisha
I switch from a low D to a high D on one song. The lower range of my high D is weak, so I use the higher range of a low D (that sounds more complicated then it is). I only do it because I have a lot of time between the switch. I think if I was doing it quickly I’d end up hitting myself in the mouth.
Seth
Yep! I’ve switched whistles. The trickl is figuring out the bast place to drop out of the tune, set down the one whistle and pick up the next. Usually I run into this situation when I’;m playing in church, but then we know ahead of time when the key will change. I keep the next whislte in my lap.
-Tom
I use 3 whistles in one tune we do, the Chanter’s Tune.
We start with flute (melody) / guitar (rhythm), then add fiddle for 2nd turn. Then I play it on the low G whistle, giving a wild parallel harmony. The flute and guitar drop out and fiddle (melody) / bouzouki (rhythm) carry on for a quiet turn. Then we all join in, bouzouki doing melody this time, guitar with rhythm and I switch to the D whistle. The next turn, the flute plays in the high octave, so I switch to low D to carry the bottom end. The last turn is flute and mandolin paralleling melody.
Our percussionest carries some part’s rhythm on the Djembe.
We do another set that I play d whistle on first tune and then I switch to low A and do an A drone for the 2nd tune.
Depending on the set of tunes, i might change instruments once, or with each tune. one mistake i used to make was to arrange sets to give me places where i could switch, but somtimes you just need to keep playing through, even if the whistle you’re on isnt as good for the next tune or is difficult to play in the next key, continuity is more important than individual performance, especially in a band.
The question that i always ask when performing, arranging or composing isn’t “what do I need to sound good playing this music” but “What does the music need from me?”