Hey everyone,
I promise I try to utilize the search feature and it often answers my questions but a lot of times my search is so general that it comes up with tons of results and I just don’t have the patience to sift through all the results.
Here’s my quick question: Is there any large difference between a key of C whistle and a key of D? I know that most tin whistle music is written in the key of D. I have three key of D whistles and curiosity got the best of me and I ordered a key of C.
I really want to know if I will be able to easily play music written in D onto a C whistle and is there any particularly good use for C whistles? Do they come in handy for anything?
Sorry if it’s a silly question but I am rather confused on what to expect when getting whistles in a different key. I got C because it seems to be the second most common key to purchase whistles in. I’ve seen the Eb ones but have not caved in and bought one yet.
I am completely enamored with the music and the whistles already, so I just want to embrace them in all their keys.
A sizable minority of Scottish dance tunes are in F, Am, C or Dm, so a C whistle is handy for those.
‘Christian Catto’, ‘Elizabeth Adair’, ‘Braes of Bredalbane’ are examples.
A good number of dance tunes from central France are also in these keys.
Dm is a very common key in Renaissance & 17th century dance music, which should not be left entirely to the recorder players.
And sometimes an Am tune which is perfectly playable on a D whistle comes out better on a C whistle (I prefer ‘New Road to Alston’ on a C)
Tunes in G which go down to C can also be played easily on a C whistle, eg ‘Dark Island’.
And once you’ve got the whistle acquisition bug, you just have to have at least one whistle in every thinkable key.
You can play any tune on any whistle regardless of the key it is “written” in. Who reads music and key signatures anyway?
You have a whistle in D. Let’s say you have been playing a tune in the key of D on that whistle. If you pick up the C whistle and play that tune with the same fingering as you used on the D whistle you will then be transposing it to the key of C - voila. If you play a tune in G on a D whislte and then pick up the C whistle and play that tune using the same fingering as you did on the D whistle you have then transposed it to the key of F - voila.
Of course things can get a bit more difficult if you are playing with other players and instruments. The D whistle is the most common in the Irish repertoire since the keys that were played most commonly in that tradition were D and G. The music wasn’t written for a D whistle. The D whistle just happened to play along with the pipes and flutes when the music was being played by them in those keys.
But there are tunes that will come up in other keys depending on who is calling them and how they play them. Fiddlers! So that’s why we carry whistles in different keys with us. The A whistle is for tunes in A and D (when it needs a couple lower notes than the D whistle can play). The G whistle is for G and C (again those low notes). And so it goes (until you have a whistle in each key). Of course the relative minor keys to those named work too, as do the various modes in the scale of each key.
Well, if they are Generation whistles, you can use the C whistle to store your D whistle as a “push me -pull you” whistle.
I love my C whistle, but at sessions I only use it to play ‘Julia Delaney’ which is, I believe, in D minor and thus requires an F natural. The fiddles, keyed flutes, concertinas etc. are usually partway through it before I recognize it and grab my C.
My C whistle is made by Ryan J MacNeil, MacNeil Woodwinds in Cape Breton. My flute is by Forbes Christie, WIndward Flutes, in Shelburne. I try to shop local.
Thanks all for the helpful replies! I had read that you use the same fingering for a C whistle as you would on a D. I was hoping that were the case!
I am excited to try a few different keys then, especially hearing that some songs just sound nicer on one or the other. I don’t know that I’ll ever play with other instruments but it would be very nice if I could and so it’s good to know all these things.
Well I’m just plain excited to play with my new whistles. They are scheduled to arrive on Thursday, but I always allow for a few days extra before I get too impatient.
Thanks everyone!
P.s I ordered a songbook as well, with accompanying CDs. Hopefully, with some practice, I’ll be confident enough to let you guys hear and mabe give some advice. As of now I can only play three tunes, one being the Lord of the Rings song which I don’t really consider a tune, even though I think it’s awfully pretty sounding. I am slowly working towards more complex tunes.
And I just bought Mary Bergin’s lovely CD. I am thoroughly enjoying it.
Everyone on this forum is just amazing and I’m glad to have found the site.
Just one more two cents. Playing a D whistle inside a house can be just a bit too high pitched for the family/pets nerves. Playing a C is a bit better, no one seems to mind a Bb at all. My friend’s dog loved my D flute and would sit on my feet while I played. My own dog wasn’t so thrilled. She liked the piano.
After playing (on pennnywhistle) and singing “The Snowy-breasted Pearl” my fellow-whistle-player remarked that it would have suited my voice better had we used C whistles instead of D whistles. She was right.
I’ve heard said that originally they were all C whistles, and the D is a relatively modern invention
I have a friend who plays harp and he asks me if I can play in F and I figure a Bb whistle is good for a try and we work out the tune. Later, I look up video of his teacher playing the tune on whistle (Billy Jackson – he plays whistle and harp). I was confused at first, until I figured out that he’s playing the part on a C whistle.
Here’s the video if you’re interested – beautiful melody that you can learn on your new C whistle, and slow enough to learn by ear even for a beginner:
C whistle is good for some styles outside of ITM such as jazz and blues. Alot of tunes are in F and Bb which can be played in G and C respectively on the C whistle.
Well my whistles are expected to be delivered today along with a new songbook. I’ve been working out of the Clarke tin whistle book.
I’m very excited to play around with the key of C!
The music in the Clarke book is lovely and helped me learn to read the music but there aren’t too many songs that appeal to me, and just not many songs in general. This new book has something like 140 songs with accompying cds so I am going to just work my way through that.
I’m having a wonderful time learning the whistle. I get all bubbly just writing about it. Thanks everyone.
I’ll be perfectly honest. Pretty much the only reason I own a C whistle was because I wanted to try out a Clarke and didn’t see the need for a third D whistle (esp. since I already adore my Walton D and don’t feel a need for anything else), so C it was…
Thanks for the tip. It really is a wonderful performance of a great tune. I’ve taken the liberty of isolating the whistle part, which one may find in mp3 form here.
It’s also of possible interest that Tony Elman recorded this tune in waltz time as " Eileen O’Carroll (Maine Contradance Waltz)" many years ago on his album Swinging On A Gate, which is available cheap for download on Amazon.
Just received the music for next week’s all-day RSCDS musicians’ workshop in Leeds.
Of 66 tunes, 15 either need, or at least would be best played on, a C whistle.
Apart from the obvious D, I’ll also need A, Bflat, Eflat, E, F & G.
It’s mainly for accordion players, hence the variety of keys.
