If one wanted to have just one whistle to play Irish traditional music in, what key would you want it to be in? I have a standard D, and want to upgrade, but not sure if I should stick with D, or try another key instead. I’ve heard that A is very nice. The main thing is wanting to play Irish traditional music, and choosing a whistle that’s best for that.
I’m thinking of upgrading to a high-end whistle, such as an Abell, and am also somewhat of a minimalist who wants to avoid WHOA- although I can often feel the tug of temptation of it. So, both for financial and philosophical reasons, one whistle is all I’m interested in (other than the low whistle excursion, which I may abandon).
For Irish traditional music, the “high D” is the whistle to have. That is, for playing with other people, in the keys that this music is usually played at. For playing alone, anything goes. A “low D” is the second choice, but the high D will give you an easier time achieving the agility that’s characteristic of this kind of music.
An Eb, D and C whistle would be more agile, with the D being the most common for “Traditional”. An “A” would be more of a low style of whistle, John Sindt calls his A a Low A. This will be more sluggish. I agree with glauber.
D is definitely the whistle to get, not only is D the most common key in Irish Music Sessions, but it is not much of a reach to the keys of G and A major, and all their relative minors and that will cover probably 99% of the tunes you are likely to find in an Irish Session. A Eb would be a good second whistle to have as well since the mostly likely reason that most of the tunes in a session are not in D, G and A is that someone decided the tunes sound brighter played a half step sharp (in box playing, D/D# and C/C# boxes are often played like C#/D and B/C boxes but since there is no change in the fingering they play a half step sharp).
High D is the most common. Its secondary key is G, and lots of IrTrad music is to be found in either of those keys. But if you want a smoother sounding whistle, I’d suggest getting an A. Then you get the D tuning with the smoother sound of a larger diameter (usually) whistle body.
serpent
Take no notice of Bill. If you want to play Irish music with others who are playing standard instruments in standard tuning, you need a D whistle, which as others have pointed out, will allow you to play the vast majority of trad dance tunes easily - those in
D major
G major
E dorian and also true E minor (relatively very few Irish tunes are in true minor keys)
A dorian and (with a bit of practice on F-naturals) A minor
A mixolydian and (with a bit of practice on G#s) A major
B minor (and theoretically B dorian, with G#s)
That covers almost everything in the standard repertoire except for the tunes that fiddlers love in
D dorian
G dorian
You can get these down on your D whistle, and it’s worth trying, but in most cases it will be far easier to use a C whistle, and play the tunes using E dorian and A dorian fingering (i.e. as if you were playing in E and A on a D whistle). The tunes will then sound in the correct key.
That’s really all you need for going to sessions.
Other keys may come in handy for different situations (Eb if you are going to be playing with highland pipes (!) or in elitist Eb sessions, other keys if you are playing with flat-pitched uillean pipes, or with singers. etc.) If you want to play lots of tunes in true A major and G#s are too daunting, then an E whistle might be worth acquiring (play the tunes as if they were in G).
Despite what Bill says, an A whistle isn’t much use for playing ITM in standard keys. For playing in D, the range is compromised (you can’t go high enough). Granted, a handful of tunes can be transposed to advantage onto an A whistle - e.g. play “The Mountain Road” in G fingering on your A whistle and it will come out in D, and you’ll be able to play the notes that dip below the D whistle’s range. But this is of very little interest to a relative beginner.
An A whistle IS a lovely thing to play at home though, using standard fingerings and not worrying about what key the tunes are sounding in. And so are lots of other keys…
StevieJ is right about playing in A, too – if you want to do it without half-holing, you are probably better off getting an E whistle. (Unless you’re playing tunes which go below the range of a D whistle, that is.)
The only session exception would be for those wankers who like to play a half step higher so no one else can play. For that you’d need an Eb, but I wouldn’t want to play with folk of that kind of attitude.
Bloomfield, have you been canonized? That’s either a saintly nimbus about your avatar’s pensive head, or some interesting mushrooms are making you think deep, important thoughts.
To resume what have been said so far, get an Eb whistle if you plan on playing in Silver Spring, Maryland, or get a D whistle if you plan on playing anywhere else on the planet.
