I just got the sheet music for “Ashokan Farewell”, which my husband is very much wanting to hear me play on the whistle.
But, it has all these notes that are lower than low D!!! What is that all about and how do I play them on a D or C whistle?? They look like high A’s and B’s except thay are at the bottom of the staff.
Does anyone know what I’m talking about?? How do I find out what they ARE even?? Do I need a low whistle to play this tune?
Hopelessly confused…
The usual approach would be to simply raise the low notes an octave.
Those notes going down are C (on one ledger line below the staff), then B that hangs beneath it, then A (on two ledger lines below the staff), and then G that hangs below that one.
One altenative is to play these notes, or that part of the tune, up an octave so they “fit” on the whistle. Another alternative is just not play them, or play chord tones.
This is one of the challenges of playing whistle or flute.
–James
P.S. Sorry, Peter, I didn’t see your post.
Another option is to get a Low A whistle and play its second major scale which just happens to be the D scale. Play it like you would the G scale on a D whistle. It is a fairly easy transposition.
Speaking of transposision. That is another option. Transpose the song to the key of G. I think that would get those notes out of the basement for you.
There are many tunes where octave displacement of just the too-low notes works okay, but this isn’t one of them. To do it musically you can play entire phrases up the octave:
AC DCBA F (in the printed octave)
ef gfed bd (played up an octave)
FWIW… I play Ashokan Farewell on an A whistle - transposed up a fourth so I’m fingering it in the key of G instead of D. That lets me get down to the low A in the melody. For the low G I just play harmony notes (GEF# instead of B,G,A,).
Great minds 
Here’s a simple recording on my Chieftain A: Ashokan Farewell
Nicely done! The harmony notes blend well and that upper octave is sweet by any definition of the term. 
dlovrien,
Beautiful! I managed to sort of play along in harmony on my low D! With a little(ok, maybe a lot) I might be able to do it well!
Thanks for the inspiration, great playing!
Sorry Andrea, I play by ear. All the talk about transposing, rearranging, staffs, octaves and chord tones is like algebra to me. I can understand some, but don’t like learning it, and is a little scary to boot!
Absolutely beautiful!!! That’s on a low A?
I agree, the recordings are lovely! I won’t be doing THAT anytime soon!
Thank you for all the good advice. I agree 100%. I had a feeling that you all were going to tell me the same thing. The problem is…I have NO idea how to transpose music. My knowledge of reading music is limited. I can read it. When you get into transposing into different keys I am totally lost.
So I am right back where I started…does anyone perchance have the sheet music that is in a playable key? Or can any of you suggest where I might look??
Thanks!
I’ve transposed it to G here http://fremantle.org/ashokan_in_g.pdf
The only problem is now you’ll have to work really hard to get the high notes instead
Paul
Oh by the way… if you learn to play it this way, you can play the same fingerings on an A whistle to get back to be in D (i.e. as it was originally written).
Paul
… as it was orginially written? If you play it in D on an A-whiste, then use the same fingerings on a D-whistle you’ve brought the tune up to G. Not that it particularly matters, or anything.
So… if you play it in G on a D whistle, and then play the same way on an A whistle, then you are playing it in D (which is how it was originally written).
Which is what you said. and what I said too!
Paul
dlovrien, that’s gorgeous! Well done!!
Best,
Ad
Hi Andrea,
I presume you know your original sheetmusic was intended for playing on a fiddle? This is a very famous old timey (I think) fiddle tune.
Transposing isn’t as hard as it sounds, and is a good exercise. I have a few tunes I now play in more than one key, generally by learning in one key and then starting on a different finger and working it out by ear.
Not very old timey. It was written (in the mid-nineties?) by Jay Ungar for the sound track of TV-series on the American civil war. Jay Ungar is a fiddler in upstate New York where he regularly teaches workshops on contra dancing.
Well, not to pick nits or anything, but it wasn’t actually written for the civil war TV thing…or in the nineties…
“I composed Ashokan Farewell in 1982 shortly after the summer programs had come to an end. I was experiencing a great feeling of loss and longing for the lifestyle and the community of people that had developed at Ashokan that summer.” Says Jay himself.
http://www.jayandmolly.com/ashokanfaq.shtml
/pick
As a GHB (or is it GBH) player I encounter this problem a lot.
I play at a lot of funerals and quit often get asked to play a tune that will not fit well on the Pipes.
It took me some time and effort to come up with my “stunted” version of Danny Boy, but it was worth the effort, as I’m asked for it regularly.
John S
You need younger friends, or better gigs!
Slan,
D.
