What do you do when then tune the group wants to play goes below the range of your whistle?
For instance, the first two measures of one version of “Music in the Glen” goes
|: ~G2BG EGDC | B,DGB AGAB |
So you can’t play the C and B below the whistles’ Low D.
Should you raise the line an octave?
Maybe just skip those notes?
Or use a different whistle for tunes like these?
You can raise the key of the tune (ie, from d to g on d whistle). If you do, you end up playing notes at the extreme top end of the whistle range. I prefer to play the lower key. To do that, you make decisions about using either the b,c in the higher octave or harmonizing notes, which is exactly what I inserted when I transcribed The Shepherdess in an earlier post. The beginning notes on the cd (fiddle) are b and c, which I changed to e and d or something. I posted abc’s. You can even get creative and play the harmonizing notes one time and the higher octave notes on the repeat, or whatever.
Tony
Question time…I’ve seen a lot of people post the music like Bob…So how do you read it? Good-bye!
Brent
Tony has said it all, very succinctly. This is just in case extra clarification is needed.
As Tony impies, the ability to play tunes like this in a higher key depends on the tune’s overall range. Transposing this tune to D fingering would send you up to the 3rd octave E, not a very pleasant or even very feasible prospect on most whistles.
Whether you use a different whistle after transposing on depends whether you’re playing along with others and hence need to keep in the original key. For example, I like to play Lafferty’s Reel (aka The Glens of Aherlow) in A dorian rather than the usual E dorian because this allows me to get the low note. This works because in A dorian the highest note is 2nd octave B. If I want to play along with others who are in the usual key of E dorian, I can use an A whistle and use my A fingering. But if I’m playing for my own amusement, I can play the transposed version on any old whistle.
For Music in the Glen I’d suggest these possibilities for starters:
jump an octave where needed -
|: ~G2BG EGDc | bDGB AGAB |
or harmonize like this
|: ~G2BG EGDE | ~G3 B AGAB |
or like this
|: ~G2BG ~E3 G | Dz GB AGAB |
You could also transpose the first bar plus a note up an octave, but that wouldn’t be my first choice.
Hope this is clear…
S
On 2001-11-21 15:44, kardshark87 wrote:
Question time…I’ve seen a lot of people post the music like Bob…So how do you read it?
Brent, it’s called the ABC notation system. Read all about it here:
Thanks Steve -
|: ~G2BG EGDE | ~G3 B AGAB |
seems to work for me in this tune.
The most common thing to do is to raise the notes an octave, works well in both Music in the Glen and the Glen of Aherlow (which is fine too in adorian) it gives the additional kick after playing it on your own a bit when the fiddle goes onto the lower string. Same for Humours of Lissadel, Martin Wynne’s etc.
Which parts do you raise an octave? Just the notes below D, the phrase, or the whole A part? Or each tune differently on a case by case basis? Was wondering if there was a general rule or common approach…
The reason …
|: ~G2BG EGDE | ~G3 B AGAB |
works is that the chord a guitarist would use to accompany the first bar would probably be an E minor, with a switch to G major for the start of the second bar.
When the melody goes too low for the whistle you can generally harmonise by picking a note from the accompanying chord .. which is exactly what’s been done here.
If you don’t know the chord you can use a program like “MusicEase” to suggest some for you. MusicEase also imports ABC notation and displays it in normal musical notation.
Swapping octaves also works, but often sounds a bit off - particularly when played solo.
[ This Message was edited by: Champ on 2001-11-22 22:56 ]
IN the tunes mentioned above I would just raise the notes that go below the scale of the whistle. Not a bother in any of them and it doesn’t sound off really.
I’m not familiar with the tune, but maybe you could play it in the key of G. I know a few tunes that are too low to play in D, but play just fine in G on the same whistle.
[ This Message was edited by: nickb on 2001-11-23 06:03 ]
the tune is in G
On 2001-11-22 22:55, Champ wrote:
… the chord a guitarist would use…… you can generally harmonise by picking a note from the accompanying chord…
Champ, what have guitarists got to do with it?
You make it sound as if this music was composed by people who were consciously working around chord progressions, which is far from the case.
Personally, I take very little notice of what chords guitarists play - as long as they have a good rhythm and the chords don’t jar, I’m happy.
But let’s get this straight - the melody is the thing - they’re accompanists, and their job is to fit in with the notes that I or other melody players do - not the other way around!
Stevie,
I dont think champ suggested anything other than using the guitar as an easy alternative to finding a substitute note that exists on the whistle.Martin Hayes is a wonderful player but its the beautiful,rhythmic and complex harmonic guitar of Dennis Cahill that that realy draws the melody out.Peace bro,Mike 
I don’t agree with you there while Hayes and Cahill complement eachother beautifully. I don’t think the fiddle needs the guitar at all, it best left on it’s own without distraction.
Peter,
with all due respect,the point I attempted to make is that the guitar can hold its own as a melodic instrument and Cahill and Hayes are only one of many examples of traditional players pushing the boundary’s of the guitars roll in traditional instrumental music. Peace, Mike
On 2001-11-24 03:11, mike.r wrote:
I dont think champ suggested anything other than using the guitar as an easy alternative to finding a substitute note that exists on the whistle.
I realize that Mike and I’m only stirring really anyway.
But there’s a point to my stirring - I do think that people who arrive at Irish traditional music from other kinds of music (please not I’m not aiming at Champ here) need to realize that the role of harmony instruments is a little different. The tradition evolved melodically, without harmonic accompaniment, and players had to, and still have to, be able to make a solo line provide all the interest - melodic, harmonic and rhythmic.
The chords came after, and not before, and I think it is well always to bear that in mind. Hence my little - and entirely friendly - dig at the way Champ expressed his idea. I don’t put winks in my posts for nothing…
Mike, as Stevie above I was mainly stirring and being slightly contrary for a purpose.
Beside that I personally prefer unaccompanied music with no strings attached.
Every time a fiddle player bows 2 strings at once - which is far from unheard of in Irish music - a chord is produced. Every time a player plays a harmony or a variation on the melody a chord is strongly implied.
To suggest that traditional Irish tunes consisted of one note at time melodies is nonsense. What about the piper adding his drones to the melody? What about the accordion and concertina players and the harpists?
I’ve got no problem with people who prefer one note at a time interpretations of the tunes, but to somehow imply that this is a more pure or true way play them is nonsense - even if you do add a smiley
[ This Message was edited by: Champ on 2001-11-25 21:38 ]
Actually, even if no drones, double-strings or ‘more-than-one-note’ were played, the melodies themselves come out of a scale or mode and always imply a harmony. That’s why out-of-scale notes are heard as mistakes - the ear already has homed in on a key and harmony from the single-note information.
The ear hears the implied chords always. That’s why accompanists can’t just play any old chord under a melody.