while looking for sheet music i find that it is written for specific instruments,flute, piano, oboe ,clarinet,etc there is not much outside of itm written specifcaly for the whistle whats the closest ‘common’ instrument to choose? or is there a way to order sheet music in a particular key?
Unless you are playing with other people, you can play any sheet
music that is in the whistle’s range, and in a key that is easy for
you. What you have to watch out for is trying to play along with
others, or with recordings. Some instruments are called
“transposing” instruments, so when you play a D on a Clarinet, it
dosn’t sound the same as a D played on a Flute.
If you have a “D” whistle, then you can play any Flute, piano,
violin, oboe, or guitar sheet music (or any other “concert C”
instrument) and you will be playing the notes that would sound
the same if any of those instruments played with you.
If you want to play along with Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax,
Trumpet, or any other Bb instrument, then you need a “C” whistle.
well thats the problem ,how to find music in its range and an easy key
The instrument that the sheet is written for isn’t going to tell you
that. Though, Flute doesn’t go too far below the whistle’s range,
so that’s probably the best bet.
Ususally, the key is listed when you buy the sheet. It’ll say
“Rhapsody in Blue. Key: Eb” or something of that nature. You
probably want to stick with D major, Gmajor, Eminor, and Bminor
(only one or two sharps in the key signature)
99% of the Irish Traditional Music will adapt perfectly to the whistle. If you buy a book of ‘session tunes,’ for instance, they will essentially have the key signatures in d or g and they can all be played on the whistle. Fiddle books may have some tunes with notes that go below the whistle range. You just find a suitable note to replace those few. I think a lot of American folk music will work the same way. Look for music in the keys of d or g.
Tony
Also look for music arranged for the mountain dulcimer. A lot of the tablature for MD has the regular musical notation above it and those pieces for MD tuned to DAA are in the same key as your D whistle and most are within the range of notes as well.
Hope this helps some
judy (28 cameras, 11 recorders, 3 whistle, 2 grown children, and 1 each of the following MD, husband, dog, cat)
thanks for all the help i think fearfaoin has the answer i was looking for
Wait just a minute… I think you must mean when you play a particular finger position… that would be different between a Clarinet and a Flute, yes, but the note ‘D’ is the note ‘D’ no matter what instrument you are playing. (with allowances for slight tuning variation, LOL!)
Yeah, the semantics on this sort of thing are rough.
A “note” is a freqency. That doesn’t change. But, the name we
give a certain frequency can change from instrument to instrument.
When I play Clarinet, if I use the fingering xxx xxx (including the
register key), I would call that a “D”. If I played the same fingering
on a flute, we would still call it a “D”, but it would sound one whole
step lower than the sound coming out of the clarinet. That’s right, we
give the Clarinet different names for the same notes. This is the sucky
part. The point of this is so you can learn Flute, say, and then move to
Clarinet or Sax without having to learn new note names for the
fingerings. This also means that you have to have specific music
written for Clarinet, or Sax, etc, so that you don’t have to transpose
in your head.
Here’s an example: look at the tune Julia Delaney. It would
be hard to play it on a D whistle, so you decide to use a C whistle.
But, you have to remember new fingerings for the C whistle when
reading that music… You have to start thinking of the fingering
xxx xxx as “C” instead of “D”, and xxx xxo as “D” instead of “E”.
This might be confusing, so instead, you transpose Julia Delaney,
moving every note up one step. Then, you can read the music, and
use the fingerings you’re used to, and the tune will sound right when
played with others. But when you see an “E” in the music, you play
xxx xxo on the C whistle, which actually sounds like the note “D”.
See? Transposition can make your life easier, while at the same
time turning your brain into Jello.
No, he was exactly right. On a standard Bb clarinet, the note called “D” is actually a C in concert pitch. (Incidentally, in one of the clarinet’s registers, “D” is six fingers down… pretty sure “D” (real D, this time) is six fingers down on a Boehm flute as well.)
Not true at all. There’s a difference between concert pitch and the pitch of a specific band or orchestral instrument.
If you play a “D” on an alto sax and a “D” on a trumpet you will hear two totally different notes. The alto is tuned to E flat and the trumpet to B flat (I think). They can’t use the same music at all. The “D” on the alto is (again, I just doing this off the top of my head) is an “F” (or is it F#?) in concert pitch, while the D on the trumpet is a “C” in concert pitch.
Again, I may be off on the specific note values, but the idea is right anyway.
Mark