Someone in my community plays Irish harp and wants to play music together. The harp is tuned to key of A. Some of the tunes I’m being asked to play, I know on my D whistle. I want to be able to play the same fingering I’ve learned for the D whistle (with key of D or G–the one or the two sharp) but in the key of A (three sharps). What key whistle would I need?
I hope I’ve made the question clear enough.
If your harpist friend is happy to play your D tunes in A, you would need an A whistle.
Likewise if your friend is happy to play your G tunes in A, you would need an E whistle and play like in G on the D whistle.
If it is tunes in A, you could play them on your D whistle with G# half holed, or the E whistle as above.
Or ask your harp friend to tune down the G# to G, which brings the harp into D tuning, and you can play D tunes normal on your D whistle.
What kind of harp is this that can only play in A?
hans suspects a plain ol’ diatonic harp with the F, C and G strings tuned to be F#, C# and G#
However I suspect, in the TOTAL ABSENCE of EVIDENCE provided (other than the words, “someone in my community”) but more on my totally capricious,doggerelish HUNCH
that she, the harpist, likes to play pieces in Amin (scale) and has wrongly said her harp is tuned for A when she should have said either C or Amin as the tuning.
Therefore, if my hunch is right (and that deserves no praise because it is my dim, dark unconcious that would be right and that is totally unaccountable and needs neither credit, nor debit, nor balance even) I would suggest that khl play either a G whistle with cross fingering for F or a C whistle to accompany this lass.
Of course, if my hunch be wrong, then this post is not worth a crumpet, pikelet or paratha.
I’m with Hans here: if I were to do a gig with a harpist having a harp lacking tuners which was tuned to three sharps, I would show up with whistles in E and A.
Though perhaps the harpist would play some gap-scale tunes which would fall fine on a D whistle. (There’s loads of Irish tunes that have no Gs in them.)
It is odd though. Most diatonic harpers I’ve known have their harps tuned to C, or sometimes to G or D.
Thought I did know one harper who had her harp tuned to F.
Can be tuned, of course, but all the sheet music sent me was in A (the three sharps instead of the two or one most of the music I’m used to playing is written in). (One can tell, by the way, how semi-illiterate I am when it comes to talking about all this–my shame 
)
Thanks all for your help. I was suspecting is was an E whistle I might be needing for much of this. I’ve got an A whistles, but no E (except a Susato).
this is another element that fed my hunch.
I suspect, now, Keith, that you were sent the sheet music in A key signature
with an expectation that you could transpose.
Interesting. The “million dollar question” is: does she actually play all those tunes in the key the sheet music is in?
Many a time I’ve been sent sheet music by somebody for an uncoming gig, only to arrive at the gig and discover that they’re playing everything in different keys.
People who have been around Irish music a while can immediately tell if a common tune is written out in its “normal” key or in an odd key.
Years ago there was an Irish harper here who played everything in “wrong” keys. Tunes normally in G he played in F, tunes normally in D he played in C, etc. It was a simple matter to play with him, just use a C whistle and everything came out in his key.
I’ve got a question. Why wouldn’t a D whistle work, cross fingering the G#, provided that the music stays within the range of a D whistle?
I’m beginning to think Keith just needs a good excuse to buy an E whistle.
This brings to mind an important issue: that of having to transpose all the music if you’re sightreading on a whistle other than D. Some people are great at sight-transposing. I can do some transpositions OK, while for others I need to write out a transposition.
I have a D whistle on which I’ve carved out the G to make it play G# so that I can sightread stuff in three sharps without having to transpose. Likewise whistles could be made that play in C or in flat keys but using ordinary D whistle fingerings.
Got me there. But then who needs an excuse?
(Thanks again to everyone who’s helped out with my question.)
Keith, to me the key (no pun) piece of information missing is whether your friend’s harp has levers or not. If so, I’d think “tuned in A” likely means simply a C-tuned harp with the F, C and G levers pulled sharp. In which case, it should be easy for her to play or transpose in the more conventional keys by dropping levers and changing position (depending on tune range). If not, then I suppose the odd A tuning might be motivated by her vocal range.
As for the E whistle, is there a reason to avoid the Susato E you already have? Personally, I find it to be quite a nice little whistle.
I’d agree with that statement if the Susato in question is one of the V-series high E’s or a low E. Both of those are fairly civilized whistles. Susato did make a high E with the S-series bore and that was a whole 'nother kettle of fish, IMO.
My thoughts on the harp are exactly like MTGuru’s. The diatonic harps I run into (including my own) are strung to be tuned in C. Harp players don’t usually mess with string gauges to get to another tuning. and while you can tune the strings sharp or flat of C, it changes the string tension which isn’t always a happy thought for tone/volume of the harp or the tension on the sound board. Sharping levers give you the additional keys. While some harps have no levers, it is fairly common to add levers for the C and F strings which then gives you the keys of D and G. So if your friend actually plays in the key of A, I’d be guessing they have levers and prefer to play in that key/position.
Feadoggie