Whistle keys

Whistle
1

Hi folks,

I have been lingering here for a while now, and though your converstions about whistles have enlightened me greatly, I am still majorly confused about one thing - whistle keys.
Obviously, there are many different keys in which whistles are made. But if I want to play the the key of D, do I have to get a D whistle, or can I play in D on my C whistle? I have been playing the recorder recently, and though it sounds a little off, I can play in the key of C on an E recorder. Are whistles completely different from recorders, and it will sound way off, or does it still work the same way? I only have experience on a Boehm flute, on which I can play in all sorts of different keys, and not sound out of tune in one of them.
In a word, why all the different keys?

~kitty

2

Check out the Whistle Keys section of the website. Dale will explain it all.

Or you could just read this:

D whistle plays in- D, G, and can play in A (w/half-holing.)
C whistle plays in- C, F, and G (w/h.h.)

ect.
the ‘name’ of the whistle (ie. “D” or “C” ect.) is the name of the bell note,(ie. all fingers down) and also the first scale it plays in. Three notes up from the bell note is the second scale it plays in.