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Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:15 am
by Mikethebook
I've been working of transcribing a tune and, to my surprise, have come across a smooth slide from C# to high D. Well to be more exact it falls from D to C# and then rises again to D. If I knew how to post a piece of music, I'd do it but its just a simple falling and rising slide. But how can you do it between those notes? Anyone with answers? I can't find any answers in Larsen.

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:25 am
by stefvek
I sometimes play C# using OOO XXX, which I find helpful in The Road to Lisdoonvarna for instance. Might that help?

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:30 am
by Mikethebook
Thanks but sadly not. I use that fingering a lot too. You can slide down from C# to Cnat and back up again by starting with OOOXXX and lowering the top three fingers to closely shade their holes and that's quite cool but I'm stumped by D to C#. Can anyone tell me how to post a clip of mp3?

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:44 am
by Tunborough
Use OXXXXX for high D, and shade the bottom end of the whistle for C#. You can use your knee for that, although it might take practice to get the tuning right.

I don't believe it can be done using anything like OOOOOO fingering for C#, because there would be a register change between that and high D. As far as I know, you can't slide across a register change.

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:12 am
by Mikethebook
Interesting. Thanks for that. I had a try but all I managed was a slight flattening of D but not a clear C#. Maybe it takes practice but I don't see how to get the note any lower that way. And in the music it was very rapid but distinct which suggests there must be another way.

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:54 am
by NicoMoreno
You sure it's a D whistle?

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 12:19 pm
by Mikethebook
I've been asking myself the same question. It's a Davy Spillane piece and 95% of the time he plays either D or F whistles. This piece appears to be on the F whistle but I've taken that into account and worked out the normal D fingering. Where there's a Cnat it appears to have that slightly muted crossed fingering sound so I think I have it right. I'm open to being wrong of course.

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:55 pm
by whistlecollector
Mikethebook wrote:I've been asking myself the same question. It's a Davy Spillane piece and 95% of the time he plays either D or F whistles. This piece appears to be on the F whistle but I've taken that into account and worked out the normal D fingering. Where there's a Cnat it appears to have that slightly muted crossed fingering sound so I think I have it right. I'm open to being wrong of course.
Could there be something funky about the recording that makes it appear to be in one key while it's actually being played in another?

Could he be using a cheater? A little slip of cardboard or paper or or even metal tubing wrapped around the lower 1/2 or 3/4 inch of the whistle: slide that down a bit and back up and Bob's your C# tooting uncle! Cardboard tubes of this sort are in common enough use among saxophone and bassoon players to obtain notes lower than the instrument can normally do.

The trick of half-holing the bottom of the whistle works nicely on smaller whistles. I don't think very many people could do that on a low F whistle. On a high f whistle, it would be relatively easy.

Re: Slide from C# to D

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:36 am
by Mikethebook
Interesting post. I'd never heard of that before. But I don't think it's the answer. The slide happens VERY quickly. I'm inclined to think I've messed up either on the whistle or key or both. Transposing I get confused at times. So here's what happened. When I tried to play my Low D along with the tune it was too low. So on my transcription software I brought the tune down by three semi-tones figuring Spillane was playing with his Low F. Perfect, so I transcribed the tune assuming it was D (though it could be G). But I ended up with this apparently impossible slide between D & C#. It would make more sense if it were B & Cnat half-holed or a similar half-holed slide but . . . .

Rechecking the tune in my software, it shows the original key to be C!! So I had shifted it into A and that sounded right with my Low D whistle except that my G's are not sharp. So now what? Assuming Spillane has access to Low D, F and sometimes C and C# whistles is he using something other than D? It's probably very simple but I can't get my head around it. If you want to look at the transcription to figure out what I've done wrong go to https://thesession.org/tunes/1811. Thanks! The slides are in the second/third bars of the third line.