Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have some students that I am trying to teach the whistle to and would love some feedback or advice.

I am looking for free sheet music that has some great harmonies written out for a duet. If you could post any links that fit under this category, that would be great!

I was also wondering if you all had some tips on what keys the whistles should be in to harmonize well.

The kind of song that I am looking for is Si Bheag Si Mhor, but I am open to others as well.

Feel free to answer any part of this question you know something about.

Thanks,

Joey

This page offers plenty of Irish as well as other tunes, arranged for duet, trio or quartet - but is meant for string instruments, and not free: https://georgianettleton.bandcamp.com/
I am not aware of any free source of pre-arranged music for whistle duet.
Not meaning to be offensive - but as a teacher, you should have enough knowledge of music theory to know which whistle keys harmonize and which don't... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths

Thank you for the helpful tips Michael. I like being able to listen to the arrangement for buying it, pretty handy!

In regards to the teaching part of it, I should have clarified that they are my 4th grade students and I am not their music teacher. I am a bit of a novice myself sorry for not clarifying.

You could try the International Music Score Library Project https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page - all free to download public domain sheet music that can be searched in various ways. It is mostly classical obviously, but includes some traditional Irish and Scottish and probably lots of others if you take the time to look, it's a huge collection.

I doubt there is anything written specifically for whistle, but lots of material written for other instruments would do just fine. Here is an example of a vocal setting of Down by the Sally Gardens in C where the soprano and alto lines would make a nice duet https://imslp.nl/imglnks/usimg/a/ae/IMS ... _score.pdf

A few posts have started a couple of days ago on the Discussion section of the Session titled whistle ensemble pieces. Might be worth following it.

Sorry Joey, I thought you were a whistle, flute or music teacher...
Anyhow, any whistle plays easily in the major keys of the tonic and the fourth - in case of a D whistle D and G major, and the minor keys of the second, fifth and sixth - E, A and B minor for a D whistle (actually dorian and/or aeolian scales, no real minor as in classical music).
If the tune you want to play is in the key signature of D, D and A whistles will work out fine, if it is in G, it is G and D whistles.
So far so good - BUT: teaching 4th graders will probably mean that you'll not want to spend a fortune on the instruments, and therefore stick to the cheap whistles - which again means, a limited range of keys to choose from. Generation whistles are available in Bb, C, D, Eb, F and high G (VERY shrill!) - keys like A, low G and below that, as well as the in-between keys, are only available in more expensive versions. So, the possible low-cost combos are: Bb + Eb or F, C + F or G, D + G.

In the most basic method... If the main melody is in the key of D for instance, then usually one would be playing on a D whistle in the key of D. The person playing a harmony part would also be playing in the key of D, and can use a D whistle as well- the usual harmony notes are all available in a whistle of that key, and the harmony line can be played on the same whistle. Likewise if one is playing in the key of G on a D whistle- the harmony notes for the key of G would be there on the D whistle as well, you're both playing in the same key and that whistle has all the notes for that key/scale.