TheWanderer wrote:
Is there an online resource for downloadable music, that's either organised, or sortable, by key?
It would be nice to just have a list of tunes in A, and another list in Bb to grab from.
Trad whistle players don't think about the whistle keys like that.
For whistles of all keys, A and Bb and all the rest, trad players think of, and refer to, the notes as if a D whistle were being played.
No matter what key whistle they're playing they read the notes as if they were playing a D whistle.
So in sheet music the keys you're looking for are D and G, that is, two sharps and one sharp.
Here's how trad players name the notes:
xxx xxx D
xxx xxo E
xxx xoo F# (though trad players just say "f")
xxx ooo G
xxo ooo A
xoo ooo B
ooo ooo C#
for the D scale.
For the G scale you play C natural instead of C#
oxx ooo C natural.
So a tune that's in D on a D whistle is thought of and described as a tune in D no matter what key whistle is being played. Of course if you play a tune in D on an A whistle it comes out in A, on a Bb whistle it comes out in Bb, and so forth, but trad players normally don't think about that, they just grab a whistle of whatever key and just play.
A trad player wouldn't think of looking for music in three sharps to play on their A whistle, or music in two flat for their Bb whistle.