Alternative to D

S.B.O'Gill · Post by **S.B.O'Gill** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:06 am

Which key for an alternative to D?

jkrazy52 · Post by **jkrazy52** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:53 am

SB .... I like C and A about equal to D. Depends on the sound you want and how low you want to go. Maybe you can make one head piece and an A and a G tube to fit?

Good luck!

Judy

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:02 am

I was sure it was gonna be A, so that's what I got first, but it turns out I like G better.

All my rationalizations about my doing a lot of singing in A turned out to be irrelevant, because I can't play and sing at the same time.

scheky · Post by **scheky** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 7:42 am

I've never personally liked G whistles all that much, even though I have a nice Water Weasel in Low G. I have a low A that goes with it and I like that one a good bit more. I think my hands are too big to actually try a high-pitched whistle in either key (and my poor dog...).

Of course, now that you have a nice start on a D, you could always try an Eb whistle. That little bit more brightness can be an amazing thing.

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:01 pm

A as the key of A is more common than the key of C (2ndary on a G whistle).

Celtic983 · Post by **Celtic983** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:41 pm

Lately I have really enjoyed my Eb, Bb and F whistles. Of course not session whistles, but nice none the less.

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:30 am

For additional keys I added whistles in the following order to my
D (plays in D,G, Bm,Em) both high and low.

C (plays in C, F, Am, Dm) These are common keys for folks songs.
Low F (plays in F, Bb, Dm, Gm)
Low G (plays in G, C, Em, Am)
Low A (plays in A, D, F#m, Bm)
Bb (playse in Bb, Eb, Gm, Cm)

Finally Low E (playse in E, A, C#m, F#m)

It depends more on the keys you need to accompany folks and the genre your playing. If you're looking to play along with singers, the D/C/Bb set gives you a range to (D,C,Bb,G,F,Eb) that enables you to adjust up or down to suite the comfort range of your singer.

Of course this is all rationalization for WhOA. In Irish sessions I rarely see whistles in keys other than D (high or low).

In the past year I've seen folks play C a dozen times, a Bb 3-4 times, and F maybe twice. These were ususally airs.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:17 am

Hmmm.... for session playing, I actually find my A more useful than my C. It seems like no one around here ever plays Dm tunes other than "The Broken Pledge", so my C whistle doesn't get much use; on the other than, there are some very nice D tunes that can really use the extra range of the A, like "Bea Maye's".

Though I haven't really used it in sessions much yet, I'm starting to think my low E might be as useful as either the C or the A. Certainly there are usually a couple of A major or E major tunes played routinely at local sessions, for which the E whistle would be ideal. Also very handy for French Canadian sessions, I'd imagine.

Pete D · Post by **Pete D** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:04 pm

I usually play high D whistles.

Ocassionally I play the Bb whistle...

but (IMHO) the best substitution for D, if not better, is the C whistle

Pete D · Post by **Pete D** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:08 pm

...I suppose I should clarify...

I'm considering solo playing only.

BTW where does all that A whistle stuff come from...I suppose fiddlers?

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:00 pm

Pete D wrote:...I suppose I should clarify...

I'm considering solo playing only.

Then it may be more a question of maker and model than of key. I find the Hoover low G, Overton low F, and Burke C (brass wide-bore) each great in its own way.

You'll just have to resign yourself to getting one of everything, and realize that the order in which you get them is probably not all that important.

BTW where does all that A whistle stuff come from...I suppose fiddlers?

A mixolydian? In that case, it's probably common because it uses the same scale notes as D major, B aeolian, and E dorian. I'm not familiar enough with ITM to have run into anything else in A. I think there are some A aeolian tunes out there, but I don't think I've seen any so far. (Of course, I'm still a beginner in ITM. I don't listen to enough of it.)

lochin · Post by **lochin** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:47 pm

I've just made myself an A+ whistle (i.e. an A with an extra G natural at the bottom). It means I can now play (try) lots of GHB tunes that sound to shrill on a high D. I'm not ready for a low D yet, but I can manage a piper's grip on the A+, so it might make a good start before I try a true low whistle.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:50 am

Pete D wrote:BTW where does all that A whistle stuff come from...I suppose fiddlers?

Well, a lot of us think Bb and A are great keys for whistles -- they're not so terribly high as a D whistle, but a good Bb is just about as responsive as a good D, so you can still play the heck out of it. They're just plain fun to play.

Bb is pretty useless for playing at session, but A is, if anything, a better fit for the musical range of the fiddle than the D is. Basically you give up a couple of notes at the top of the fiddle's common range -- notes they have to go out of first position to play -- in exchange for three nice solid notes down on the G string. It's less useful in terms of key, because a LOT of Irish tunes have C-naturals. But for those tunes in D, the A whistle can be a very nice choice.

You might think the low G whistle would be a good choice for exactly the same reason (flip-flopped) -- you get the full bottom range of the fiddle, plus C-naturals. But for some reason it doesn't seem to me to be as useful in practice -- I only know of two G tunes I like that would really benefit from the extra bottom range, and both of them I'd rather just bump the low parts up an octave and play them on D whistle.

Jetboy · Post by **Jetboy** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:37 pm

G. Without doubt. I made myself a G recently 'cuz I had some tube left over that was too short for a Low D and too big a bore for an F. I love it!

Whitmores75087 · Post by **Whitmores75087** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:20 pm

Eb is bright and happy sounding to me. Bb sounds solemn.

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Alternative to D

Which key for alternative to D?

Alternative to D