Your favorite non-celtic tune to play on whistle

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:03 am

I'm sure every whistler has in his tunebook a few tunes which are not Irish, Scottish or somehow else celtic. Let's share?

Mine are:

1) Greensleeves
2) <a href="http://medvedya.net.ru/_fr/0/59482898.gif">Saltarello #2</a>
3) <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... .png">Hymn of USSR</a> (sounds really funny on a whistle :)) )

Upd: Give links to abc/midi/sheetmusic when possible, pls :)

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:40 am

(1) Sleepwalk

(2) Any spaghetti-western theme

(3) The human-whistle parts of the Scorpions' Winds of Change

(4) Lucky Man (even though Emerald Rose has that on their Bending Tradition album, complete with whistles).

Leahcim · Post by **Leahcim** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:43 am

The battle hymn of the republic, its a simple fast tune that sounds good on a whistle.

X: 1
T:Battle Hymn of the Republic
C:Julia Ward Howe/Air: "John Brown's Body"
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/8=168
F:http://everythingdulcimer.com/tab/battlehymnd.abc 2007-08-24 13:52:10 UT
K:D
V:1 clef=treble
"^Allegretto"A/2- A/2 |"D"A > A A > G F > A d > e | f > f f > e d2 d > c | \
w:1.~Mine* eyes have seen the glo-ry of the com-ing of the Lord; He is \
w:2.~I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hun-dred cir-cling camps; They have \
w:3.~I have read a fier-y gos-pel writ in bur-nished rows of steel: "As ye \
w:4.~He has sound-ed forth the trump-et that shall nev-er call re-treat; He is \
w:5.~In the beau-ty of the lil-ies Christ was born a-cross the sea, With a \
V:1
"G"B > B B > c d > c d > B |"D"A > B A > F A2 A > A | \
w:tram-pling out the vint-age where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath \
w:build-ed Him an al-tar in the eve-ning dews and damp; I can \
w:deal with My con-tem-ners, so with you My grace shall deal." Let the \
w:sift-ing out the hearts of men be-fore His judg-ment-seat; Oh, be \
w:glo-ry in His bos-om that trans-fig-ures you and me; As He \
V:1
A > A A > G F > A d > e | f > f f > e d2 d2 |"G"e2 "E7"e2 "D"d2 "A7"c2 |"D"d4 z4 | \
w:loosed the fate-ful light-ning of His ter-ri-ble swift sword, His truth is march-ing on. \
w:read His right-eous sen-tence by the dim and flar-ing lamps, His day is march-ing on. \
w:He-ro, born of wom-an crush the ser-pent with His heel, Since God is march-ing on. \
w:swift, my soul, to an-swer Him! be ju-bi-lant, my feet! Our God is march-ing on. \
w:died to make men ho-ly, let us die to make men free, While God is march-ing on. \
V:1
"^CHORUS.""D"A3 G F > A d > e | f4 d2 z2 |"G"B3 c d > c d > B |"D"A4 F4 | \
w: \
w: \
w:Glo-ry! glo-ry! Hal-le-lu-jah! Glo-ry, glo-ry! Hal-le-lu-jah! \
V:1
A3 G F > A d > e |"F#7"f4 "Bm"d2 "Bm/A"d2 |"G"e2 "E7"e2 "D/A"d2 "A7"c2 |"D"d6 z2 |] \
w: \
w: \
w:Glo-ry! glo-ry! Hal-le-lu-jah! His truth is march-ing on. \

Just copy and paste it here http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

Theo · Post by **Theo** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:54 am

I play lots of old-time Dutch/Belgian/French/German folk, and even some klezmer-type tunes. All of this requiring lots of half-holing, but I find tunes in Am to be quite managable on the regular D whistle and flute.

My favourite is actually a tune composed by one of the <a href="http://www.gonnagles.nl">Gonnagles</a>, a folkband which I (used to) play with from time to time. It's called "Waltz by Accident", but I don't think I'm allowed to just post the tune here

sbhikes · Post by **sbhikes** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:16 am

The Star Spangled Banner

PallasAthena · Post by **PallasAthena** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:19 am

Sorry, double post. Does anyone know how to delete this?

PallasAthena · Post by **PallasAthena** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:20 am

Seasonal music to amuse friends and relatives (so, yeah, it varies, mostly xmas songs, though because they are the easiest to find)
The well known theme from New World Symphany
sheet music that's really for my saxophone

I prefer to play the others on my flute, but sometimes on whistle:
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Battle Cry of Freedom (I think it's called that...)
La Marseillaise (and, yes, there was origionally a reason for that)

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:23 am

Colored Aristocracy
Redwing
Bonaparte's Retreat
Cold Frosty Morning
June Apple
Sugar Hill
I Will (Beatles)
The Blacksmith (Steeleye Span)
.....whatever comes to mind and can find its way through the fingers....

walrii · Post by **walrii** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:36 am

"Chariots of Fire" - easy to learn, sounds great on the whistle.
"My Heart Will Go On" - don't know if this qualifies since a whistle was used (I think) in the original score but still a neat tune.
"Seven Bridges Road"

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 10:06 am

Tree of Life (Shaker hymns work quite well on whistle.)

cadancer · Post by **cadancer** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:22 pm

jsluder wrote:Tree of Life (Shaker hymns work quite well on whistle.)

Life! Life! living zeal, freedoms holy power
come, come, come to me in the present hour...

I used to be in a dance ensemble. We did a suite of "dances" depicting a Shakers ceremony.

Anyway... I'm dull. I play Bulgarian music on my kaval and Irish music on my whistle and flute.

For whatever reason, I have never had any inclination to do otherwise.

...john

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:40 pm

cadancer wrote:
jsluder wrote:Tree of Life (Shaker hymns work quite well on whistle.)
Life! Life! living zeal, freedoms holy power
come, come, come to me in the present hour...

I used to be in a dance ensemble. We did a suite of "dances" depicting a Shakers ceremony.

I never actually learned the words to any of the Shaker hymns I play. I had to learn the tunes for a piano and whistle duet in my sister's wedding a few years ago, and enjoyed them enough to keep playing them.

Flogging Jason · Post by **Flogging Jason** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:59 pm

I often play a medley of Civil War tunes(I used to be a reenactor). I also play parts of the various movements from Star Wars. I'm often prone to picking up popular music(mostly rock) as well.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:18 pm

I love playing the opening Aria from Bach's Goldberg Variations. You need to half hole a couple of notes, but it's not really hard and works terrificly well on a whistle.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:05 pm

There's a wealth of non-Celtic stuff to play,
from American fiddle tunes (see Crooked Tunes's
post, above) to Israeli dances to classical music
played as folk tunes to show tunes (e.g. Favorite
Things) to blues to...

The spine of the whistle repertoire is ITM,
but the spine is just the beginning of the body.

Last nt I was playing Joanie M's song 'Woodstock'
with two singers and a guitar, I was playing flute
but whistle wood have served. Gee....