Duelling Whistles

Easily_Deluded_Fool · Tue Feb 18, 2003 10:35 am

Yer know that tune 'duelling banjos',
and the tune where the devil came down to Georgia, and there was a 'duel' with violins..
Well, does anyone know such a tune with whistles?
Or a tune that would suffice for a 'duel' between two whistle players?

Tune name, url etc appreciated please.

_________________
No whistles were harmed in the transmission of this communication.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Easily_Deluded_Fool on 2003-02-18 11:48 ]</font>

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 10:46 am

How good would the whistlers be? I could see the tune "Si Bheag, Si Mhor" (or by some 'Sheebeg, Sheemore")

http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/get ... SiMhor.gif

(numerous versions at this site) as a dueling duet if the whistlers were good with ornamentation and had good speed.

As I recall, and this could be WAYYY wrong, it's basis is a tale about a was between two groups of elves.

(edited for visual clarity)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Chuck_Clark on 2003-02-18 11:47 ]</font>

Easily_Deluded_Fool · Tue Feb 18, 2003 10:59 am

The whistler(s) would be of beginning ability.

I have an 'arts' project, where people would share their skills e.g. poetry, art, music etc.

I'm after a simple tune that could be practiced by beginners using whistle notation, and performed at the end of one day. I had in mind a simple tune like
"An dro", playing the same notes 1 octave higher, this way the same tune would be learned, same fingering etc.
Play say lower octave version, then higher, rotating a couple of times, then play both
low & high together for a finale.

I want people to 'go away' with 1) A sense of accomplishment; 2) A tune thay can play at home; 3)WHOA!

So any ideas will be considered.

Thanks

DanD · Post by **DanD** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 4:00 pm

Does the tune have to be IRTrad? It might be easier to teach a tune people already know - a simple round like Row, Row, Row Your Boat or Frere Jaques (sp??) would let you get people playing together, and you could still do some of the octave switching you mentioned.

Best of Luck!!

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 3:05 am

Julia Delaney as played in poststructural deconstructed mode by Paddy Moloney and Sean Potts (senior) on a record which I think was called "Tin whistles", and which (again trusting to memory) was, I believe, the first Chieftains spinoff record.

The normal manner of playing Breton tunes in bombarde and biniou duo is an even closer form of "duelling" style.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 3:19 am

On 2003-02-19 04:05, Roger O'Keeffe wrote:
The normal manner of playing Breton tunes in bombarde and biniou duo is an even closer form of "duelling" style.

Quite... I'll see what good record I can find in this spirit.

For a good introduction to Breton tunes, but here in solo (wood flute), I'd suggest Jean-Michel Veillon's "E Koad Nizan", his first solo album, which is 95% trad Breton.
And one shouldn't miss his BEO! recent CD in duo with Yvon Riou (guitar), even this has more varied influences (Irish, American folk, Macedonian...).

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 3:27 am

For dueling whistlers, just check any recent political thread.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 4:08 am

Oh no! Please let's keep ON-topic music threads as such!

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 12:12 pm

Oh, I would think that any round could do for GREAT dueling. OR...trade phrases. I'm thinking specifically of Dixie...you could get very playful with that...one person doing the notes for "away....away" while the other runs a scale up or down, or other embellishment.

Twinkle Twinkle, and its other incarnations works the same way. I use that one on dulcimer with kids, showing them how to play. It takes a moment to show them the basic tune, and after they have it down (its pathetically easy on a dulcimer) I have them play it on one section of the HD, and I play it an octave lower or higher, with a rocking pedal note, with broken chords, syncopated, etc.

Mairi's Wedding is cool because its easy, and the A and B parts overlap perfectly. Start one person on Ax2...they stop, and second person does Bx2. Stop. first does A once, second does B once (flow from one to the next as if one person is playing the whole thing). Both do A once, B once, then one does (Ax2 Bx2) twice and the other does (Bx2 Ax2) twice. You can vary it also by playing A up in the second register.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Thu Feb 20, 2003 8:58 am

Easy beginner's tune, one octave : Águas de Março.
It's a bossa nova, awright.
Please find the whimsical duet version featuring Tom (Jobim) and Ellis (Regina), in the... Ellis & Tom album.
Polygram ©1974, Philips 824 418-2

The tenor/alto duell is there, could be a nice variation with low D + sop D combo, or low G (A?) + D.

Easily_Deluded_Fool · Thu Feb 20, 2003 11:48 am

Thanks for the input.

Still pondering/trying things out

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 5:33 pm

In session last night they played The Old Grey Goose, and the old accordion player next to me mentioned that it's a great 'dueling' tune, as it sounds like a couple of geese having a major snit at each other. Six part jig.

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 6:00 pm

Yes, the Potts/Moloney album Tin Whistles is a perfect whistle parallel to duelling banjoes! If Tom Dowling and I live forever and keep practicing together, we'll be playing some cuts off that one some day!