Newbie question

[Zabava77]

I hope it is OK to ask this
I recently bought a wonderful Tony Dixon low D. Should I use a fingering chart specifically for low D? I have another 6-hole whistle, and learned its fingering chart (all holes closed - C, etc.) Of course, it is possible to use the same fingering for a low D...
How other (more experienced players) do it? Do you learn fingering charts for each key, or do you play your instrument using "standard" fingering for C?

[JTC111]

I hope it is OK to ask this
I recently bought a wonderful Tony Dixon low D. Should I use a fingering chart specifically for low D? I have another 6-hole whistle, and learned its fingering chart (all holes closed - C, etc.) Of course, it is possible to use the same fingering for a low D...

It's the same.

How other (more experienced players) do it? Do you learn fingering charts for each key, or do you play your instrument using "standard" fingering for C?

That's all going to depend on in what key the music you're using is written. Whistles all work the same... xxxxxx is the bell note and you play the scale with the same fingering pattern as you would on a D whistle.

The main reason for changing keys is to play along with others. For example, if you have a singer who wants to sing a song in F, you're going to need a whistle that can play in F (an F whistle or a C whistle). If you have to learn a piece, you can go two ways: you can learn new note/fingering associations which some do, although I believe most do not. Or you can transpose the music into the keys of D or G and play them on any whistle just as you would on a D whistle.

In other words, if you have a piece of music written in D and you want to play it in B, all you need to do is pick up a B whistle and use the same finger patterns as you would on the D whistle.

I hope that sheds some light.

Moderators... this question seems to come up a lot and it's pretty confusing for new whistlers. If someone wrote it up clearly, could it be a sticky or is there someplace it could be kept and easily found and linked to?

[plaidpotato]

I have another 6-hole whistle, and learned its fingering chart (all holes closed - C, etc.) Of course, it is possible to use the same fingering for a low D...

So does this mean you learned your fingering based on a C whistle? I think that's actually considered non-standard.

It seems like it's much more common for whistlers to learn on a D whistle first, and then use the D fingering on all other keys of whistle. So, it's probably worth it for you to study a fingering chart in D.

[Nomi]

Generally it seems like if you want to change keys, you change whistles. So if you learn a tune on your C whistle, you will play it just the same on a D whistle. It will be in a different key, but the fingering will be the same. It's always good to know what the notes are so looking at a fingering chart is always a good idea, but don't try to play a tune in the key of C on a D whistle.

[cutterpup]

That's all going to depend on in what key the music you're using is written. Whistles all work the same... xxxxxx is the bell note and you play the scale with the same fingering pattern as you would on a D whistle.

The main reason for changing keys is to play along with others. For example, if you have a singer who wants to sing a song in F, you're going to need a whistle that can play in F (an F whistle or a C whistle). If you have to learn a piece, you can go two ways: you can learn new note/fingering associations which some do, although I believe most do not. Or you can transpose the music into the keys of D or G and play them on any whistle just as you would on a D whistle.

In other words, if you have a piece of music written in D and you want to play it in B, all you need to do is pick up a B whistle and use the same finger patterns as you would on the D whistle.

I hope that sheds some light.

I still can't wrap my head around this one. If I play a tune in G on my G whistle and play as if my whistle is a D then I am playing the entire tune 4 notes higher than what is written. But, if I play it using the "correct" G fingerings than my lowest note is a G and I lose the notes F#,E,D on the lower octave unless I play octave up. I don't see the transposing part in this anywhere.

[hoopy mike]

I still can't wrap my head around this one. If I play a tune in G on my G whistle and play as if my whistle is a D then I am playing the entire tune 4 notes higher than what is written. But, if I play it using the "correct" G fingerings than my lowest note is a G and I lose the notes F#,E,D on the lower octave unless I play octave up. I don't see the transposing part in this anywhere.

Ok - here goes - wish me luck...

Imaging you are playing a tune (perhaps in the key of G major) that starts with the notes G, A, B. You could pick up a D whistle and use the following fingerings:
xxxooo, xxoooo, xooooo where x = hole closed, o=hole open, reading the holes left-right equates to playing the holes from top-bottom.

You could also pick up your G whistle (although probably not at the same time, unless you have an unusually large mouth and an extra limb) and play the tune using these fingerings:
xxxxxx, xxxxxo, xxxxoo

If your G whistle is smaller than your D whistle (i.e. an alto G compared to a low D) then you'll hear the same notes.

Now, here comes the clever part... If you pick up your G whistle and play with the following fingerings: xxxooo, xxoooo, xooooo, you'll hear the notes C,D,E. As if by magic, you've transposed the tune into C major! This may delight or infuriate your audience - if they want you to play the notes G, A, B, then they'll be disappointed, whereas if they were hoping to sing or play along and they wanted the tune to be in C major, then you'll've made a friend for life.

Does that help?

[killthemessenger]

I still can't wrap my head around this one.

Here we go again.

[DrPhill]

At risk of adding confusion, rather than dispelling some...

When you say 'D' in this context it can mean a lot of different things.
(1) The note D written on the music stave
(2) The note D that comes out of your whistle
(3) The key of the whistle
(4) The fingering pattern that you are using.

So to continue Mikes example.

If you see a 'G' written in the music, then pick up a 'G' whistle, and use 'all fingers down' fingering, then the note that comes out is 'G'.

Where this gets a little confusing is that the D whistle is used as a standard, and the fingerings are usually named as if you are playing a D whistle. So let us translate the sentence above:

If you see a 'D' written in the music, then pick up a 'D' whistle, and use 'all fingers down' fingering, then the note that comes out is 'D'.

Whistlers tend to call that 'all fingers down' fingering 'D fingering', because they think first about the D whistle. So we could say:

If you see a 'D' written in the music, then pick up a 'D' whistle, and use D fingering, then the note that comes out is 'D'.

But if we go back to our first example, then all fingers down is still called D fingering:

If you see a 'G' written in the music, then pick up a 'G' whistle, and use D fingering, then the note that comes out is 'G'.

We do this because it makes our life simple in some ways. We pretend that all tunes are in D (or another whistle friendly key, but ignore that), and pick up whatever whistle puts the tune into the correct key. Perhaps we want to play a tune in C. We transpose the written music up two semitones so that it is in D. And then we use the fingerings that we would use for a D whistle. If we actually used a D whistle, then the tune would come out in D. But if we pick up a C whistle, then the tune would come out in C. If we picked up a Bb whistle the tune would come out in Bb, and so on.
With this strategy, we only need to read music in D (or one of the other whistle friendly keys that we are ignoring), and we change the key by choosing a different whistle. Another advantage of this strategy is that it justifies collecting a(t least one) whistle in every key made. Just in case, you see.

If that helps, good. If not don't worry about it. It will click after a while. Maybe buy a whistle in another key and see what happens. It makes more sense in real life than it does written.

[Innocent Bystander]

I still can't wrap my head around this one.

Here we go again.

Innocent Bystander Wraps Low D pennywhistle around cutterpup's head and lo! cutterpup is enlightened!
That's the way it works in the Zen stories anyway. Hoopy Mike is likely to have more luck.

Cutterpup: Try it and see!

[JTC111]

We really should put our heads together and get this written out correctly in language easy to understand so we don't go through this as often as we do.

[Zabava77]

Thank you all for your kind explanations! I understand it better now.

[maki]

We really should put our heads together and get this written out correctly in language easy to understand so we don't go through this as often as we do.

Have it 'Stickied' when you do?

[cutterpup]

Okay. One final attempt at understanding. D fingering refers to all fingers down giving you the bell note for the key whistle you are playing. And, if I use my G whistle in a tune that is in G. I read the notes on the staff as written and play as if I am playing a D whistle and the sounds that emerge will fit in correctly withe the tune?

[Peter Duggan]

Depends what you mean by 'play as if I am playing a D whistle'!

[cutterpup]

All fingers down on a D in the written music although it will actually be the note G. Ot