Help me find Trad Christmas tunes

Kar · Post by **Kar** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:15 am

I started working on my X-mas carols about two weeks ago. It isn't early at all! I busked last year and had to use sheet music because I was a super beginner and didn't know all the tunes. This year, I'm memorizing them all (about 35). So, no, it's DEFINITLY not too early to start on this.

Remember, it's Halloween then *blink* it's Thanksgiving then *blink* it's Christmas!

littlejohngael · Post by **littlejohngael** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 12:57 pm

LOL! I just saw this thread! Glad it's here. I was tempted to start one. I picked up my low d and started practicing Christmas music last night. Then I told my mother that we ought to do a piano/whistle duet.

"You'd do that?" lol....shocked her socks off.

Much thanks, Lee, for the cheat sheet!

Little John

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 10:54 am

LeeMarsh wrote:I created this cheat sheet 2 years ago. It gives you the name, key, and first few notes of several carols that work well on whistle.

Lee,

I have a (potentially dumb) question about keys. I'm new and confused. Most of my whistles are Soprano D. I read somewhere that a D whistle will play in the key of G. How do I do that? Do I just use the fingering I'd normally associate with those notes? I noodled around with "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" from your cheat sheet for a while last night and it kinda sorta sounded okay. (not exactly Mannheim Steamroller, but my wife could recognize it.)

I used this fingering to start.

Does this work or should I wait for my music theory book to arrive from Amazon?

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 11:54 am

Lawrence wrote:
LeeMarsh wrote:I created this cheat sheet 2 years ago. It gives you the name, key, and first few notes of several carols that work well on whistle.
Lee,

I have a (potentially dumb) question about keys. I'm new and confused. Most of my whistles are Soprano D. I read somewhere that a D whistle will play in the key of G. How do I do that? Do I just use the fingering I'd normally associate with those notes? I noodled around with "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" from your cheat sheet for a while last night and it kinda sorta sounded okay. (not exactly Mannheim Steamroller, but my wife could recognize it.)

I used this fingering to start.

Does this work or should I wait for my music theory book to arrive from Amazon?

Start on G (XXX 000), then play up the scale to second octave G, being sure to play a Cnat instead of a C#. You've just played a scale in G major on your D whistle. You can transpose tunes you know in D by thinking of G as your bell note and working from there, always remembering that the C is natural in this scale.

For "God Rest Ye Merry," the easiest fingering is starting on E, so the first few line would be:

EE BB AG F#E D EF# GA B

Basically, what you've got in your diagram there.

Remember it's a single jig, so your rythmn is dih-DAH, dih-DAH. Don't play it with the straight rythmn you so often hear it sung in...it sounds bashy.

Redwolf

Post by **Nanohedron** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 11:59 am

Try the ITM set dance "The Piper thro' the Meadow Straying".

Hard to say which came first: that or "Deck the Halls". It's a dead ringer with a difference.

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:49 pm

Redwolf wrote:For "God Rest Ye Merry," the easiest fingering is starting on E, so the first few line would be:

EE BB AG F#E D EF# GA B

Basically, what you've got in your diagram there.

Not to drive this into the ground, but let me see if I understand what I think you said. By starting it on E with my D whistle, have I transposed it to a different key than Lee shows on his cheat sheet (G)? If so, will this cause grief if I ever play this tune with an ensemble? I suspect that this is a naive question, but I don't want to learn a bunch of stuff wrong and then have to relearn it correctly later.

Lawrence

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:54 pm

Well, it is in a different key than G, but that's because it's a minor tune. E minor, that is. In other words, if the cheat sheet starts with the notes you've given, the key it's in is not G...it's E minor. So yes, you're playing in the same key as the cheat sheet, but no, you're not in G.

If you later play with an ensemble, you may or may not need to transpose a tune (or play it on a different whistle), but it won't be because you learned it "wrong"...rather, it will be because you and they will need to find a common ground. It's just the nature of the beast...when you play with other instruments, you need to find a key you can all agree on. The more you play, the easier that will be.

Redwolf

mrosenlof · Post by **mrosenlof** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:14 pm

Coventry Carol, a simple quiet tune.

The ABC Tune finder has one version. Looks like it's arranged for guitar. It also looks a bit different from what I recall playing...

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:55 pm

On my sheet. the Key of G means Key-Signature G (one sharp instead of D's 2 sharps). Which means that on a D whistle you play a C natural rather than the C sharp.
The usual cross finger for C natural on a D whistle is from top to bottom: 0xx000 (or 0xxx00 on some whistles). The C Sharp on a D whistle is 000000 (all holes open).

Hopes this helps you ...

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:49 pm

LeeMarsh wrote:On my sheet. the Key of G means Key-Signature G (one sharp instead of D's 2 sharps). Which means that on a D whistle you play a C natural rather than the C sharp.
The usual cross finger for C natural on a D whistle is from top to bottom: 0xx000 (or 0xxx00 on some whistles). The C Sharp on a D whistle is 000000 (all holes open).

Hopes this helps you ...

What's confusing him is that G and E minor have the same key signature. So that tune is actually in E minor, not in G.

Redwolf

boomerang · Post by **boomerang** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 10:21 pm

Lee you are a LEGEND,
What a GREAT idea, even at sessions the hardest part is starting off,
I reckon ima gunna copy your idea for all my tunes,
Thanks HEAPS
DAVID

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 5:31 am

I printed out the Coventry carol. is it the case that the top note on each chord carries the tune?

brian

mrosenlof · Post by **mrosenlof** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 8:08 am

That's _usually_ the case.