E and A whistles - what for?

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:38 am

I've been thinking of spending a bit of time on whistles in other keys and maybe exerimenting with non Irish material. E and A whistles have puzzled me for a while now - Is anyone here using A and E whistles? and what for?

sweet potato · Post by **sweet potato** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:35 am

I play my A whistle a fair bit, mostly trad tunes and songs. It's a lovely instrument, and much of the time I play with a flute player (and other intruments). I don't have an E whistle, and right now I don't have a need for one, but A and relative keys get played a lot!

Laura

Borderpiper · Post by **Borderpiper** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:01 am

I play an E whistle for A,B and E tunes. I feel it really cuts through at a session and gives you more keys to play in than an A, if you already have a D whistle. A whistles are good for highland pipers as the scale is almost the same.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:25 am

I've used my low E very successfully to handle tunes in A and E in a Quebecois tunes workshop.

It's also handy in an Irish session if the fiddle players start getting surly and playing G tunes up a whole step in A -- you can just switch to the E whistle and play them like normal. At our local session recently, for instance, I've heard both "Out on the Ocean" and "The Red-Haired Lass" played in A. Other common tunes that one hears played in either G or A include "Foxhunter's Reel", "Mason's Apron" (usually played in A unless you're a flute/whistle player), and the jig "Kitty's Wedding" -- with any of those you could learn the G version and use an E whistle to play it in A. (Also good for common non-Irish tunes played in either D or E, like "Andy Dejarlis's" and "Calliope House".)

On the other hand, I admit that I don't usually have an E whistle handy at the local session, and most of those tunes I just have learned in A on a D whistle in self-defense.

I've also heard it said that E is a very common key for singers.

An A whistle is as if not more useful in Irish music -- it's great for tunes in D which go below the range of a D whistle, as well as tunes in A that you didn't learn in G. The examples that pop to mind are "Bea Maye's" (D), "Pull Out the Knife" (D), and "The Dawn" (A). And while it's completely unneeded for this, it always amuses me to play "Atholl Highlanders" on an A whistle. (I suppose it's more like the way a highland piper would play it then or something.)

dlovrien · Post by **dlovrien** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 7:15 am

colomon wrote:An A whistle is as if not more useful in Irish music -- it's great for tunes in D which go below the range of a D whistle, as well as tunes in A that you didn't learn in G. The examples that pop to mind are "Bea Maye's" (D), "Pull Out the Knife" (D), and "The Dawn" (A).

EXCELLENT explanation. I would only add that the most common tune I use my A whistle for is "Silver Spire" - for the reason you cited about it going below the range of the D whistle. I also use it to play along with "Ashokan Farewell," a common waltz at sessions around here.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 7:30 am

dlovrien wrote:I would only add that the most common tune I use my A whistle for is "Silver Spire" - for the reason you cited about it going below the range of the D whistle.

Oh yeah -- I learned that one on D whistle, so I usually don't think of it in this context, but of course you're right, the B part has that scale run starting on low A.

Slayer · Post by **Slayer** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:02 am

I use my lovely Overton Mezzo A every day. Its my practice whistle.
Not high, not low, good tone, speed and bright.

Crysania · Post by **Crysania** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:20 am

I use my A whistle mostly to accompany singers - one particular singer at our session often sings in A, and I got the whistle specifically for some gigs that involved her.

I use my E mostly for tunes in A that the fiddlers play - at our session, this is quite often Foxhunter's, Calliope House, and occasionally Mason's Apron.

~Crysania

tommyk · Post by **tommyk** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:05 am

My A is my second-most used whistle.
D then A then C.

Off hand:
Broom of the Cowdenknowes
The Sweetness of Mary
Gwerz Ar Vezhinierin (sp?)
Carolan's Draught

Lovely haunting Abell A.

Key_of_D · Post by **Key_of_D** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:10 pm

I gotta say, this is pretty cool reading about these two particular keys.. (A and E, and no, not the cable channel either

) Anyways, I've never read much about these keys and how useful they can be. At least for sure not an E whistle. Eb, maybe, but never seen much use for E. rock on... lol

billw · Post by **billw** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 10:16 pm

Don't forget that a lot of basic guitar music is in the keys of A, D, and E. Especially rock stuff gets into E a bunch. Hey, why not add whistle to some of the old "Honky Tonk" based tunes! And bluesy stuff, too! Very common in A minor.
Cheers,
Bill Whedon
Serpent Music

preacher · Post by **preacher** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 4:38 pm

Thanks Bill Whedon. I'm still pretty new to all this whistles stuff -just started last September. BUT I can share from years of playing trumpet & sax with guitar players. Because of their preferance for keys like E and A the transpositions for brass required me to gain proficiency in keys like C#, F#, and and B (7,6, and 5#s respectively) with all the awkward fingerings that came with them.

Sooo - what a relief with whistles. I knew from the outset I would need to acquaire an A and an E pretty quickly (and then,whoopie, just think of everything in D An G). The other solution of course is to have guitar players learn to play in flat keys but what are the odds of that???
- Art

How do you get a guitar player to stop playing - put a piece of music in front of him/her to play from!

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E and A whistles - what for?

E and A whistles - what for?

E and A whistles....