Whistling in church

springrobin · Post by **springrobin** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:35 am

So, those of you who play in church regularly, do you play solo or accompany members of a choir or congregation? I'd like to know what key of whistle or flute (other than the D flute & whistle I have) would be useful for accompanying singers? So far, the band has a piano, electic bass, acoustic guitar, tenor sax, alto sax & trumpet...

plunk111 · Post by **plunk111** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:53 am

I play D flute and D whistle only in church - sorry. If the music isn't in D or G, I just play something else (trumpet) or not at all. As far as the solo/group, normally I'm part of the group, but I usually play in the upper octave without a mic. Sometimes the director has me solo the intro for a song as well.

Pat

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:01 am

I play guitar, whistle, flute, and clarinet in an Episcopal folk service.
Seems like a lot of church music is in F. C, G, and D come up too,
but it's a lot of F. You should definitely at least have a C and D whistle,
and an F whistle might eventually be interesting.

There's a whole forum on the subject:
http://www.praisewhistlers.org/

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:15 am

Hello, springrobin.

First, if you haven't visited there yet, check out
http://praisewhistlers.org/forum/

I pretty much get to do whatever I like at my church. We do a non-traditional service and I happen to be the worship leader for that service. I play whatever works with that week's readings and message. It could be classic rock, contemporary pop, puink, grunge, traditional Irish, American folk, blues, or popular praise and worship songs - whatever gets the message across. I expect that is an unusual set of circumstances.

Most of the year, I use the whistle to accompany songs. I do get to play solos with the traditional choir at Christmas each year. The current choir director sang with me before she took responsibility for the traditional service.

I have used whistles from High E down to low D. It depends on the music and the range where the singing sits. So I have to have quite a few whistles from which to choose. I guess some sort of whistle makes an appearance about once a month.

We do not have the luxury of a lot of players, so I pre-record all or most of the parts I use to back-up the singers. Then I can sync visuals to the music including lyrics for projection during the service. It works out well and while it is not entirely "live" it still comes across pretty nicely. That gives me the chance to do a four-part whistle chorus now and again.

That's just my experience.

Feadoggie

Bill Hennessy · Post by **Bill Hennessy** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:28 am

I've found C to be a pretty reliable key for singing in. Although when I play some Taize melodies for folks I try to play them in the key in which they're written which is often G, Eb or F. When I transpose them they can become too high or too low for folks to sing comfortably. I usually only do that with small groups, though. I haven't played in an actual worship service. I happen to be the pastor, so my mind is usually on other things. I'd like to get up the nerve to play once or twice in church, though. Maybe someday....

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:35 am

Bill Hennessy wrote:I've found C to be a pretty reliable key for singing in. Although when I play some Taize melodies for folks I try to play them in the key in which they're written which is often G, Eb or F.

Whistle is awesome for Taize! Great stuff. They usually have flute,
trumpet, clarinet, and oboe parts written out. If the flute or oboe part can't be
played on a D whistle, often the clarinet or trumpet part can be played as
written on a C whistle.

mahanpots · Post by **mahanpots** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:04 am

I thought you got whacked on the behind if you whistled in church...

rhulsey · Post by **rhulsey** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:04 pm

I attend an Episcopal church and have whistled a few times. A solo verse with organ accompaniment between verses, once with Be Thou My Vision, the other time with another hymn i can't recall just now. I've also played a solo as a prelude (with organ accompaniment). All were on a D whistle.

I have also played with fiddle, flute, organ and cello at 2 weddings - folks really seem to like it, too.

Reg

jen f · Post by **jen f** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:19 pm

We play mostly contemporary praise/worship music, and it seems like a lot of the songs are in A or E. I think maybe those keys are easier for the guitar players? I'm not sure. I play my A whistle more than anything.

Jennifer

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:55 pm

mahanpots wrote:I thought you got whacked on the behind if you whistled in church...

Nah, going to Catholic school we'd get a steely soul crushing stare down from the Dean of students we used to call Father Freeze.

He never walked but merely floated about on this half inch icy of fog.

Thats how you knew he was coming.

The fog would precede him.

That Stare.

You could feel the life force being drained right out of you.

It was rather effective.

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:04 pm

Glad to see another church whistler. there are four of us in our Catholic folk group at the moment. An electronic keyboard, guitar, singer, and me. The instruments that I play in church are guitar, harmonica (can you believe it?) whistle, irish flute, and silver flute. What I do depends on which instrument works best. Our folk group transposes down a lot for the three of us who sing and D is the most common key for us. That makes playing the whistle and flutes easier. C, G, and F would be the other most common keys. I've been in other folk groups and choirs that would never ever tranpose, even if this was simple for everyone. There is such a range of church music types and groups that I think you'll need to talk to your music director about what you folks are actually doing.

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:08 pm

mahanpots wrote:I thought you got whacked on the behind if you whistled in church...

That's what I thought too when I saw the title of this thread. I would love to lip whistle in church but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm still surprised that I didn't start a revolt when I started playing the harmonica at my church.

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:48 pm

I usually play solo, so I just play what the spirit moves me to play.

I prefer to play my Hoover Blacktop fipple on a Generation brass Bb tube, but sometimes I play my low D or low G.

pipersgrip · Post by **pipersgrip** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:56 pm

I usually play with the band in a few songs, and usually play in C or Bb.

RicTheGrt · Post by **RicTheGrt** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:59 pm

I play whistle in our Catholic Church alongside a flute and two guitars.

To cover all the keys I use a high D, C, B, Bb A, G and low D. This collection covers the range that I have tried.

I find that I have to play in D or G on an A whistle (or a G whistle) because the range is too low for the high D. I could play the upper octave on the Low D but I lack confidence on that one.

Since I am comparatively new to music I often find that I only play the refrains since I can't learn the whole Hymn in a week. But I am improving. I must be doing OK since the congregation (of St Patrick's parish) likes whistle music.

When we pray in song we pray twice!