what low whistles play what keys? What whistle for key of Dm

[Bauju]

Hello Whistlers...
Thanks for your advice re my last post. I am new to all this and have a lot of questions! Is there a chart somewhere that shows what whistles play what keys? I'm esp. interested in knowing what keys you can play with a low A or low G. I also really like the keys of Am, Em, and Dm. What low whistles will play those keys? If I had a lilttle more money I could just buy them all and find out myself but...
I was also wondering if most of you all played some other wind instrument first? Is it OK just to play by ear or is it necessary to read the music? In the "sessions" that everyone talks about are people playing mostly by music or by ear? I got frustrated with the "Learn to play Pennywhistle" books because I can learn a tune ten times faster by ear. But it would be nice to have music to fall back on in a pinch! I am mostly going to be playing with a worship group at church and the only music anyone has is guitar chords.

[Nanohedron]

For Dm, a C whistle played as you would Em on a D is one way to go.

[BillG]

Bauju -- go here http://www.chiffandfipple.com/whistlekeys.html and read down and get all you want on whistle keys.

I played flute, fife, clarinet - going backwards in that order. Still play flute and chromatic harmonica - whistle, too, of course.

Not essential to read music. I do play mostly by reading. BUT you need to listen and play from that also. Reading is a good fall back.

Sessions play by ear - no music available at most of them - very few, in fact.

Play on,

BillG

[BrassBlower]

For Dm, I usually use a low F whistle, like using a D whistle for Bm. However, in a crunch, you can use your low D, since F natural is fairly easy to half-hole on that big hole. Sometimes I get it by trying to play an E and not having that hole covered well enough.