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Tutorial 3.3
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The Scottish Whistle
C sharp
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Whistle Tutorial - Lesson 3.3
Another New Note: C Sharp (C#)
C
sharp is possibly the most difficult note to grapple with
so far, but it's absolutely necessary for playing tunes on the penny
whistle. On the face of it it doesn't seem that difficult as you have to
uncover all the holes. But the problem lies in holding the whistle,
because if you're not covering any holes, what's keeping up the whistle?
The trick is to use the ring finger on your right hand to cover the
lowest hole; the mouthpiece is held by your lips (not your teeth!) and
together this steadies the instrument in your hands.
With this new note we can now play a scale in D. This is exactly the same as the doh-re-mi-fa-soh-lah-ti-doh sequence most of us learnt in school. In this instance, the doh is the lowest note on the whistle, D. Re is E, mi is F, and so on up till the high doh, which is the high D.
Play through the exercises below slowly at first, then try to speed up. After that, have a look at the tune Wha Wadna Fecht for Chairlie, which uses our two new notes F# and C#.
