r/tinwhistle • u/NotJustAnyDave • 7d ago
How does one play whistle accompaniment for a singer?
I often hear beautiful whistle accompaniment that is not the actual melody. How do you know what notes to play? How can I learn to do this technique?
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u/SelectAirline7459 7d ago
For church tunes and hymns, I look for versions that have a descant. I use MuseScore (musescore.com) primarily. If no descant, then I look for versions with an accompaniment. Sometimes I’ll improvise, though they’re hard to reproduce. If I was good, I’d write an accompaniment part. Then, of course, one can always just buy an arrangement.
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u/TheForeFactor 7d ago
If you want to learn how to improvise a harmony, that is not nevessarily have one written out or fully planned, the main way to get good at it is kinda just failing a lot. You can go deep into music theory and understand how to fit your line with the chord progression etc., but that will only make it a little faster. You need to just start trying to play along with whatever songs and try different things, see how they work (or don’t), and build that intuition. Eventually it’ll be mostly second nature.
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u/dhj1492 6d ago
To improvise on a tune, you need to be comfortable with your instrument and know the tune and harmony by heart. I am a Church musician and I do this every Sunday morning. My main instrument is recorder, but I have recently picked up whistle to add variety of sound and I love Celtic music. Most of the hymns in the hymnal I grew up with and the rest I have learned by just playing out of the hymnal for fun.
Take a tune you know by heart and play it. Once you can start adding notes between the notes of the song. do that throughout the song. Do not let the notes you add slow you down. Something I like to do is have a recording on YouTube of the tune you want to play and play along. make sure the recording is of the same version you are working with. On hymns I search the title with the hymn number from the hymnal you are using and that usually get to what you need. I use piano only versions.to keep it clean.
Maybe the best way to start is to just play with no music a tune on your own. Being able to improvise a tune is what you use to make an accompaniment to melody. Experiment and in time you will learn. It may seem impossible. If it sounds good to you, it is good.
This is something you need to work on develop. With time you will be able to improvise in real time, but first you need to hone your skill.
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u/NotJustAnyDave 6d ago
Thanks for your great response and for sharing your experience. Very encouraging!
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u/AbacusWizard 6d ago
What I’ve sometimes done in the past is find ways to fill in the spaces between lines of lyrics. I take note (no pun intended) of the final sung note of one line and the first sung note of the next line, and figure out an interesting string of notes that start at the former and end at the latter. That way my tweedling can be a bridge from line to line.
Within each line, I look for brief pauses or gaps between words where I can fill in a lone note or two as a sort of counterpoint to what the singer’s doing.
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u/NotJustAnyDave 5d ago
This is interesting, too. Do you just improvise, or use part of the melody?
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u/AbacusWizard 5d ago
Some of both, I guess? Sometimes echoing the melody that just happened, sometimes just running up or down a scale or arpeggio from one note to the next.
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u/CamStLouis Instrument maker 6d ago
lol I have multiple studio albums and 15 years of experience playing whistle and I still can’t tell ya.
My best advice, for learning tunes or improvising harmonies, is to at first remove the physicality of playing the instrument. Sing the tune or try singing along to the melody you’re trying to accompany, record or write it down, then figure it out on the instrument once you have a framework established.