- Irish flute in D, Irish flute in B-flat, Boxwood flute in D, pennywhistle in low A, pennywhistle in low C, pennywhistle in low C-sharp, pennywhistle in low D, pennywhistle in low E, pennywhistle in low F, pennywhistle in F-sharp, pennywhistle in G, pennywhistle in A, pennywhistle in B-flat, pennywhistle in C, pennywhistle in D, pennywhistle in E, pennywhistle in F, Uilleann pipes
Added based on information received from Talitha Broughton.
Talitha indicates that the parts are “transposed for the specific keys i.e. being shown in concert pitch for D Whistles/Flute and transposed for the others. There is some inconsistency in instrument labelling – the Low F Whistle also appears as Mid, and the D Flute also appears as Irish Flute or just Flute. Many of the whistles are only used once and some can fit on other keys of whistle if needed (e.g. the Mid G fits on Low D, and one section actually has a written low C# note which would fall off the end of a G Whistle). Both High and Low D Whistles feature often, otherwise the low whistles are used the most.”
The book also calls for “Mic’d Whistle in pocket;” Talitha says this is a whistle in D, and doesn’t necessarily have to be a separate instrument from the other D whistle in the book, but might be if logistics require. This is for a brief moment in which the whistle player is to stand up in the orchestra pit.
Still have questions about whether or not a classically trained flutist can handle the notation and/or transpositions without much trouble.
Having played the book for a production in Australia, I managed to slim down some of the requirements.
The Bb whistle occurs once at the end of Screech In, and is far too high to be comfortable. I put it on high F instead, which means the high F is now used more than once.
Epilogue has parts for G and F# whistles, but those parts make much more sense on low D and low C#- it’s music you’ve played before in the show but they’ve given you different fingerings for these passages.
The pipes are extremely minimal, I replaced them with a Bawu, but they’d fit on low D whistle.
There are also parts written for “Boxwood Flute”, I assume the original player had a keyed flute and a keyless flute, and the Boxwood passage was intended for keyless flute as there are no accidentals. Most of the flute parts require a C natural and F natural key.
I’m very confused by the whistle part and was wondering how far I could condense it. I’m 17 years old and this is just for a school musical so I don’t have access to basically all of the instruments except for a basic flute, recorder, and tin whistle in D. I can’t figure out if the whistles are transposition or not and the neccessity of most of these whistles. I’m very much not an expert and I’m scared that I’m not going to be able to play it in time for March 2026. Does anyone have any advice about what I can condense and what keys are accurate to the musical since I am also confused as to why the C whistles appear to be in a different key to my C flute? Help very much needed.
Replacing the whistle parts with transposed concert flute parts is highly discouraged by those who have played it with the proper instrumentation, that said, if it cannot be done the method for transposition is slightly non-traditional compared to the usual orchestral woodwinds. A whistle in D is a non-transposing instrument, think of it as a flute without a foot joint.. D was the lowest note, and the key of the instrument is determined by what pitch comes out when you play that all-fingers-down low D (then to further complicate things, it’s always written to be in the key of D. So for a D instrument, add that missing “footjoint” that gives you one full step lower – C, then you transpose (or in this case, DON’T transpose) to play it on a C instrument. A whistle in E (add the “footjoint” transposes as an instrument in D. F becomes Eb, G becomes F, Bb becomes Ab, etc. Always transpose the music as if in the key one full step lower. The low A (really it’s a Bass A whistle) could then be played on an Alto Flute (in G).
Question off of this: do you know if the whistle parts are written out so that you consistently use the D whistle fingerings regardless of what whistle you play? Or do you have to switch fingering systems like you would with recorders?
Yes, they are all written consistently to use the same fingerings no matter what key the instrument plays in.