Step 3
In Step 1, we spoke of the Staff, Clefs, and Notes. In Step 2, we spoke of Note counts, beats, and tempo. We now know that the notes are higher or lower, and that they are a certain length of time. But how high? Is there some kind of visual way to see where we are playing? Yes. This Step 3 is back to Notes.
Now, in modern written music, notes are centered to C4. C4 is Center “C” or the Center Note if you will. There are 8 C notes, named C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, and C8. The C1 is a very low note. C8 is a very high note. In fact, most people don’t play past C7.
Lets see the treble clef on a staff above a bass clef on a staff and all the Notes from C1 to C8. This way we can see the range of modern music.
The modern range of low to high written notes
Now, on this picture above, the lowest note shown is C1 below the Bass Clef. The middle note, known as C4 is shown twice, being the highest note shown in the Bass Clef range and the lowest note shown in the Treble Clef range. The highest note shown is C8, and is seen as the highest note in the Treble Clef range.
As you can see, there are a lot of notes above the Staff in Treble Clef. When we read music, it can be more difficult to keep track of which note to play when is so far above the Staff. Therefore, terms like Relative Range and True Range come up. Both of these of Ranges have the same intention. That intention is to keep as many notes as possible on the Staff so that it is easy to read for the musician. We’ll visit these ideas more in a moment.
Now, lets see what the common range of the Irish Whistle is compared to the full C1 to C8 range.
The full C1 to C8 range compared to the common Irish Whistle range
When we look at this, we can see that in comparison, the common Irish Whistle in the Key of D plays on higher range. On the right side above, the common range of the Irish Whistle in the Key of D shows from bottom to top, the Notes D5, E5, F5, G5, A5, B5, C6, D6, E6, F6, G6, A6, B6, C7, D7, and E7. Due to how high this range is, from A6 and above, you will need more breath control to create notes that don’t hurt your ears. Also, E7 is top of the common range of the Irish Whistle. The Irish Whistle is capable of hitting a nice C8 is you happen to have insane breath control a particular day. Most songs will play fine playing notes below A6.
In order to keep most of the notes on the Staff, written music has a marking that specifies that it is higher than normal. This marking works by specifying to play 8 notes lower or 8 notes higher. We call every 8 notes an “Octave”. For, example, D5, E5, F5, G5, A5, B5, C6, and D6 is one octave.
To illustrate this, below is a picture showing normal notation for Irish Whistle without an Octave mark, and normal notation for the Irish Whistle with an Octave mark.
Octave Written Illustration
As seen in the above illustration, when an 8 is above the Treble Clef, all notes are actually 8 notes higher. On both Staff the notes are, from left to right, D5, E5, F5, G5, A5, B5, C6, D6, E6, F6, and A6. As most traditional hymns are arranged in one treble and bass clef for the Piano, an Irish Whistle player usually assumes an 8 above the Treble Clef so it is possible and easy to play the hymn in front of them.