Sunday, June 05, 2005

Tunes: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

It isn't remotely Irish, but Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, by J.S. Bach sounds really nice on the whistle. Granted, it's such a lovely melody that it sounds nice on a kazoo, but in addition to being a good tune it's usually scored in G and fits almost entirely in the whistle's range with little modification, so it's a good pick if you're looking for something different to play.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! Never met you, but feel like commenting. Have you tried Pachabel's canon? Lotsa fun. Tends to get a little complicated at the interesting point unfortunately. Great if you get a fiddler to join in. Leads into a tune called Pachabels follies very nicely. I've been playing for a few years, if you feel like swapping tips.

Craig said...

Nope, never tried it. It's a nice piece of music -- I like baroque in general -- but I think I was overexposed to it as a child. Jesu has a similar issue -- about halfway through the piece it throws in a few accidentals which require half-holing, so the second half is much harder to play than the first.

Yes, of course I'm interested in your tips/comments; please feel free to comment on any post or send email to craig underscore stuntz at acm dot org if you'd rather not comment in public.