I love the tinwhistle, and want to learn as much as possible. However, so far, all two days I’ve been playing it, I’ve only been doing it by ear. The fingering charts are ENDLESSLY confusing to me, as well. Could anyone either clear that up, or suggest somewhere where I can find out what those circles and dots, and repeated rows of circles and dots mean?
thanks
The fingering charts are little pictures of whistles. The black circles are closed holes; the open circles are open holes.
Redwolf
First of all, playing by ear isn’t a bad way to learn. It’s best to keep developing that skill.
Secondly, are you talking about sheet music ( various kinds of circles and dots on groups of 5 horizontal lines) or the tablature ( a sequence of 6 vertical circles, some filled in as dots, and some not filled in) ? Or is it both together?
What is the book/leaflet you’re reading with the charts in? Did it come with the whistle? If so, what kind of whistle?
Ok, ignore the fingering charts for the moment.
Pick up the whistle and hold it with all holes closed. The first three fingers of the left hand close the top three holes; the first three of the right hand close the bottom three. Close the holes with the pads of the fingers so they are easy to seal. Both thumbs and the right hand little finger support the whistle.
Put a bit of the fipple between your lips and gently squeeze your lips around it so it becomes airtight. Don’t bite the fipple! Believe it or not, I’ve known some players who did at first. Fipples with tooth marks get you odd looks. 
Keep all holes closed and blow very gently. This should produce the lowest note on the whistle, D, also called the bell note. Now lift the right hand ring finger to open the lowest hole, and the whistle will sound E. Now lift the right hand middle finger to open the hole above that one, and you’ll get F-sharp. (Do-re-mi for you solfegio folks).
As you keep opening up the next higher hole, you go up the diatonic scale, till you get to all holes open, which is C-sharp, also called “ti” or the “leading tone.” Put all the fingers back down again like you did with low D, but blow harder, and you’ll get the 2nd octave D. It helps if you open (or “vent”) the left-hand index finger (the first hole on the whistle).
Then for the 2nd octave E, finger the low E and again, blow a bit harder. (For E and up the left hand index finger closes its hole up again.)
That’s it. Sounds complicated, looks complicated, but is deceptively simple once it clicks.
Just keep playing around with the whistle. It’ll “click.” 
–James
Playing by ear is something a lot of us wish we could be better with, so keep at it. You’ll love what you can do with your music as it does begin to “click”. Reading music will take a little more time and patience, so don’t let that slow down enjoying your whistle. TheWhistleShop.com has a great tutorial on the basics of music reading and whistle playing that may help you out. The link is below:
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/beginners/tutor/tutor.htm
Debbie
I think those fingering charts are a beginner’s crutch at best. Better to learn to read real music AND play by ear-- the two are terrific complimentary skills. Get a good tutor book like Bill Ochs’ The Clark Tinwhistle, or LE McCullough’s book and follow it lesson by lesson and you will be in good shape.
Why do you say vent the first hole when playing D in the second octave..
I am a very new whistle player and find the high D is very breathy..but E F and G are ok..is this because I have not been venting the top hole?
…I’ve only been playing a few weeks and I’ve been learning some tunes from a songbook that came with a CD. It has been extremely helpful for me to take the song apart piece by piece as I listen to the CD and practice the parts with the whistle at the same time. I can’t read music, but the book that I have has whistle “tab”, y’know the little “pictures” of whistles with the black dots 'n such. I would recommend getting a songbook or a lessonbook that includes a CD for you to play along with.
Of course, keep playing by ear as well. I need to start doing that as well. And I need to learn to read music. And I need to stop writing this damn post…
Best of luck!!
ROTFLMAO! 
*wipes tear from eye
Venting the top hole simply means to not cover the hole, or in other words lift the first finger (ususally of the left hand) to play the second octave D. It looks like this in computer world OXX XXX. The X’s mean to cover the hole, the O means to leave uncovered. It’s much easier if you can find someone to show you.
The answer to the second question is probably a “yes”.
L.E. MaCullough (ok I can’t spell his name… little help?) says that the venting of the second octave D comes from flute playing. On a flute the note will not sound right unless you vent (ie lift the first finger off the first hole). He goes on to say that this doesn’t affect the whistle as much, but I belive he maintains he can hear a difference.
I am paraphrasing the above, but I believe it was in a newsletter a while ago, and/or in his Tinwhistle Tutor Book.
Dale will know!
Also, with the top hole vented, you can get a second-octave D with slightly less breath pressure than it takes to get one with it covered.