I want to expand my repitoire. What 5 songs are the best to know.
Please try to limit this to something us slower players can work on.
You know 5 tunes that everyone knows and plays all the time.
I would rock if these songs happened to be on a site like the Wander’s so I can see the dots and hear the music.
Your new noob freind,
~Barstool
Hi barstool—Unfortunately I am a beginner.
My impression is that different groups of people have different bunches of tunes (that is probably the best word to use) that they play. It seems to me that there are about 10,000 tunes that every self-respecting whistle player should know.
This website might help you:
http://www.slowplayers.org/SCTLS/index.html
It is a group in Colorado that is for new players. There is some good stuff to read about learning and memorizing and the structure of different tunes. If you click on “Playlist” in the upper lefthand corner, you will get a list of tunes that the group is learning. If you click on the tunes that are colored purple you will get a slow MP3 recording of it and the sheet music. There is a fast midi recording that is just to get an idea of how it sounds fast, but midi’s aren’t really music. You can also print up the sheet music. I assume that the tunes they are learning would be among those most whistle players learn.
I hope someone who knows something will give a better answer. I did a search of the forum but after sifting through quite a few things I really had not come up with much—I am sure suggestions are there but they are just hard to find in so many posts.
It may depend on whether you are talking about general audiences, or Irish Tradtional session players. For general audiences, tunes such as Amazing Grace, Scarborough Fair, and Danny Boy are popular, but you’ll rarely hear them at a traditional session.
From an old thread:
Beginner Tunes that are easy to learn and play, and sound good:
Jigs: 10 penny bit, My darling asleep, Trip to Killavil
Reels: Cooley’s, Pidgeon on the gate
Hornpipes: Off to California
Slow Airs: Blind Mary, Foggy Dew, Eamonn aCnoic, Carricfergus
Typing in the titles at these tune finders gives you several formats:
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/findtune.html
mirror site
http://jc.tzo.net:1742/~jc/music/abc/findtune.html
To convert ABCs to MIDI or sheet music:
http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
Polkas:
Rattlin Bog
Egan’s Polka
Ballydesmond Polka #2
Jigs
Blackthornstick
My Darling Asleep
Reels
Anything for John Joe
Little Bag of Spuds
Marches
Dawning of the Day
Star of the County Down
I’m taking careful notes here! 
Thank you for the responses.
I found this really cool site that has the sheet music and slow playing fiddle soundfiles to play along with.
http://www.murphyroche.com/Resources/Slow_Session_List_of_Tunes.htm
I am trying to learn the top 3 
Thanks again for the responses,
~barstool
That seems like a really nice website. Thanks for the info!
Is there a session in your area that you plan on joining eventually? If so, you might want to go and listen and write down the names of a few tunes you like. That way, you’ll be putting your effort into learning tunes you know you’ll get to play.
You could also try BBC’s Virtual Session:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/
Pick a few you like and jump in! You can get a feel for what it’s like playing along with others. Not exactly the same, of course, but better than nothing. They also don’t go at break-neck speed, which is nice.
The problem with asking questions like this is these things are far from universal. I mean, I’m a session regular, with hundreds of Irish tunes under my belt, and I don’t know 10 of the tunes that Bill and John list – that’s a bit more than half.
That’s presuming that Bill means the “common” “Tenpenny Bit”, rather than the great jig that Paddy Killoran recorded after “Scotsman Over the Border” back in the 78-era. Which is the second problem – at least a couple of those names have more than one tune attached. My wife and I always argue over which Ballydesmond Polka is #2, for instance. (Thought to be fair, both candidates are nice, very well-known polkas.)
“The problem with asking questions like this is these things are far from
universal. …”
Yeh, I think one of the best ideas is just find a friend and learn the same
tunes together. It almost doesn’t matter which tunes, as long as you can
work on them together and have fun with it. Just pick say a jig, a
hornpipe, a polka, and someone who will do the same ones. You could
even do it with a chiff friend via email if no one is physically close by. Its
usually easy enough to send little mp3 clips in email and trade off that
way.
Or why not go to one of the online tutors and just learn along with them,
whichever beginner tunes they’ve picked. I’m not sure where there is an
address listing but I think on a recent thread about online whistle lessons
there were several mentioned - Bro Steve is one who’s excellent.
Good luck! Lesl
I forgot Rolling in the Ryegrass (reel)
Um, what about Ballydesmond Polka #3? (Or 1, I guess, depending on how you look at it)
At any rate there are 3, not 2.
That’s what I tell my wife. There are three, and the two that everyone knows are #2 and #3. (As per Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford.) But the tunebook that she and apparently a lot of other people learned the polkas from only lists those two, calling them #1 and #2, and skipping the one more properly called #1.
Of course, they have “real” names, too, but I have no idea what they are.
Similarly, my sources cannot agree on which of Martin Wynne’s is #1 and which is #2. (In fact, the Coleman Archive Vol 1 has both tunes on it, and calls both tracks “Martin Wynne’s No 1”.) Since those have no proper name to forget, this is especially confusing. Good thing they’re usually played back-to-back…
And then there are all those Paddy Fahey tunes…
The Rights of Man and the Banshee are both very pleasant when played slowly.
I should make a disclaimer that my list is more about beginnerish tunes than about well known. These are the tunes I learned during my first few months of taking lessons from a guy who knows a lot of tunes. I lised them because they’re easy starter tunes.
And I am greatful for them, thank you.
~B
5 “universal” tunes you would find would be known everywhere might be:
“The Kesh” jig, “The Rights Of Man” hornpipe, “The Butterfly” slip-jig and “The Mountain Road” and “The Silver Spear” reels. Good luck.
I know those two!
Dawning of the Day was the first song I learned and it’s very easy and simple. Star of the County Dawn is what I’m working on now, it’s a little more tricky for a beginner because it goes into the upper octave.
How about Sean Ryan’s hornpipes?
I have a book (the “black” book, from Papper and Steve Jeffries) that has Sean Rians, Sean Ryans A, B, and C (four)
Not to mention all the ones by Gan Ainm… man he wrote everything kidding… although this paticular book is very bad about names! The cool thing is that I learned Port = Jig, Port Singil = Single Jig / Slide, Port Luacasigh or something = Slip Jig, Cornphiopa = Hornpipe and there is no Irish for polka. I already knew Ril = Reel.
Thsy make a nice little set together. Do Dawning first, then go into Star, the repeat twice.
There is a nice little movie whose name I can’t remember wheer Dawning of the Day was played very slowly as an air as a score for the movie.