Hello to all of you! I am a newbie (2 plus years) fiddle student, in love with trad Irish, Scotch, Cape Breton music but am giving serious thought to adding a tin whistle to my collection- maybe more than on (?) to use primarily on fast tunes. I love my fiddle but love the slow aires and waltz music more than fast tunes and would like to keep my fiddle practice and seisuns focused on slow tunes on the fiddle. But I think I would like to learn a tin whistle for fast tunes at seisuns. I have spent under 20 minutes reading about this. I should get a D LOW tin whistle for good quality sound? Do I need C and G tin whistles? What should I plan to spend? I am not poor so I am not too worried about what I spend. I am a very good sheet music reader and assume I would memorize the fingering positions. Are the fingering positions different for the different tin whistles or is it just the key that changes?
Any and all recommendations are much appreciated. Slante from Boston, Mass USA!
Hi, and welcome.
For starters, get a decent D whistle. Decent needn’t be expensive. The ones “tweaked” by Chiff member Jerry Freeman get terrific reviews all around. This is the main whistle you’ll want for seisuns. It will handle the vast majority of tunes played in most of them. Later, you may want to add a low D, A, Bb, G, etc. They’re all fun. Most of all, enjoy!
slow airs
It’s just the key that changes. Whistles other than D are usually treated as transposing instruments.
Thanks MT!
@the OP You should immediately head here: http://www.ccebostonmusicschool.org/
Although he’s not listed, Armand Aromin is also teaching whistle. I know Lisa Coyne and Armand quite well, and both would be great teachers (I’m sure the rest would be, too, I just don’t know them). Armand is also a top-notch fiddle player (and I know several of the listed fiddle teachers as well). I’m not sure that he’s teaching there, but another fantastic musician and teacher would be Joey Abarta. They’re all in Boston. Boston has a lot of great Irish music. Go. Learn.
(D whistle is all you need to start. Go get a Generation or Feadog at a local music store.)
Heads-up: Playing a wind instrument is a lot different than a string instrument. My sister plays the violin (and I’m always pestering her to learn fiddle-style), and whenever we trade instruments and try the other one for a change, our parakeet flies away and hides 
But I’m guessing you know this already. Just be prepared to do some work before you can play those reels up-to-speed…
Hi and welcome,
I’ll second the advice to buy a high D whistle from your local music store and have a play for a bit, perhaps whilst reading through some of the topics here. Everyone will recommend different whistles; some people will even recommend whistles that they haven’t actually played, so take the advice with a healthy pinch of salt.
Thanks to all of you. Its great to get so many responses so quickly. So I shouldn’t go for a low D whistle right away? I read somewhere yesterday that the lower whistles produced a better sound.
Small world-I do know Armand, met him officially just this past Sunday at a seisun in Providence, RI. Nice guy who teaches fiddle which is why I was talking to him (my teacher is leaving the area soon, boohoo). I went to Greenbriar on Monday evening and know that he teaches close to the pub. I think I know a number of the local musicians as I’ve been to many of the seisuns between Boston and Providence over the last couple of years.
Thanks again and keep the suggestions coming!
That’s like saying that a trombone produces a better sound than a trumpet 
Each whistle has its own charm, low or high. Many people start with a high whistle, probably because they are cheaper, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t start with a low whistle instead.
OK, thanks Mike, I have so much to learn!
You can start on a high d, and do research on low whistles.
High whistles can be had for about ten dollars.
Welcome and hello.
Thanks Maki, to be honest, I really like the sound (now that I can relate to the Riverdance number) of the low whistle! The high pitched whistles sometimes don’t make my ears feel happy 
. I can afford (lucky me!) to spend some money so if you had about $100.00 to spend, (and this goes out to all of you), what would you buy in either a high or low whistle? It would have to be something I can purchase in the USA if that makes a difference.
The biggest reason I will focus on this is because years ago, I asked my Hubbie to get me a recorder and I took a few lessons on it. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I learned he had bought me a fairly high pitched recorder and I always disliked the quality of the sound it made. So that’s why I think I want to aim towards a low whistle although I can see that they will “play” the Irish tunes very differently.
The most highly praised low whistles are not cheap.
MK, Goldie, Burke, are going to be much more than $100, even used.
(I should say that I don’t own, and can’t yet afford a low whistle, so use grain of salt here.)
MK Kelpie is close(est) to your budget, but isn’t tunable so not ideal for sessions.
That lower octave has a very attractive sound I admit. I went with a Doug Tipple flute
to have something in that range, though flutes are a whole 'nuther world.
Since you live in Boston and already know great trad musicians and teachers you could
ask their opinion. What do whistlers in your area use?
If you’re still not sure whether to go high or low, then split the difference and buy a Bb Generation whistle for about $10. If you’re ordering online, add a cheap high D whistle to your basket to save on postage later and keep the remaining $80 safe for now.
You’re in Boston. Go and talk to the musicians there! There are some absolutely fantastic ones, and a great community. You’ll find that both Armand and Joey Abarta play Generations. But go, talk to them, get a teacher, and you’ll be set.
That’s true. Joey gets a great bubbly sound from his Gen D.
Bubbly sound? Goodness, what have I got myself into? What is Generations? I googled that and didn’t see any listings for any pubs by this name.
It’s a brand of whistle, found at most music stores. I mentioned it in my first post. Cost about $10. Go get one, and use all the rest of your saved money for lessons.
Gotcha, I should have gone back to the earlier posts. I thought "play " Generations meant a pub by that name 
I see that Joey Abarta is the sole whistle teacher listed for Augusta Irish week this year.
Feadoggie
Karrie, I am a newbie too, welcome. I say start with what ever whistle ya like. Less expensive is probably best. Here’s a suggestion for learning in the Boston area http://www.ccebostonmusicschool.org/faculty/
http://www.bostonirishfestival.info/index.htm
and there’s loads of events in surrounding area. You’ll learn alot in short time… and after you gain some experience ya can burn the candle from both ends… low-end$ & hi-end$$$
You’re in a good place here on C&F
again, welcome!