I’ve been playing the tinwhistle for about a year now, and I played it a wee bit before that, too (though hardly seriously). I am familiar with traditional music, as it is about all I listen to (it’s been that way for years) and some of my friends play the great highlands pipes (yeah, I know it’s predominantly scottish, but there are some similarities between Irish and Scottish music tradition). I am a highschool student and I play saxophone in the band and I used to play (and sort of still do) the concert flute.
Ok, anyway, my question is, how is it best to learn tinwhistle without having a teacher? I’ve picked up what I can from listening to music, talking to pipers (different instrument, I know, but I can get ideas about style of peices from talking to them). I also picked up some books that, while they have a good selection of tunes, they are far more basic than I expected in terms of playing info (I don’t need something that takes five pages telling me how to read music). If you can suggest any books or web sites, please do.
Thanks!
Brother Steve’s tin whistle pages are great. I also like Brian Finnegan’s CDRom, which you can get through Mad for Trad. For a nice book/CD tutorial, try Grey Larsens TinWhistle toolbox. Many pipers started out as whistle players, so you might ask them. Happy whistling!
The most comprehensive book which adresses pretty much everything is Grey Larsen’s Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle (not the Tin Whistle Toolbox). You can work with that one for a long long time. It also includes two cd’s, and the book itself is over 400 pages.
I warmly recomend that one, it’s probably one of the best substitutes for a teacher.
What about the Mad for Trad tutorials. . .but you may be able to find someone in your area of NJ who is a good old fashioned whistle or flute player. . .check out the local Irish clubs for a lead.
Hi and welcome. I’ve been playing Irish music for about 5 years now, and I have to say that I am honestly only beginning to know the music well enough to be able to “pick up what I can” from listening. There is no end to what you can learn from careful listening to the great players. You can get the Amazing Slow Downer or use the slow-down utility on Windows Media Player to listen to what good whistlers are doing in a very detailed way, and replicate what good teachers often do: play the tune, with ornaments as an integral part, at a slow pace so students can hear just what’s going on. Truly, nothing–even private lessons with a wonderful teacher–has helped me more than listening, listening, listening, and over a period of years. Brother Steve’s whistle pages will help you know what to listen for and how to begin to get some of The Music into your music, and I believe his instruction is the best I have ever come across. I continue to learn so much from it.
Thanks for your suggestions. I’ll have to get some of the books you recomended. I was previously unaware of the slowdown feature on windows media player and that should help a lot. Though I’ve managed to pick up a fair bit of style from having listened to trad music for as long as I can remember, I have not been able to pick out any particular ornimentation or detail at the “regular” speed.
Are there any CD’s you recomend listening to? I usually listen to the Chieftains, Relativity, the Tannahill Weavers (yes, scottish, so not much whistle there), and Celtic Thunder. I have only one CD (Joe McKenna playing the low whistle) that predominantly features the tinwhistle/low whistle.
Lunasa often has clear whistle bits.
Flook. There is whistle in there somewhere. The tutorial Brian Finnegan does for MadforTrad is handy, in that it includes ornamentation, so you can get a grip on it via seeing and hearing, rather than trying to figure out what words mean.
Mary Bergin, Feadoga Stain
For tin whistle CD recommendations, one is Tobar an Dúchais by Brid O’Donohue. http://www.bridodonohue.com/tobar_main.php
If you go to her website, on the right hand side in sort of small letters you’ll see the title of the CD. When you click on that you go to a page describing the CD and giving some sound samples. I ordered mine from the website and it worked out just great.
Today I’ve been listening to Kitty Lie Over.
The musicians are Mick O’Brien on Uilleann pipes and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh on fiddle. There are several whistle tunes, a duet that will make you want to roll on the floor and holler. Anyway, it is just a very lovely, lovely CD that anyone would like regardless of the particular instrument they play. So I’m throwing that recommendation in too. http://www.kittylieover.com/index.htm
You can go to this website, click on Tracklist and hear some clips.
Oh, another CD that I don’t have but that I have heard is excellent is:
If you go to this website: http://www.pennywhistle.com/micho.html
you can hear some sound clips of it. Micho Russell is considered to be one of the great, great whistle players. He lived from 1915-1994.
Listen again and again to what happens on a whistle, in good hands.
From your Flute/Sax experience your fingers are already trained to do what your brain tells them. It should not take you any time at all to work out the six holes on a whistle. This is where the listening comes in.
Use the links suggested earlier, they are very valuable resources.
By listening you’ll hear what this little six holed tube is capable of. Then try and emulate that.
In theory it is very simple. In practice , a lifetimes work.
Don’t try to rationalise it out…it never works that way.
Listen over and over and try to copy what you hear. Eventually you will come to the understanding that technique matters far less than feeling.
It’s all about understanding the character, or personality , of the individual tune.
It’s very simple to learn a jig. It’s hard to play it as it needs to be played.
but that I have heard is excellent is:
