Hi all,
Just joined the group. I’m just getting started with the tin whistle. Have my first, a Clarke Meg, which I’m not too happy with, but I’m awaiting a tweaked Shaw Key of C from Jerry Freeman and a Susato Key of D from The Whistle Shop.
It’s been a while since I played any music (piano and organ many many years ago) so I can read music. It’s getting used to the fingering for the different notes on the whistle that I have to learn anew. BTW, I’m over 71 and hoping for many years of whistle playing.
I’m always welcome for all tips and suggestions.
Donn
Hi Donn, Welcome to C&F, and the exciting world of whistles.
Thanks, Tommy.
BTW, is there a way to find all the posts on a particular subject, such as tweaked whistles?
Donn
Donn,
just go to the top of the page and near the “hungersite” yellow button (well, a lot to the right of it) you’ll see a little magnifying glass and a link to the “search” function…
Learn to use it - search is your friend!
Good luck
Augusto
Thanks for the info. Somehow I missed that.
Guess it’s my old age–a senior moment!!!
Donn
Hey Donn, it’s nice to meet you.
My searching is going better than my whistle-playing right now so I’ll add one thing that helped me a lot. At the bottom left side of the Search page you can choose between having the results displayed as posts or topics. Always remember to click the button under Posts. The info you want may be in threads that don’t use your keywords in the subject heading. Threads with the words you want in the subject heading might go off topic and not talk about what you are interested in but you’ll have to read the whole thread to find that out. You want posts!
Display results as: Posts Topics
…> x
Practice and play as often as your heart is into it, and play whatever you want. Sometimes my favorite songs to play are old Broadway tunes, some bluegrass, some classical, some big band, and pop in addition to Irish Traditional. The songs that are in my head from 54 years of listening enjoyment before I got into playing whistle back in 2001.
Practice scales and breath control while watching TV if possible. Practice finger speed too. Warm up with finger stretching.
Be prepared for the time when you MIGHT hit the wall and you think you sound terrible, or you cant hit notes. Just put the whistle down for a few days, if you can. You will sound 10 times better to yourself when you pick it up again.
Give the whistle and yourself a chance to bond. Ive bought whistles that I absolutely hated, then 6 months later I will pick them up and they become favorites. But a well made (and not necessarily the most expensive), or tweaked, whistle is almost always fun to play.
Every week that goes by you will sound better, and you ‘will’ play those songs that you thought impossible.
Listen to other opinions, including this, with appropriate salt. It comes in handy particularly when there is a discussion on the BEST whistle.
Listen to Mary Bergin if you can (available on emusic.com). She exhibits remarkable versatility with a very common sounding whistle. It made me realize it aint the most pricey whistle, but the person tooting into it.
Stop staring at my avatar.
Good luck and welcome.
One man’s fancy, another man’s metronome.
I still don’t know how to use the search feature.
Hey, she has a nice lilt to her walk… It’s almost like a slow hornpipe! Check it out…
Nice metronome indeed 
Stewy gives some great advice. Except for the advice about his avatar.
Most of all, have fun - and welcome.
Stewy, your avitar’s are staring at my eyes.
Welcome, Donn. You’re at the right place for whistling.
Thanks, all, for the warm welcome. Now, I have another question, probably should change to a new thread on this one. But here goes, anyway.
What are some good tune books for a beginner? I can read music, just not that familiar yet with the whistle’s notes, yet. I’m interested in slow tunes, ballads, etc, not fast, rills, jigs, etc. Just playing for myself and my wife.
Am I correct in assuming a Key of C or D whistle will play most tunes with sharps? What about those with flats? Would I need a whistle that plays flats? This is still unclear to me. Trying to learn.
Donn
Hi Donn!
Welcome to the real world! (those other 70 odd years were only leading to this).
FOr tunes to play - I’d be starting on the tunes you already love (so long as there’s only 2 octaves and the key’s don’t get more than the tonic or dominant 5th!). What you love is what you are. Specially in music.
Irish music is worth a go - it is very demanding and will develop your technique, but what you are comfortable with will always return. Kinda like a roadsign to yourself. That’s what music is - an instrument is only as good as it can let you sing your song.
Pennywhistles are very good for this kind of stuff. I think you are on a good path - and the folks here won’t put you wrong.
By the way (BTW) the clarke Cs have some issues with tuning - conversely, Jerry’s tweaked Shaw is one of the wonders of the modern age once you get over the “ridges”. I’d also consider one of the Hoover whistles in the key of your choice - they are the sweetest thing.
Thanks, Mitch. I’m waiting on the tweaked Shaw from Jerry now. My emails keep bouncing for some reason so I have no idea when he will ship it. Maybe if he sees this he’ll respond directly.
Now, I’m going to have to find some sheet music, tune books, etc as I have only one, Mel Bay’s Fun with the Tin Whistle.
Donn
Donn,
Some here will say that you should learn by ear, and only that. I myself like sheet music, specially because there is no Irish session around in at least 700 miles from where I live. It’s important to listen as much as you can to real Irish music, but don’t listen to people who diss sheet music - they are a great source for STARTING to learn a tune.
Having said that, there is really no need to buy tunebooks. All the tunes you’ll ever find in them (except the rarest ones), you can already find them online for free.
Do you know http://www.thesession.org/ ? It’s one of the best archives of ITM you’ll ever find - and it’s free. There you can search tunes, learn in which albums you can find them played, see the sheet music in many formats, and download a MIDI of it… That’s all you need for now.
Augusto
Brasilia, Brazil
Donn, there are a lot of tutorials, each with their advocates here. One fairly new one (at least to me) “Tinwhistle - Learning to play Like A Whistler” (link here) seems to be well written, easy to follow along – maybe a little rudimentary since you already read music. But I just like the way it flows. There is really a lot of information available on the internet for free. Here are a few of the websites that serve as tutorials:
Brother Steve’s Tin-Whistle pages
WhistleTutor
Nigel Gatherer’s site
Most important thing is to have fun, Donn. Welcome to the Chiff and the world of whistling! 
Thank you for the tutorial websites. I had one of them but not the other two. Very informative.
BTW, waiting for Jerry Freeman’s Mellow Dog and tweaked Sweetone. He had sent the Shaw but I didn’t like it. He’s super in making an exchange.
In the meantime, I did get a Susato very small bore and I really like it.
Unfortunately it’s not the tuneable one, but it’s a start. Much better and easier for me to play than the Clarke Meg which I have.
Not to butt heads, but here’s an alternate take on sheet music vs. ear learning.
If you intend to play TW as a solo hobby, or with a group that also uses notation regularly, whatever makes you most comfortable!
If you intend to play Irish music with other people on a regular basis, you really are best off learning music by ear, as much as you possibly can. There has been too much written on this issue already (available by the “search” function) for me to get into all of the reasons, but I urge you to consider all the arguments on both sides and reach your own conclusions.
Welcome and have fun!
Dear Donn:
Welcome. Since you’re already a musician, by now you should be thrilled with your progress. imagine. all those years i (and maybe you) learned to play the piano only to find an instrument that is so much more (for me) and so much easier. i’m not into itm music and i just kept playing the same music that i’ve always been playing. the whistle does give songs a nice fresh sound.
after the first month of playing in the keys of D & G, i figured out the fingering (in my head) for C & F. any sheet music that i’m playing transposes fairly well in my head to one of these keys (except for Bb for some peculiar reason.)
let us know about your progress. we’re all interested.