anybody have any tunes they would like to recomend for a beginner? not a superduper beginner tho.
thanks!
“The Butterfly”, is a nice easy tune to learn but a really good, memorable one which most people seem to like. Check out the Session site
for the music score
First one I learned/am learning is Down by the Sally Gardens a slow air.
KAC
Also being a newbie to the whistle, I have been playing for about 6 months now and few weeks back, came across Si Bheag, Si Mhor and thought that this would have been a good tune to begin with. It can be played slowly at first and then as you learn the tune it can be played faster and still sound good. It also gives a good practice moving between the octaves.
What tunes have you attempted so far?
Dawning of the Day (march)
Star of the County Down (march)
Rattlin Bog (polka)
Egan’s Polka
John Ryan’s Polka
Little Bag of Spuds (reel)
Anything for John Joe (reel)
Planxty Irwin
Return From Fingal
Denis Ryan’s
Road To Lisdoonvarna
Off To California
Foggy Dew
Planxty Hewlett
Planxty Fanny Powers
Inisheer
Swallowtail Jig
The South Wind
Honestly, I like Dawning of the Day or Star of the County Down because they are slow-ish, but offer tons of opportunities to practice cuts and taps. Just learning those two songs (and yes, they truly are songs, not just tunes), you can work on your ornamentation basics too.
Not that other tunes don’t have plenty of opportunities, but damned if these ones don’t have spots just BEGGING for them. They are also wonderful at showing how to use the ornaments to keep from overuse of tounging.
I can honestly say I like the Butterfly, overplayed as it is…but Egans? EEP!
I would suggest looking for tunes which do not have large jumps and have a limited range at first. The Butterfly for example has lots of jumps and I feel is NOT an easy tune to play well and so is not a tune I would suggest a beginner learns.
Try tunes - if they come easy practice and learn them, if not try something else and come back to it later. Play tunes you like! Don’t play things faster than you can play without mistakes, speed will come.
There have been many, and there will be many more. 
It’s a good question every time it’s asked.
Down by the Sally Gardens is a great choice, as are:
- Boys of Bluehill
- Chief O’Neills Favourite
- Swallow’s Nest
- Father O’Flynn (AKA various)
- Raglan Road
- Showman’s Fancy
- Rolling in the Ryegrass (maybe not very easy for a total beginner, but sounds great after some practice)
Try some non-trad tunes that you already know and have firmly in your head: TV theme songs, advertisements, folk songs etc. If you already know a tune, you’ll find it much easier to play.
Yeah, but it probably should be a sticky…
Thanks for the list. I’m learning Boys of Bluehill for a bit now…almost got it down.
KAC
Lord Mayo - You get to practice jumping between the octaves and if you want to you can add on ornamentation when your fingers get a bit more nimble.
Cheers,
Anders
A-yup!
And this is where the turtle sometimes moseys in and offers his website:
www.geocities.com/whistleandsqueak
The “Instruction” page has some of the songs organized by increasing level of difficulty.
Mark