Hi! Thanks already for the tons of information which is have absorbed and used without any of you ever knowing it.
Okay, I’m a beginning whistle player, who’s picked up a lot of the basics but really just taught myslef by ear. I’ve even had the chance to play in public to about 400 people over a microphone, which was darn scary, but apparently went down quite well.
Anyway, I feel like I’m reaching the limit of my self-teaching abilities and wanted to pick up a tutorial. I sing and so can rad music to an extent, but do find it easier to play by ear.
What can anyone recommend as the best tutorial?
Oh, and the lowest whistle I’ve played is an A, and I find I play it best by using regular fingering with my left hand but piper on my right. How hard is it to adapt to something like a low D? Finger stretchers required?
I haven’t seen all the tutorials out there, but the most recommened one here is probably the Clarke Tin Whistle Tutor, by Bill Ochs.
If you already read music a little it will help increase your skill level there, but the accompanying CD lets you learn each tune by ear if you prefer. I tend to use both - listen, read the music, listen, memorize, listen, play with CD . . .
Just don’t let yourself get to intimidated when you get to the section on ornamentation - with a bit (OK, a lot) of practice, all the tunes given go from “impossible” to fairly easy - yes, even the rolls and the breakneck-fast-sounding reels.
There are a lot of nice tunes in the book, and by the end you’ll have the skills to pick up more on your own (or move on to more advanced tutorials like Grey Larson’s monster). About the only way to greatly improve it would be to include a live instructor
Galant, about the low D; the distance between holes can vary from make to make but overall if you’re using the piper’s grip, which you’ll need to with both hands, it’s not really a matter of stretching as much as correct placement. - Check out the tutorials on the Kerry/Chieftain website of Phil Hardy teaching low whistle technique. --Also there’s a great tutorial online called Brother Steve’s --not low whistle but a general whistle tutorial. -mike
You may want to check out a few different tutorials and see whose style you like the most. The best tutorial for you may not be the same as the best for someone else. I have both the Bill Och’s tutorial that’s the most commonly recommended here and the madfortrad tutorial with Brian Finnegan, and prefer the madfortrad one.
I like Brian Finnegan’s playing style better, and he plays the tunes in both slow and faster versions. I found them easier to learn, since I depend on my ear to learn and it’s easier for me to learn a tune that’s closer to the speed I’ll be playing it at. He also focuses on Irish music in the most common tune types, jigs and reels, with a few polkas, slides, and hornpipes thrown in. He starts out with simple jigs and reels and goes over all the basics. For all these reasons (and a few others) I like the madfortrad tutorial better.
But I’ve learned from Bill Och’s tutorial, too. One of the venerable contributors to this site who also teaches whistle encouraged me to get the madfortrad tutorial and to expose myself to different styles of whistling, and said that it would help me to develop my own style. I think it was good advice.
Check out Mad For Trad too. It is a CD that takes you from learning to read notes to advanced techniques. The cool think is there is actually a person you can see perform the techniques over and over and over again (or until you get kicked out anyway.)
I’m afraid I didn’t really rate the demos on that CD ROM. I think cuts, taps, crans, rolls, slides, vibrato etc need to be demonstrated close up and slow. I found the ornamentation on that CD ROM to be lacking. Nice tunes though.
Even though it is aural only, Och’s Clarke Tutor worked better for me. Stuff like cutting between notes of different pitch… great stuff.
I’d vote for the Ochs tutor inconjuntion with the video clips at Brother Steve’s site (to demonstrate ornaments), and the Waltons 110 Irish Tin Whistle Tunes or 110 Irish Session Tunes to get a basic repertoire of toonz to practice.
I’d also recommend learning a few slow songs like Raglan Road, Spancil Hill, Boulavogue, The Sally Gardens, The Foggy Dew or Spanish Lady before trying to do Jigs and Reels! It can get too disheartening starting out with stuff that’ll take a while.
