I’d like to get a book for learning the tin whistle to improve my technique. Now I don’t want to waste my money and time on crappy books. What books do you guys reccommend? I was thinking about The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor, or maybe The Clarke Tin Whistle Handbook. A couple of people at thesession.org suggested Geraldine Cotter’s Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor and The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle.
HI Celtic_lass,
There’s a lot of books/CDs on the market - many are nice cheapies designed to get you started - often they come in packs with a whistle which can be a great cash saver. However, most of these take you only through the beginning steps, to go further you will need something a bit more comprehensive, well graded from level to level and it helps to have a demo CD so you can compare your results.
The Geraldine Cotter book is good quality - many of the tunes she presents as part of the tutorial will stand you in good stead at most ITM sessions. There are a couple of companion CDs that go with her book.
The Grey Larsen book/CDs are also good value with lots of info that fills in the blanks.
The Bill Ochs book/CD is also great to get going on - the tunes are a bit more basic, but there’s plenty of them and there’s enough in there that you will recognise - that realy helps when you’re starting out.
There’s a whole bunch of great books - the ones I have mentioned are only examples.
My rule of thumb is that if I’m paying for a quality tutorial book I expect to be able to play the companion CDs just for the enjoyment listening to the tunes when I’m not using them for learning.
Idealy you would find a human teacher, but that’s not always possible. If at all possible, It’s a good idea to get to your local sessions, you will find most sessions are friendly and/or understanding and it’s the best place to find teachers and mentors as well as having the enjoyment of the real music live. It’s a great journey!
Hope this helps.
I have the Clarke Tin Whistle Handbook and I’m very happy with it.
I wish I had started with that.
Grey Larsen’s The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle is one of the best I’ve come across. It;s packed with detailed information an both instruments, which means you don’t have to run out and buy another book should you decide to take up the flute. 
I highly recommend it.
I personally got started with the little booklet you get with the Waltons…
Another wonderful book is Cathal McConnell - the one that comes with all 3 cds - many of my favorite tunes are there, performed both regular tempo and slower for learning; includes some tunes you probably won’t hear at sessions as well.
Philo
i really like mel bays irish tin whistle book, its very big and tells you almost everything about whistling and the history and many different jigs reels and hornpipes. the down fall is that the cd only has a few of the songs on it.
I think I’m either going to get either the Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor or The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle. My problem with Geraldine Cotter’s Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor is that they don’t come with any of the cds, and they don’t seem to be avialable on amazon.com. 
Peter this looks like a great set. I’m going to order this.
I was at Dusty Strings in Seattle today for a whistle class with a fellow named Stuart Esson and during the lunch break did some prowling in the shop.
Among other things I found just about every book mentioned in this thread (except the Cathal McConnell) and came home with a copy of Geraldine Cotter’s. I wish I’d looked to see if they had the companion CDs as well. I’ll have to call 'em tomorrow and see.
They also had a BUNCH of whistles. Out where you could just grab 'em were Generations, both nickel and brass, in every key and in quantity as well as some other inexpensive types (Clarkes, Oaks, and more). In the case were a couple of different Dixons, at least five Sweethearts, a Chieftain high D and C, and one other high whistle that I didn’t recognize. There were several low whistles of similar caliber as well.
They apparently have a Susato order pending (there were a few only).
I picked up a good playing Generation high F and a Dixon aluminum body/ABS head tunable whistle as well as the book…I need to go back 
Peter: Several days ago I sent a note to the shop in Cork you linked to above asking if they shipped outside of the EU and if so how one would arrange payment and got no reply… perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned my son-in-law is from Cork?
“The Tin Whistle Toolbox” by Grey Larson, which includes a CD. He even shows you where ornaments should go, for newbies like me who haven’t listened to enough Irish music yet to tell.
Well I’ve now decided to try the flute. So I’ve decided to get The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle. Thanks guys for all of your help! 
Something you might consider is the Mad For Trad DVD. Brian Finnegan is a great player and the movies are a real help to watch him play the tunes. He’s got beginning and advanced tutorials. There’s 17 tunes for the beginners and 22 tunes for the advanced with ornaments demonstrated. The sheet music is also included. Well worth the price. I watch it on my Mac, it launches from my browser. Very easy to use, just a good place to start learning the whistle. Mad For Trad also has an instructional DVD for the flute. I haven’t seen it but if it’s anything like the tinwhistle tutorial it’s good.