Hello everyone. I’m curious as to how much is the whistle used in music styles such as Morris Dances, Contra Dances, English Dances, and the like. What kind of ornamentation is mostly used with this music style. Also, does a wood or alloy whistle fit better here? How many here use their whistles for this music? Thanks.
If it makes you feel any less lonely. I play chiefly English Trad on my whistle, but I have not come across one else that does. Most seem to play Irish trad. I do not know whether this is because the whistle is better suited to this style, or that English generally is less popular. Keep on playing. there are not enough English players !
The first world war, and the post war realignment of english society meant that the traditions you’re talking about barely made it into the latter 20th century. This is most true of the morris tradition, and the least rue, perhaps, of contradance, which has also had a new england tradition that has also survived*. However, it does mean that unlike irish traditional music, there isn’t a well developed corpus of styles, intruments, and techniques that has survived.
The few surviving musicians who had been a part of a living tradition were largely quite elderly when they were recorded, and the few there were tended to play fiddle, melodeon, or concertina, if I recall correctly. None played any form of wind instrument.**
So the answer to your question is “whatever sounds good”. In general, some morris tunes are a great deal more stacatto than the greater run of irism music, so you tend to hear a bit more stacatto playing.
*Places like northumberland had a surviving musical tradition which made into the 20th century intact, and which did involve whistle players, but these aren’t usually considered the same as the genres you mention.
**Historically, there is a tradition of solo pipe and tabor musicians playing this music. A pipe is a three-holed fipple flute that used overtones to create an octave’s worth of notes. Some whistle technique transfers directly.
Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I didn’t think the whistle was used much in the era for such songs and I was thinking more of the players of today performing these tunes. I forgot where I read that some players in small Morris groups like to use their Susatos and some are using their Sweethearts. I wish I could remember where I read that . . .
One of the regular bands for contra dances in my town has a flute player who switches off to whistle sometimes. They play Irish tunes for contra dances.
My band plays for contra dances, too, but I’ve never played whistle for dances. I play my main instrument, hammered dulcimer, for dances. We have had a whistle player (C&F’s own Jennie 
) join us a couple times on whistle, and that’s been lots of fun. We’re pretty loose with regard to styles, so we think whistle is just fine in non-Irish dance tunes, too. Our dance repertoire is mostly old-time and modern contra tunes.
When Lesley comes home I am sure she will reply to this. She plays for English folk dancing and will join a dance band here as soon as she can. She has always been a keen dancer.
Roland
The Marlow Folk Dance Society have a tame whistler who plays for them from time to time. He’s part of a group of musicians. It depends who is doing the calling for them. Some callers use recorded music but it is SO much nicer to have live music. The gentleman who plays uses a wooden whistle with amplification. He tells me he used to play the pipes!
To be honest, I’m too busy looking where I put my feet to notice what ornamentation he uses - Marlow Folk Club do a lot of obscure stuff as far as I’m concerned.