I’m new to the whistle side of life. I just got my first whistle about a month ago, a Generation D. Now, I’ve been pretty determined to figure out everything by ear (especialy cause I can barely read sheet music), but I’ve been having a LOT of trouble with this one song. This is bad, because I hear the guys at the session (I go to listen…and drink) playing it all the time, and I it’s my favourite. It’s called Cooley’s Reel. Anyone have any advice to help me figure out this tune?
You could go to a site that has the sheet music available (like The Session.org) and print it out. Then even though you’re not adept at reading sheet music you may be able to make a chart diagram above each note. --just six circles to represent the whistle with the covered holes blacked out. (Alot of fingering charts use this system to show you the notes.)-This way you can take it a measure at a time and get it to memory. -mike
welcome to the board eastcoaster 
give these two programes a try, they slow the tunes down without changing the pitch.
you also can put your tunes in D!
there’s free trail versions for both.
http://www.seventhstring.com/
http://www.ronimusic.com/
The more Newfoundlanders the better. My advice: Talk to the guys playing it. 
The guys have taste…one of my favourites too, and I never hear it over here..
Trisha
Go to this site:
http://fingertrip.net/whistle/index.html
Mick has the Cooley’s Reel recorded as well as the notations.
He has some other great tunes there as well.
Good luck.
Rod
Which session to do you go to? I bet if you asked nicely, Rob Brown or Michelle Brophy would help you with the tune. (Actually, everyone we ran into at sessions out there was very nice.)
Hi again, and thanks for all of the responses. I’m not actually from Newfoundland, I’m just here going to university. I’m from a little town called Liverpool, in Nova Scotia, about a two hour drive south along the shore from Halifax.
Thanks for the session.org, I’m going to give that a shot. I know how to read sheet music enough that if I’m listening to the song and looking at the music, I can figure it out, I just can’t look at a piece of music I’ve never heard before and be able to play.
The session I go to here is Saturday nights at O’Reily’s Irish-Newfoundland Pub. Being able to play whistle at it is a long way off, I’m not nearly good enough yet. I’ve played guitar for years, though, and when I learn enough songs I figure I’ll join in. Especialy actually I figure out the mysteries of this . . . DADGAD . . .
Once more, thanks all.
My DH and I used to play with a really nice guy, a fiddler, named Al Cooley… he died way too young, just a couple of years after losing his beloved wife to cancer, it took him… very sad… we learned this tune because of him, and I always think of him whenever it is mentioned. Thanks for the reminder.