Hi, I’m one of those perpetual newbies, a person with no musical aptitude but love playing the whistle anyway. So far Iv’e been keeping to the more slow mournful tunes and would like to play something “happier”.
Could anyone recommend some upbeat tunes for a perpetual newbie?
-John
One simple happy tune I always like playing is Off to California.
Two others are Banish Misfortune and Calliope House (both can be found on whistlethis.com). Banish Misfortune is a little more challenging, but they are all doable for a beginner.
Jason
If we hadn’t any women in the world. You can find it at sessions.org and here:
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~hammie/Musk.mp3 (followed by another tune I’m not sure of the name)
Play it with bounce. It’s a happy tune, a barndance, I believe.
I second the recommendation for Off to California. Another tune that goes well with that is Kitty’s Wedding.
Rolling in the Ryegrass and The Mountain Road are two rollicking reels that are pretty simple.
The Boys of Ballisodare (slip jig version) is fun and easy too.
Check out “Off She Goes,” one of the first ones I attempted, nice tune and played often, around here anyway:)
Yeah, ‘Off She Goes’ is a fun, easy tune. ‘Anything for John Joe’ is the easiest reel in the world and is pretty darned nice.
‘Dervish’ reel is fun and not too hard. ‘Blackthornstick’ is a pretty easy jig. Most polkas are in the easy to moderate range. ‘Egan’s’ , ‘Rattlin’ Bog’, ‘Finnish’, ‘Ballydesmond #2’ are all nice polkas.
It’s Money Musk in D. I’ll admit, the filename was a clue, so I cheated. 
Thanks MTGuru. That’s what I’ve been calling it, but I wasn’t sure, as I’ve seen another tune called the same.
At first I thought that said Monkey Musk. 
Jason
Try some Kerry tunes!
I like playing the slides Cathleen Hehir’s followed by The Dingle Regatta.
Just got two CDs with happy fiddle music from Kerry - Sliabh Luachra:
“Kerry Fiddles - by Padraig O’Keefe, Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford” and
“The Star above the Garter - by Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford”
Slides! : “The Cat rambles to the Child’s Saucepan”. Easy peasy and cheerful too.
“Happy to meet and Sorry to part”
— which I still confuse with “My Darling asleep”. Also a good one.
“The Keel Row”
“Some Say the Devil’s Dead”
(I’ve been playing “The Keel Row” with “Katie Bairdie” and “Some say the Devil’s Dead” as a set.
I’ve had to transpose Katie Bairdie for a D whistle. Maybe that one [Katie Bairdie] wouldn’t suit a beginner.)
Thanks all. I think I have my brain set on “rolling in the Ryegrass” mostly because the title really tickles me 
Saint Patrick’s Day.
Irish Washerwoman is a happy-sounding tune. I don’t know how beginner-friendly it is. I haven’t tried to tackle it, yet.
Pump the weasel.