Hi, everybody, I have just dipped a toe into the whistle world this Christmas curtesy of my brother who bought me a cute little red Clark. I was browsing on the site a few weeks ago, and came on some really good advice to beginners. Some excellent sounding books and CD’s were suggested, but I didn’t write them down. Now I can’t find that thread. Would someone please run some book and CD suggestions by me again; also, where do you buy the books and CD’s? Are they available on Amazon? The earlier posting didn’t mention any links.
I have been trying to pick up some songs on my own using a fingering chart and dulcimer music, but it is slow going. I am having fun picking out songs by ear - Over the Sea to Skie is my current favorite. Another question - I have an extensive woodwind background (I majored in bassoon in college) and I am in the habit of tonguing most notes. On some Irish CD’s I have listened to, it sounds as if the whistle player is slurring from one note to another. What is the right and proper way to play - and of course one must be right and proper at all times.
With all of that you can start having the proper information.
Also, I assume you read music. You can go to www.tinwhistler.com (I love this webpage ) where you’ll find a lot of tunes in MIDI and/or MP3 along with the sheetmusic.
Welcome to the world of whistles, from one newbie to another.
I’ve been thinking of getting the Grey Larsen books “The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle” and/or “The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox”. Do others think that these books are good and worthwhile getting? If so, which is the best one to get first?
Welcome to the C&F whistle board. I’m relatively new as well. This is a great place for everything whistle.
There are a lot of great resources that I found using the C&F search capability at the top of each forum page. Most questions have been answered many times.
I don’t have them, but as far as I know, “The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox” is a basic book and unless you don’t know the basics it seems that “The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle” is much more complete and worth it.
I heard just good comments about it.
I have “The Essential Guide”, and I like it a lot. If anything, it may err on the side of overdetailing every conceivable thing having to do with holding, blowing, fingering, etc., on both whistle and flute. But that makes it a great reference for folks at all stages. (Some people disagree with a few of his opinions, but that’s unavoidable). It also has great instructional CDs, transcriptions of trad players, etc… Very good, IMO.
I saw the “Toolbox” in a store once, but didn’t feel like I needed it at that time.
I bought the Mel Bay Deluxe Tin Whistle Song Book for $4 at a used book sale. It’s my favorite of all books I have. I know sheet music is a no-no, but I’ve found it handy for learning tunes I have never heard and it has a nice selection.
Both books by Grey Larsen are excellent–but the Tin Whistle Toolbox is shorter, only for whistle, and excellent for newbies. I learned a huge amount from it. It has a CD so you can hear, as well as see, what he’s doing. I highly recommend it.
Hi, everybody, thanks for all the help and advice and especially thanks for the warm welcome. I really appreciated the private message; the sound clips are really helpful. I started out with whistle with the idea of getting back to a wind instrument and something fun to take to a dulcimer jam. But…I am making the happy discovery that there is much more to whistle than I originally thought. Since I work in a rural area, I don’t encounter too many traffic jams, but I am caught once in awhile in a “cow jam” where the cattle breaks out of the fence and get out on the road. Maybe seranade them?
you’re very welcome,-and yes, there is a lot more to the humble whistle than what one would think at first. -A serenade for the cattle that breaks out of fences sounds great
I ordered Mel Bay’s, “Complete Irish Tin Whistle book” on Amazon about a month ago. It is very good in my opinion. It was described as being on an intermediate level. That is only because it doesn’t teach one how to read music. So if you can read music it is a fine choice too. I have Bill Och’s Clarke Tin Whistle Book as well and that kept me busy for over a year. I also use tinwhistler.com a lot, both for new tunes and just to listen to tunes that may not be on my cds. Welcome to the forum!
That might very well make it worse for you. Cows are pretty curious, I once played in the vacinity of some cows and they all came running up to me to see what was going on
Thanks for all the feedback on the books. I’ve ordered the “The Essential Guide…”.
I now can’t wait for it to arrive. A bit like waiting for a whistle. I’m hoping, amongst other things, that it will help me with all the destinctive Irish things I’m hearing in the pieces I listen to. (I probably should by one of those programs that slows the music down so you can hear exactly what is going on!)
It will probably help focus my practice for a while as well.
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/) is free and can be used to slow down tunes. It can also used to record. Seems to be used by quite a few C&F’ers as well.
Thanks for this MichaelR. I downloaded audacity just a few days ago (subject of a different post) but did not realise that it could be used to slow down tunes. I’ve gone off and found that part now (I think) but can you slow it down AND keep the pitch??
