A few weeks ago I jumped into the world of whistling head first with both feet. I’ve only had my whistle for 2 weeks and I can tell that I will have one with me the rest of my life. It is so much easier to pick up than guitar lol. I’ve had prior wind-blown instrument practice when I was younger in a band and I think that experience is helping me now…that and I think I kinda have a natural instinct for this. I’m going on ear only for now and my progress is moving rather quickly. I am already able to replicate most of what I hear through the few tunes that I have(they are all slow mind you 
- I’m not able to play anything remotely fast yet. My problem is that I need a library of tunes…and lots of them. It is said the best way to develop your style & skill is to listen to many players & tunes so you can get the ear & feel for the sound of the music. I would have to agree…the problem is I don’t know anybody and/or anything when it comes to Irish Traditional music =/. My cry for help here to you is for the some names of artists, CDs, websites, anything where I can get the music I need. To help narrow it down, I would prefer the slower stuff…slow air references because I’m not ready for the fast stuff yet =/. I have listed some clips of tunes that are responsible for me being addicted to the whistle today to give you an idea. I can play along with pretty much all of them accurately. When I first heard Watching The Gulls, I looked frantically in the CD insert & discovered that the wonderful instrument I was hearing was a Tin Whistle. I bought my first whistle on Ebay the same day. Cheapy Walton’s Guinness for 10 bucks =). If I could borrow some more of your time, could you listen to these clips and tell me if this is the good stuff…the stuff I want…if there’s much much better out there…or if I am totally clueless and should quit while I’m ahead LoL??? They are all around 300K or less so should take but a minute or two to download. Also, I’ve looked everywhere for these tunes on the net…nothing found. They are all off a cd called Celtic Shores…from the “Celtic Collection”…by Compass Productions. Can’t find this stuff anywhere. I was curious if these are all original tunes or not. Thank you so much in advanced for any advice guys! In the meantime, I’ll keep eyeballing these 50,000 posts for more clues…
Watching The Gulls
Irish Boy
A Churchyard By The Sea
The Carpenter’s Hand part1
..and part2
Would rather go whistling where there is no path…and leave a trail.
Uriah
[ This Message was edited by: 2nd Wind on 2002-12-06 23:26 ]
Uriah, if mp3s of amateurs are okay with you, and you shoot me your mailing address, I’ll burn you a CD. This summer I recorded several sessions in the Rocky Mountain area and have many hours of tunes on hand. There are mistakes in tunes, and chattering people, and kids running around in the background, but it’s fun anyway and I learned a lot of my tunes from these mp3s.
Let me know, I’d be happy to send you a copy.
–Beth
On 2002-12-06 15:43, 2nd Wind wrote:
It is said the best way to develop your style & skill is to listen to many players & tunes so you can get the ear & feel for the sound of the music. I would have to agree…the problem is I don’t know anybody and/or anything when it comes to Irish Traditional music =/.
Do you know what Irish Traditional music sounds like? It’s a bit different from what gets packaged as “Celtic” and sold at the cash register of Rite Aid and Target.
My tip would be not to rush the tunes. Learn slow but thorough at first. And don’t listen to “many” players, listen to good players, or even only one good player. But do that you’ll need to know what YOU want to play, not what someone else thinks is good. Check out the ITM forum, and listen to the Joe Bane Shandon Bells clip. It’s right there, with music: that would be a good place to start if you are interested in (real) Irish Music. Don’t miss Brother Steve’s Tinwhistlepage and learn all the samples on there (DO NOT bother about rolls yet).
http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/
If I could borrow some more of your time, could you listen to these clips and tell me if this is the good stuff…the stuff I want…if there’s much much better out there…or if I am totally clueless and should quit while I’m ahead LoL???
Yes, this is the good, real stuff: real Muzak™. Better than what you hear in most elevators.
Good luck.
Oh, and do you know about Clips and Snips?
http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/
It’s a site where we Chiff & Fipple Folk may post our tunes to share. You won’t necessarily find perfection here, as most tunes are works in progress, but it’d be a good way to find out what tunes other people play.
On 2002-12-06 16:01, avanutria wrote:
Oh, and do you know about Clips and Snips?
The people who post on clips & snips do it to share their progress and to have fun with it: I don’t think they mean their clips to be learning tools for beginners, and I think there is some wisdom in that.
A search will reveal that there has been a bit of discussion on this in the past and that there are some good players here who feel that it’s not what you want to do IF you want to learn stylistically good IrTrad. I am not nearly far enough along to know one way or the other, but I would not recommend clips & snips as a learning tool for beginners (just as I would not recommend sheet music, abcs, or midi files).
Thank you for your responses guys, I appreciate it, really. Yes, I am aware of Clips & Snips, & BroSteve, & the ITM forum, as I am in this forum and those other 3 locations daily…all day as a matter of fact. 6-8 hours of my day involve something about the whistle…either playing it, or listening to it, or reading about it…I swear, no exaggerating.
Do you know what Irish Traditional music sounds like? It’s a bit different from what gets packaged as “Celtic” and sold at the cash register of Rite Aid and Target.
Bloomfield, no I don’t know too much of anything about Irish Trad…that’s my point exactly. Kind of the reason I posted this topic was to get some feedback on what kind of stuff I should be listening to. And I do realize not to buy some crap at a Rite Aid or whatever…I would never do something that lame in search of education. These CDs were given to me by a guy who didn’t want them anymore. Before now I had never listened to “Celtic” anything. I just feel lucky enough to have discovered what a whistle is…and that’s all I know. It’s all ok though, I’ll slow down a little bit, take everyone’s advice and try to pace myself. Like I said before though, I got a fever and the only prescription is more whistle!
\
Would rather go whistling where there is no path…and leave a trail.
Uriah
[ This Message was edited by: 2nd Wind on 2002-12-06 18:10 ]
Thank you Ava, I will definately take you up on that offer!
Awesome. Drop me an email with your contact info. Remember to take the “REMOVE THIS SPAMBLOCKER” part out of my email address. I’ll cram a CD full of stuff for you this weekend sometime. 
Edited for spelling, stayed up too late last night.
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-12-06 19:22 ]
I’m back, strong as ever, with an Overton Low D.
Now, to develop skill and all that, takes time and practice. Unless it’s already in you already… You’ll soon grow attached to slow airs - not just because they’re easy to learn, but as you will find out, emotional and … haunting.
By trying to play like someone, you’re going nowhere. You should try to play with feeling and try to reach where that someone wanted to go. Set your targets on a goal, not a person (don’t go bang!)
Don’t worry, 50,000 posts ain’t much. You’ll soon catch up to the humor and fun here 
Hey 2ndWind; I too have just recently jumped head first into the whisle mania thing. Way to much fun. It seemed like the first few days any song I could think of was inside this little darling. Then I made a nearly fatel mistake. I listened to an album by Mary Bergan. Oh boy…Well I couldn`t even go near my whistle for 3 days. Thats when it dawned on me that there was much more to this little 6 holed wounder then I ever dreamed of. So now I listen to all these kind souls in this community and slow down and take a breath and just start practicing. I will spend a hole session on one simple tune. Or I may just try to hold a steady note in order to understand breath control. Any ornamentation that happens is purley accidental. This is a long road. But hey its not a lonely one. And now I listen to Mary everynight before I go to bed.
Buying CDs and tapes for me is out of the question because that money is now being stashed away for and Elfsong or maybe dare I say a Flute. But the good old Public Library is just loaded with good stuff and there are links mentioned countless times in the forums where you can here parts of realy good stuff. So hang in there. These things are magic.
T
If you’ve only been playing a couple of weeks, then the thing that is most important is to simply play. Play anything and play alot.
You are still getting to know your new instrument. Tunes and ornaments will all come in time; but for now, just have a good time.
For the next couple of weeks, you might run through all the holiday songs you can think of. All those tunes/songs that you allready know by heart will flow more easily than any new Irish traditional tune you could learn at this point. Grow the bond between you and your whistle. Listen as you play and as you progress you’ll play what you listen to.
Great advice Lee! I’ve been trying to see just how “creative” I can get with these Christmas tunes. It’s a lot of fun and I am having a good time. It’s so much less frustrating than guitar as I can think of a song I know and play it within minutes, and playing it nicely within an hour or two. 6 holes, 2 octaves…after you get that down, it’s all technique and it’s all up to you. Unlike the 200-something-thousand possible chords you can play with guitar =/. I’ve been spending more and more time mainly in the BroSteve’s site…learning and learning some more. This is all so great! Hey Blackbeer, it’s good to know someone is in the same boat with me in here!!! I hear exactly what you are saying sir. I’ve been a frustrated musician for 10 years messing with the guitar. Since the whistle however, I have been totally at ease. It’s so nice after all these years…I was beginning to think I had lost it! Thanks again for the more than appreciated advice