I went to Ireland a couple of years ago and bought a whistle from the tourist shop. I came across it today and decided to learn how to play it. Where do I start?
Incidentally, it cost about 3 pounds so do I need tobuy a new one?
Happily the average non-wooden whistle doesn’t ‘go bad’ from disuse, so don’t run out and get a new one just yet. Wait for WhOA to set in first.
Do go out and get a tutorial, there are a lot of good ones out there, some with CD’s that give you an idea of what you should but don’t sound like.
Your local Irish club may be a good source for a tutor, as opposed to tutorial.
But really, the basic idea is is that you have six holes, and a different note appears as you uncover holes from the bottom up. All holes covered is D, lift the bottom finger is E, the next up gives you F# (this is all assuming a D whistle, which is the norm). Do re mi…on up the scale. Eventually you have all open holes, C#, then close down the bottom 5 holes, leaving the top one open, and you have your high D.
Once you have the scale of the first octave down pat, move onto a tune. There are other scales on the whistle (G is the other major one, but that can wait for a bit) and a second octave when you’re secure in playing the lower one. But the best way is to find someone who plays the whistle and get a little instruction.
Best of luck and welcome to our corner of musical tradition!
If you’re starting out totally from scratch, check out the online tutorial at thewhistleshop.com and click on the “tutorial” link, on the home page. It’s a good start.
“I’ve got a whistle & I’m not afraid to use it (just don’t know how)”
Hmmm. That never really stopped the rest of us…
Welcome to the board Taxman (welcoming a taxman?-That’s a personal first 