I’ll shorten this up for others like myself. I used to play mandolin–I never really did well–I got tendinitis and quit. I bought a Clarke Tin Whistle in D (Celtic edition). I love playing it, however frustrating it can sometimes be. So, can you kind people help me? I’d like to find some more “simple” (traditional) Celtic tunes, to encourage me to play. I know it all begins with Old McDonald and Row Row… But I can only play those tunes so many thousands of times. And I absolutely enjoy listening to trad. Irish/Celtic music. And one more thing. I find that to get the D note to sound correct, I have to exhale just about as lightly as humanly possible, or my whistle squeaks. All the other notes are fine with just a regular light exhale. Anyway, I have many other questions, but I’ll leave it at that. These forums are great, I’ve been reading from the last one forward, and it’s helped a lot. Ciao!
The folk tune page at Whistle and Squeak has some good things to work with:
http://www.geocities.com/whistleandsqueak/folksongs.html
(The main page has hymns and Christmas carols sections as well.)
First, get some good CDs of Irish music and find out what you like. Many tunes done by “the greats” are surprisingly easy. I liked “Oro Se Do” by Ceoltoiri and “Dawning of the Day” (Fainne Geal an Lae) by Van Morrison with the Chieftains. Imagine my surprise when I found both tunes on the first page of the beginners section of a tune book! Playing tunes you love provides all the motivation you need and hearing the tunes done well gives you a better target to shoot for. Good luck and welcome to Chiff & Fipple.
http://www.eirefirst.com/midiindex.html
I think this is wonderful.
Thanks guys, I’ve checked out Whistle and Squeak before. It did prove quite useful. That last link doesn’t have any tab that I can see.
As for me, the most motivating idea was to find one more beginner whistler, one beginner gutarist, and one beginner accordeonist. Now we play together, and the need to prepare for rehearsals is really motivating :))
About tunes: check the PM.
I don’t read tab. It’s possible to learn tunes from the midis.
Generally these were taught orally. You play the midi
a few times, till you get the tune. Then you play a
line on the midi, stop the midi, play it on the whistle
(repeat as often as needed), play the next line, etc.
This may take some time but it does work. Again
this is a perfectly good method of learning tunes.
Some of the tunes on the site areprobably going
by too fast for you to learn now, but there is
a wealth of O’Carolyn stuff and other slower
tunes. What really impressed me with the site
is the quantity of gorgeous music on it and the fact that
the midis are usually very well, even beautifully,
done. Quite satisfying to listen to, IMO.
By the way, the problem with the low D of your whistle
may be the whistle itself. You might wish to try
some other whistles too, e.g. an Oak.
I don’t read tab. It’s possible to learn tunes from the midis.
Moreover, midi can be easily converted to sheetmusic with appropriate software (I use GuitarPro, but here are lots of free apps for that), and reading sheetmusic is even easier than reading tabs.
Hi Whistlefiend,
Here are some easy song to play:
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Merrily We Roll Along
- London Bridge
- On top of Old Smokey
- Frère Jacques
- Brahm’s Lullaby
- The Banks of the Ohio
- When the Saints Go Marching In
- Yankee Doodle
- Ode To Joy
- Amazing Grace
- Scarborough Fair
- Silent Night
I got these tunes from the little book by Feadóg, Your guide to playing the ORIGINAL IRISH WHISTLE. You can probably get one on eBay. Best of luck!
Lyn
If you want some airs with more of an Irish or Scottish quality about them, you might try
Molly Malone
Maire’s Wedding
Jug of Punch
The Irish Rover
The Auld Orange Flute (AKA Sweet Betsy from Pyke)
And if you want some easy jigs and reels you could try
http://www.thesession.org which has stave, abc and sound files of a host of tunes. The problem might be picking out the easy ones.
For easy starters, try
The Butterfly
Over the Ocean
Happy to Meet and Sorry to Part
I personally find tunes that have scales rather than arpeggios to be easier for me to play. In other words, although it might on the surface look like a challenging tune, if much of it is more like scales than arpeggios I seem capable of mastering it much easier.
Examples:
Planxty Brabazon
Rose in the Heather
Rambling Pitchfork
Red-haired Boy
Sometimes I think really super easy tunes are harder than tunes like the above, although tunes like the above have parts in them I never quite get past without flubbing up a little bit. I think maybe the super easy tunes are harder because they just don’t seem as exciting to play, or they have longer notes that make me feel self-conscious that I don’t sound all that great.
I tend to start people off with “Down by the Sally Gardens” and “Molly Halpin.” Both are very pretty and easy to learn. They use the upper and lower registers, so help with getting to know your way around the whistle. They’re also both easy to start trying out some of the basic ornamentations on.
Sit by the lake some evening in the twilight and play one of these tunes, softly and sadly, hear them echo back across the water, and you’re on your way. 
t
I gotta say, i never played Row row row yer boat or anything like that starting out… i just got the McCullough tutor and started with the Kesh, slowly, and worked up from there.
I think it was Catherine McEvoy who, when asked about how to practice, said only learn tunes you really love. Listen to tunes and pick out some you really love and keep at it.
Best wishes to you.
Listen to what you like, play what you like !!!
I totally concur.
I fellow “Chiffer” suggested BestPractice (computer program) as a tool to do just that. You can put in tunes you like and slow them down (keeping the pitch constant). You can also “loop” on a section that you want to concentrate on. You can also adjust the pitch in case your source recording and your playing are not quite in tune.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~mp2004/bp/
You can try it for free. Send in a donation if you like the program. It is a Windows program (mine is running on XP).
Good luck,
John
The Fliuit book is good too if you don’t mind hearing flute and playing whistle. It’s got some good easy tunes to start off with.
And don’t forget the Whistle This website when you’re ready.
once you get that squeak thing under control, trophy women will begin throwing themselves at you, all the time. you will almost tire of the attention.
Why oh why did I waste my youth on the kazoo?
Buy a few CDs by bands you enjoy listening to. I started on “The Best of the Chieftains”, with O’Sullivan’s March; Cherish the Ladies “New Day Dawning”, with the Green Cottage Polka/ Jer O’Connells/ Tom’s Tavern set; and some usual starters like Molly Malone. Just make sure you practice slowly… otherwise you might miss important parts of a song. Good luck… Welcome to C&F
Thanks! What a great forum community.