Just a poll…topic of discussion…whatever… I don’t know if it’s been mentioned before but, if you’re playing a D whistle you can read highland bagpipe music as-is and it works great…nevermind the crans unless you wanna really get technical…but bagpipe music has been a great source for expanding my repitoire(sp?). There’s tons of reels, jigs, hornpipes, marches, and airs to pick from. Anybody else out there ever play with pipe music??
All the time but then I play pipes. In a session I can’t decide which instrument to play the tunes on whistle or pipes. 
Yes, I’m a piper (for my own amusement), and I’ve played a number of tunes from Scot’s Guards, Caber Feid, and other pipe tune books on the whistle. They worked just fine for me to get the hang of the whistle, at first! 
If you’re looking for a source of tune books, go to www.bobdunsire.com and go to the Bagpipe Directory, then noodle around until you find what you want.
With best regards,
Steve Mack
Oh yeah, bagpipe tunes are great. I can’t usually get the insane ornaments they have, but it’s fun. I should be learning pipes this summer too.
I’ve just had a piper get me to make two whistles, a C and a D, with GHB fingering. An alternative top D (O OXO XXXO) seems to be steadier and stronger than the usual (O OOX XXXO) and the ornaments are not as clear, but the whistles seem to do the job. I’ve reaquainted myself with all my highland tunes and then worked out some standard folk tunes with them as well. I think they would fit into sessions alright. Is anybody using similar GHB fingering on a whistle on a more permanent basis?
I don’t, but I’ve thought of that. I know Elfsong sells whistle with bagpipe fingering (according to http://www.elfsongwhistles.com/ at least).