I just got home from a lovely vacation in Ireland (Ennis Trad music festival, mainly) with a lot of energy, inspiration and a D whistle. I’ve actually played some before, but never really learned it, I can just play Spancil Hill and that’s it.
I have a book somewhere, possibly at a friend’s house, but as i remember it I didn’t understand much of what they meant. I never bought any tutorial book or so in Ireland (just for fiddle) but maybe that would be helpful, with a CD.
How do I get started? What do you think I should start with? I do not have any teachers around here at all so all I have is myself, the whistle and the internet. What is a good way to start? What do you suggest?
Well, you’ve done well finding this fine group of people, for starters. You will never feel like the only whistle player on the planet, not here. Welcome!
Lots of folks recommend Bill Ochs’ little book. I have used it with beginners, and there is a lot in there, from reading music to dozens of tunes from easy to challenging. I’d start there.
You will never be lonely with a whistle in your pocket.
There’s also Grey Larson’s “The Essential Guide to Tin Whistle” or in my case I have “The Essential Guide to Flute and Tin Whistle”, which comes with (2) CDs so you can hear what you are supposed to sound like.
If you want to learn the low whistle, you can go to Phil Hardy’s tutorials at www.kerrywhistle.com to the “movie” section and find the link for “tutorial” at the bottom of the list. Click on that and you should get here: http://www.kerrywhistles.com/dl.php?group=15
The tutorials, all 4 so far, are large downloads, so you can save to your computer and play over and over to your hearts content. Even though the tutorial is geared for the low whistle, you can learn some great tips with video/audio that you can apply to high whistle.
Personally, I like to get a mix with different perspectives. I suppose it could be “dangerous” to learn from just one person, and assume you learned “it all”. However, the beauty of the whistle is that the instrument can be played in different styles, and hopefully you will naturally come into your own style.
Listening to the clips is an important part of learning. I’d only recommend using the book to memorize the notes - then close it, and play along with the CD from memory. When you can play each tune along with Bill (or by yourself) and sound good, you’re ready to move on to the next tune.
