What other “non-Irish” tunes do folks like to whistle for fun? I find myself playing lots of easy tunes I’m familiar with by ear…“Twinkle Twinkle little star” “Silent Night”…Just about anything in D. I find that it’s really helping me find my way around the fingerings. I’m not familiar with most of the Irish/Scottish tunes I’ve heard so my random noodling makes me feel like I’m still “playing” while I’m learning the more traditional stuff.
“Sleepwalk”
Anything by Simon & Garfunkel (esp. “The Boxer”)
Christmas carols
Hymns
Turlough O’Carolan
Ennio Morricone
“La Bamba”
Here are a few simple tunes which play well on the whistle.
Swanee River
Over the Rainbow
Home on the Range
Yankee Doodle
I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy
Dixie
I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover
The Yellow Rose of Texas
America
America the Beautiful
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
…
The list is endless. I’ve only scratched the surface. For more advanced stuff, try some of the Beatles’ songs, like Let It Be.
Unless you have to use sheet music, it obviously doesn’t matter what key the original song is in. If you know how the melody goes, once you discover which note to start on (possibly by trial and error), working out the tune is fairly easy (and fun).
I do a lot of hymns (Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision/Slane, Hyfrydol, Morningsong, etc.), Christmas Carols (In Dulci Jubilo is a favorite, as is Silent Night), and folk songs (Scarborough Fair sounds nice on the whistle, as do The Ash Grove and The Water is Wide).
Redwolf
Scarborough Faire, Greensleeves, Ain’t No Sunshine, Moon River, Dixie, Wayfaring Stranger, the first notes of Stairway to Heaven.
This’ll probably sound weird to many folks, but a simple tune I like to play when I first sit down to practice or play is (I hope this is the correct title and spelling) Do Re Mi. It not only serves as a fun way for me to run a scale but also helps limber up my creaky old fingers!
~Larry
Noodling familiar tunes is a terrific way to develop the skill of playing by ear. If you already have the tune in your head, it will come out of your fingers more easily.
Try the theme to Gilligan’s Island-- it makes a good reel. You can add the second half of What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor to complete it.
Shenandoah is another lovely tune. It lends itself to some simple ornamentation.
When I am bored, or just want to warm up a bit before tackling the difficult Irish jigs and reels, like the Kesh or Maid Behind the Bar, I usally just run through the Flight of the Bumblebee a couple of times at a relaxed allegro vivace. It helps with my half-holing, too.
http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/downloads/firstpage/Korsakov/BumbleFiati.pdf
On 2002-11-01 09:58, Bloomfield wrote:
When I am bored, or just want to warm up a bit before tackling the difficult Irish jigs and reels, like the Kesh or Maid Behind the Bar, I usally just run through the Flight of the Bumblebee a couple of times at a relaxed > allegro vivace> . It helps with my half-holing, too.
Yeah, I think it sounds great with just a whistle and a bodhran. 
All the best
Tom
[edited to fix typo]
[ This Message was edited by: TomB on 2002-11-01 10:16 ]
Anything by Stephen Foster (Hard Times, Camptown Races) is generally whistle-friendly. Simple Gifts…Barbara Allen…Streets of Laredo - oops, that one IS Irish…Vangelis’ Hymne (used as the background for a very popular Budweiser Christmas commercial some time back…The theme from Chariots of Fire…Aura Lee…Tenting Tonight…Bonnie Blue Flag…most things Christmasy