Greetings! Just recently I’ve been looking for another hobby to pick up on and I came across these wonderful little instruments. My main problem is that I don’t live near a place that sells tin whistles… so I’ve at least decided that I will make my purchase through an online store.
Step One: Play Pennywhistle (Book&CD)
and a couple of pouches… all for $38.60
To me it sounds like a good deal, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about building a starter kit (relatively cheaply). I’ve read that people find Bill Ochs’ book to be a good choice.
How about tweaked whistles… should I even worry about that at the beginning? I’ve seen a tweaked Sweetone by Jerry Freeman, would that be preferable over the 2 different whistles?
Anyways, thanks in advance for the help… hope to start playing soon!
The Whistle Shop is always a good place to buy whistles from. I’ve bought all my whistles there except for my Syn set, and Thom is a fine fellow. Now start off slow…and that Deluxe set would be a nice way to start. Though 11 times out of 10 (not a typo), the whistle is an instrument for you, you just never know. After you’re more familiar with the logistics of a pennywhistle, then we can talk about high-end recommendations, and tweaked whistles. It’s a big mess of fun. Happy whistling!
And don’t sweat it…as there are really no tinwhistle stores around me.
The Whistle Shop is always a good place to buy whistles from.
I’ve found it to be very informative as well. What I really love on that site is in his beginners section where he has the recordings of the sessions… great tunes (although I think he may have trimmed the list down a bit). Great site overall…
Thanks for the quick reply… I probably will just end up getting that set.
Bill Och’s book is a great beginner resource! It was the intro many of us had to whistling. I’ve bought four other tutorials since, and gotten valuable information from all of them.
Try all the nice, inexpensive whistles you care to try…nice thing is they ARE inexpensive so if one doesn’t suit you it isn’t a huge loss. Of the cheapies, my favorites are Gens, but I learned the basics on a Clarke. If you want a slightly more costly, infinitely more reliable instrument, try a Freeman tweaked something. I’ve only played the Freeman Gen, and it is very nice indeed.
I might skip the pouches, etc., and get a Freeman tweaked something and that Bill Och’s book. I have a Freeman tweaked Generation that sounds nice. I like Grey Larsen’s tutorial, but some people find it a bit over-complicated. Anyway, I’d get one pretty good whistle and a recommended tutorial and stick with those for quite a while. You can get overwhelmed if you start trying out every whistle and tune under the sun. Or spend more time looking for whistles and tunes than practicing them. That’s just me though.
I would recomend throwing a few more cheap whistles in your cart as long as your making the order.
I’d recomend a feadog, a gen, and a meg. Maybe a Mellow D as well.
If you wind up really liking the whistle, you’ll want them anyway. If you don’t, you havn’t lost much.
Hey, you can ship six whistles as cheap as you can ship one.
Where, exactly, do you live in Ontario? You would be surprised how many music shops actually sell whistles. If you’re in the Toronto/London area, maybe I could give you some other options…Though everything said above sounds good too.
Well actually I live in between London and Toronto, and south a bit more. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Brantford… I don’t live there but it is the closest city to my town and it’s like half an hour away. However, I have a brother who lives in London so I am free to go there basically when I want (so long as he lets me). London is closest to me of the major cities… but it is still about 1.5 hours of a drive.
By the way, if you are familiar with the London area, do you know of any good Irish pubs that play traditional music? I’ve been anxious to listen to some, but haven’t been able to find any. The pubs I’ve gone to seemed to have bands playing “regular” music… maybe I’m just going on the wrong day.
Edit: Thanks for the further suggestions… I just may end up adding a couple more to my list.
Actually I think I may only be able to afford one more whistle, if any, to what I would currently be ordering. What one do you guys recommend?
Well, if you haven’t ordered yet, you might consider checking out Scott’s highland in London. I think they mostly do an internet bus., but they’re pretty good about people droping but (I have). There aren’t a lot of instruments listed on their site, but they often have more in stock.
Are there any stores in Toronto that deal online as well (if it’s not too much trouble for you to find out)? It would probably be better to buy from a Canadian store… less of a hassle.
Just for future reference, what other key besides D is a recommended play? I’m sure they all have their niche, but is there one that seems to stand out?
I’m not sure about TO online sales, but there are quite a few places that sell decent penny whistles in Toronto. If you’re just getting started though, most music shops in any city have some selection of whistles. There is a lot of advice on this forum about good first whistles (including that above), and so you might just pop in somewhere and look for something familiar. If you look in the music book section of music stores you’ll also often find ‘teach yourself penny whistle’ type Book/CD sets. (In TO, Remeny music and Steve’s for sure), and several of these books are available from Amazon.
I should also say that I think that it is good to support online shops like The Whislte Shop, Bigwhistle, etc. Going through them can also be less hassle as the nice people who run them often have good advice, and can save you time and energy. On the otherhand, if you’re just looking to spend $25 on a whistle and a 30pg. book, it probably doesn’t make sense to shell out $15 on over seas shipping. If there’s a music shop in Brantford (there must be a music shop in Brantford), you might not have to go any further.
Don’t get a cheap whistle unless you know how to tweak it yourself yet. You’ll be in danger of being frustrated and buying hundreds of others. Best to leave all that until you have one good whistle that will play well. Contact Jerry Freeman!
He could simply order from whistleshop.com and ask to make sure they’ll send him a decent cheapo they might try quickly before they send. By the way I purchased some whistles from whistleshop.com a few years ago and they really do have great service, I also had good experience with whistleanddrum.com, but I’m not sure if they sell cheapos.
I would look on e-bay jerry freeman sells his tweaked sweetones for about fifteen bucks they sound great I got one just before the holidays .
I have not heard a better low end whistle then I would get the Bill Ochs book good combo some online stores I have delt with no trouble are Lark in the morning and the house of musical traditions good prices dependable service
