The only issue I have with Brother Steve’s pages is that they teach a method for doing cuts that I don’t think works as well as Larsen’s approach. Larsen’s method is especially better for flute, but I think it creates much cleaner-sounding cuts on many whistles as well.
Then again, I like Brother Steve’s advice on the basic way of playing C natural better.
Fortunately, I already read music from playing the trumpet and baritone. To brush up, I finished one of The Teaching Company’s Great Courses series on the Fundamentals of Music Theory because that’s what normal humans do, right? 
My wife is a piano teacher and flute player, taking whistle classes with me, and we have four or five sets of different lesson books to experience as retirees with plenty of time on our hands.
I want to add another interesting note for the start of my whistle journey. I was a law enforcement officer for fifteen years before becoming a high school science teacher. Stick that little fact to the side.
Someone recommended that I try to identify with Irish music other than ITM. So, I put together a list of different performers and bands and have been listening to sound clips of their most popular songs. I might only listen to 30 seconds of a song before moving on to the next song, especially if there are bagpipes in the song, which is every other song. I added songs I liked to my wish list and shared those songs with my wife. I have been doing this on and off for three or four days.
I have been frustrated for four days. I know this because I was starting to become slightly upset and respond sarcastically to others, a side effect from years of suppressing the things we dealt with as law enforcement officers. Sarcasm was just a negative part of the law enforcement culture. I had not seen that sarcastic part of me in quite some time and was trying to figure out what was wrong with me. This was a joyful research project to pick out our instruments and lesson books. Suddenly, I was frustrated and acting out sarcastically like I did when I was a cop inappropriately dealing with stress.
I wrote a Facebook post stating that I needed to figure out what day God created Hell and try and cross reference that in my Bible’s index to see what level of Hell bagpipes and Uellian pipes were checked out from because I have had my fill of listening to sirens on emergency runs after fifteen years as a law enforcement officer.
It just hit me. For about an hour a day over the last week, I have been subjecting myself to sirens, excuse me, bagpipes, which unknowingly get my adrenaline going. My body didn’t know what to do with the adrenaline, and I couldn’t figure out why I was upset. When I hear bagpipes, it is like listening to sirens, and I subconsciously get an adrenaline dump as if I am getting ready to go on an emergency run.
Remember that little fact if you know a retired LE struggling with ITM.
No wonder the Irish are always fighting. 
I’m still working out the residual sarcasm.
This is a joyful project:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWhTM1Anw3-sLticpeIpbm0Bp6ML0fMo/view?usp=sharing
We are only waiting on Mary Begin’s lesson book:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GzEiMA1ZXklyqekTWmjb3GLTbvJQjOju/view?usp=drive_link
Between bagpipes and trumpet, I’d think that trumpet would remind one of sirens more. But maybe that’s just me.
Interestingly, it seems that the Uilleann pipes were quite popular at one time among the Protestant clergy, who used them as an alternative to pipe organs. (I myself played uilleann pipes in church not too long ago.) One group, I believe it was the Puritans, referred to the pipe organ as the “devil’s bagpipe,” clearly implying that actual bagpipes are more likely to be heavenly… 
(No disrespect intended. Anyone who has ever been involved with law enforcement or emergency services has my deepest respect and sympathy.)
Those Goldies look great! I’m envious…
Thanks. I should add that my comments, beyond the epiphany of said caused adrenaline dump, were also tongue-in-cheek. I have great respect for Bagpipe and Uillean players. I have read nearly every comment made by Pancelticpiper on this forum and think he is a GIFT from heaven for beginners like myself, even if he checked his instrument out from level 13. 
You are correct about the two subjects spilling over. The other thread was about selecting our initial instruments. I admittedly approached that process with a clinical bent, akin to using the C&F Whistle forum archive search feature as a Consumer Report guide to select our initial instruments and then quickly finding appropriate lesson books to teach me the technical skills necessary to play them.
The process of selection I chose lacked the cultural awareness required to gain “membership” within the ITM community (So to speak). I am self-aware enough to know the offensiveness my cosmopolitan, American-esque, property-over-relationships approach to this matter brings with it. Even I could write a Monty Python skit with good humor about the matter.
In my search of the archives, I noted a period of turbulence in the C&F Whistle Board similar to Darth Vader sensing a disturbance in the Force. The Whistle Board was a small, slightly arcane group of devotees who shared nuanced conversations about the instrument separate from the general public.
Modern culture’s sudden surge of ‘Whistle-awareness’ surprised some board members. Membership swelled to what one user reported as three times growth in as many years. Dale struggled with new rules designed to maintain cohesion between the original smaller group and a rowdy, new crowd of Young Turks who (I am both generalizing and stereotyping here) showed no respect for the love of an instrument and how to discuss that love.
That was a pretty acrimonious period, and I began to feel those emotions as I read through the archive. I even started to get upset and take sides with something I had no part in, which was disputed over twenty years ago! I continuously stopped and talked to my wife about how upsetting the period of the archives I was reading through was. Believe it or not, I cried at one point. It was as if I was crying over a good novel. I kept putting the book down and explaining to my bed partner what happened in the storyline to cause me to cry.
One impassioned and beautiful comment discussed the difficulties everyone had with understanding how to conduct themselves in this new internet forum when the group grew to a size that sociologists think may cause splits to occur naturally. My point is only that I am aware of something that Brother Steve addresses almost immediately in his journal. He is very kind and gently wants to explain to those intent on being True Believers of ITM that there are some hurdles along the way.
I greatly enjoyed Brother Steve’s story in section For The Classical Trained. I boldly claim to be a violinist because I am a newbie looking in from the outside with no intention of being a true believer. I want to respect what I see as I gather the techniques required to play my instrument. Brother Steve's tin-whistle pages: meditations
I aim to select an accompaniment instrument for my wife’s hammered dulcimer and pick out lesson books to learn the techniques required to be proficient in reading and playing our obtained classical and contemporary sheet music with my accompanying instrument. That goal has not changed. I want to respectfully learn as much of ITM from outside and move forward with different genres.
I look forward to diving as deep as possible into our lesson books. My selection of Grey Larsen’s book even hints at my connection with him as an outsider attempting to assess the cultural aspects that many would say clinically are unquantifiable within ITM. Yet, it appears that he made an academic attempt to create notation within sheet music to express those interesting rhythmic and ornamentation aspects Brother Steve talks about. I want to enjoy his perspective.
So, in some sense, I am a violinist. I don’t plan to become a True Believer. I just want to recognize and appreciate the complexity of the ITM culture as I learn what I need to know to start playing the instrument in a different context.
Yet, who knows? Maybe I will ultimately be seduced to the Dark Side. 
I am probably more like the other fiddler:
I know a prominent fiddler who gives lessons but actually believes that teaching is a waste of time. He is self-taught, and thinks that those who are unable to teach themselves never really get anywhere.
If you have the hunger to play a particular type of music well, immerse yourself and ask advice if you come across something you hear but don’t quite understand. You get help but you have find your own direction and have to do the discovering and the work yourself and only if you do that you can internalise it with the necessary detail.
Lessons, I don’t know, you can take s horse to water and all that. And I say that as someone who taught the pipes for years. Anyway, that sort of thing is a regular topic if discussion in real life perhaps as a means of venting all manner if frustrations, let’s put it that way.
A very well known musician always refers to learning as 'it’s dark and lonely work’.. And isn’t it just.
I think we are going to get along just fine…
I am currently on page 40 of Grey Larsen’s The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle. I would like to publicly apologize to all players of the uilleann pipes. My lack of knowledge about the history of uilleann pipes within traditional Irish music led me to mistakenly associate your instrument too intimately with Scottish bagpipes.
I still struggle with some bagpipes’ high-pitched, siren-like quality, but now I understand that uilleann pipes can produce a softer, sweeter, and more melodic tone.
I restrict my over-generalized and stereotypical remarks about which instruments are more prone to instigating bar fights to other types of bagpipes (Scottish or English?) until I learn otherwise.
Uilleann pipes are a kind of bagpipe. They vary from pipe to pipe in terms of how “harsh” their sound is, but none of them are anywhere near as loud or harsh as Scottish highland pipes, which are the most common kind of bagpipe (and perhaps the kind of bagpipe that annoys you the most).
If you’re listening to Irish traditional music and you hear “bagpipes,” you’re almost always hearing Uillean pipes. Occasionally people will play Irish music on Scottish or English pipes, but that’s fairly abnormal.
Ahh, well have a listen at a couple of tracks from this lovely album, John. Mick is playing a flat set, so pitched lower than the uilleann pipes used in most sessions, but the total absence of shriekiness is typical. Caoimhín’s lovely relaxed fiddle style complements perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM2T3YlB_Uc&list=OLAK5uy_m6n42cIJcRf5VgEjvt8xA0ai_nsQjpY2I&index=2
The great Highland pipes (and the Irish equivalent) needed to be audible over significant distances in battles, so yes, they’re loud. It’s an extraordinary, spine-tingling sound outdoors or in a large space, but can be a bit brash close up. Almost every culture across the world has a bagpipe, though, and many of them can be listened to comfortably in small spaces where military great pipes could be a bit overwhelming.
Here’s another uilleann piper, the late and much lamented Liam O’Flynn (on a D set) playing a jig set with fellow luminaries of Irish music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL7sxg6BQSE
If these guys don’t change your mind, nothing will!
If I understand correctly, both of those sounds were uilleann pipes. I enjoyed those songs. Now that I know about my subconscious adrenaline dump from the high-pitched sound of some bagpipe songs, I am sure I will be fine. I simply did not know why my body was reacting as it did.
I did not know of the difference between the instruments and still have a lot to learn. So, Grey Larsen’s book is great for someone like me who has no experience in this genre. In fact, I bought the album ‘Uilleann Tales’ by Chris McMullan over a week ago on day one of looking for music that I enjoyed. I will certainly check out Mick O’Brien agus Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.
Thanks!
We both enjoy classical and contemporary music.
Perhaps try some of this From the notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach etc - Dordán
The following must be read in the voice of John Cleese:
"By George, Mr. Gumby, you have stumbled upon pure Gold. Yes, you have caused me to expand my collection by capturing my essence. It turns out I am a man of Baroque taste.
I will keep watch of my front stoop for the delivery of Mary Bergin’s Irish Tin Whistle Tutorial Volume 1 (Beginner to Intermediate Level). It should arrive any day now.
Also, if this letter finds you well, please return the favor—I’ve been looking for myself all day."
Last night was our first Tucson Irish Music Showcase event. We listened to outstanding local musicians and confirmed three active sessions in our area https://www.facebook.com/share/p/163EQ5stmW/.
Also, I have finished researching our tin whistle lesson books and selected books from Grey Larsen, Mary Bergins, Hannigan & Ledsam, Stephen Ducke, and L.E. McCullough.
I would describe my experience with the lifetime of work Grey Larsen has developed as completely blown away. I recommend a good starting point for a beginning whistler like myself to download the following three inexpensive lesson books:
First Lessons Tin Whistle (eBook + Online Audio/Video) $14.99
https://www.melbay.com/Products/30043MEB/first-lessons-tin-whistle.aspx?src=121715
The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox (eBook + Online Audio) $24.99
https://www.melbay.com/Products/99129BCDEB/the-essential-tin-whistle-toolbox.aspx?src=121715
The Toolbox Exercises for Finger Coordination $6.99
https://greylarsen.com/shop/product/the-toolbox-exercises-for-finger-coordination/
I have purchased Grey Larsen’s enormous tome (The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle) and would not recommend it to beginners. Yet, I have no background in traditional Irish music. So, I am reading it. If that is not your style, The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox will suffice as a slimmed-down version.
Mary Bergin’s first lesson book has not arrived yet. However, my research shows Mary Bergin owns a heralded place within any Whistling Hall of Fame. Mary’s lesson books are equally prized within the Irish Traditional Music community and deserve to be on our shelf alongside Grey Larsen’s work. Brenda and I look forward to owning all three of Mary Bergin’s volumes:
Master the Tin Whistle with Mary Bergin (Volume I: Beginner to Intermediate Level) $88.01 w/ shipping to the US:
https://maryberginwhistle.com/tutor-volume-1/
In a few months, we look forward to using Hannigan & Ledsam’s The Low Whistle Book ($26) to begin working with what I hope will become my favorite whistles.
https://bigwhistle.co.uk/product/the-low-whistle-book/
Finally, I have very much enjoyed exploring Grey Larsen’s work:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PemA7mOicURHKZXUoHpjeVk_u2f9vgA4/view?usp=sharing
Hi John and Brenda
It is so great to read about your adventure learning the whistle. In 2008 to 2015 I spent every summer in Ireland. I wanted to connect with the
Irish people so I asked a whistle player at a local pub to teach me and he did. I was 53 years old so it probably took a lot longer to learn than the
young lads. I learned and played the whistle and after about 3 years I got really good. I stopped playing for a few years to learn guitar but now here
I am at 70 relearning the whistle again. I guess the flame never went out.
This is what worked for me: I learned the basic fingering positions for each note in the two octaves. I then learned how much breath was required to
play each note in each octave and how to comfortably perch my lips on the mouthpiece. Sitting position and angle of the tube is important because
nothing worse than tired shoulders and back.
So I learned all that and then the real lessons started. My Irish friend Jim started me on Southwind. It beats Mary had a little lamb! Practice.Practice.
Practice. Once I got the basic tune down I learned when to take quick breaths after certain notes. The fun started when Jim had me play Southwind
with him at a pub. I was really nervous and missed a few notes but it was such an amazing feeling!!!
Jim then had me pick a song that I really liked and I learned the tune and he sang it. This is what really started me on my journey because I started
to feel the notes inside me. It was no longer just blowing out notes but it really touched my soul. I learned the most popular tunes first: Irish Washerwoman,
Gabiel’s Oboe, Boys of Blue Hill, Harvest Home, etc. I played these with Jim in the pubs. And the rest is History. Keep it fun
At this point it strikes what me you are doing is more like writing blog posts than writing forum posts. Would it be a too wild to suggest you start a proper blog and post links and pethaps short summaries of new entries here for those interested? The forum is better suited to various interactions like asking questions, giving and receiving advice, exchanging opinions etc.
I will do just that. Thank you. I appreciate the advice. 
My thread for selecting our initial whistles and this one for selecting our beginner lessons are completed. We are off to the races. Mr. Gumby, I appreciate your assistance in learning the ropes of the forums. Your kindness and guidance were great. It certainly would be nice to meet you some day.
I just want to add that I play the soprano D (or high D is what we use to call it). I have the Sush Pro, Killarney, and Burke session. All three are used
at different times. It takes really more energy to keep up playing all three because the breath requirements are so different, so by concentrating on
one- Killarney- my muscle memory kicks in and my body knows just how much breath for each note without me even thinking about it.
I also play the Burke C whistle for slower songs and tunes in key of C. The internet is where I get 90 % of music. I’ll write the tabs down for each note if there
are none available.