I would like to learn to play Uilleann Pipes. But I take things slowly. My goal is to spend some time learning the Tin Whistle and see if I have what it takes. If that works out, then I will graduate.
So my question is, can anyone recommend a good Whistle that will make the transition a smooth one? That is to say, a whistle that makes similar demands for fingering, etc. to the pipes, but with a decent sound all it’s own.
I can spend up to $100 US.
I will post this on the Uilleann Pipe forum as well.
The whistle, any whistle, will seerve you to loosen up your fingers and get a sense of the music. The change to the pipes is a change to a different instrument and it will be learning a new instrument. I have two young pupils at the moment who are both (at 12 and 16) better whistleplayers than I will ever be but they don’t have anything like a smooth transition to the pipes.
What the whistle (any whistle) will do is allow you to learn “the music” (Irish trad.) on an instrument that presents few challenges. So that when you move to the pipes, you’re learning the pipes, not the pipes and the musical language at the same time. In this respect the whistle could be a great help. I’d recommend anything costing less than $10!
I agree with Peter and Steve. The whistle is good for learning the tunes in your head and for coming up to speed on the style. But in most cases you’ll have to relearn the fingerings.
The uilleann pipes is an awesome instrument but it is a different instrument, and going from whistle to pipes is like starting over in many respects, except that as noted by the others, at least you’ll be familiar with some tunes and know the style.
Listening to recordings of really good pipers is another necessity.