Hey everyone. I play the whistle myself, have been playing a year, but the tunes i play are mostly jigs, and hornpipes, and now im interested in moving on and taking on some reels. What are some good flowing reels, that arent terribly difficult to learn? I just want to learn a few so I can get the jist of the rhythm and how they should be played. Thank you much
cheers
-chris
You’ll get about 5 million suggestions, but try these on for size:
Concertina Reel (aka The One Note Reel 
)
Rolling on the Rye Grass (aka Shannon Breeze?)
Father Kelly’s
Silver Spear (very easy on the whistle/flute after you master the A rolls, but a bear on the fiddle, i hear)
Also check out http://www.scoiltrad.com. Maybe do one of their beginner lessons.
Good luck!
g
How about
Little Bag of Spuds
Anything for John Joe
Green Grow the Rushes, O
Mike
I think be “what reels would be too difficult for an intermediate player?” would be a better question. Most reels, I think, are about as easy as any other reels to play, with the exception of such ones that are particuliarly difficult, or should be left alone until you’re an experienced musician…
As for what reels to learn, I would suggest listening to albums you like, find a reel you like, and then learn it, using whatever method you want. Really, very few reels will be especially easy, though now I say that, Concertina Reel springs to mind as being simple.
“Far From Home” and “The Pealer’s Jacket” are pretty easy. I play them together in a set.
“The Morning Star” is another nice one.
-Brett
Here’s my suggestion. Don’t learn reels that you particularily like until you really learn how to play. Pick out tunes that are farely easy and simple, but don’t go so simple that you’re boring yourself. Just don’t go out and try and learn the tunes you really like cause you’ll butcher and ruin them for you later on. I’ve been going at it over a year and a half and all of the tunes I’ve learn exept for what I’ve learn in the last month are complete rubish, and I still can’t play them right because I learned them wrong to begin with. And I ruined some of my favorite tunes that way 
So don’t do what I did (don’t learn from sheet music if you can avoid it) and start off with simple tunes that you aren’t crazy about and learn them right. And www.scoiltrad.com is a good place to start if you want to learn some reels, properly.
Lots of great suggetions.
Don’t rightly recall where I started, but I never sat down to
formaly begin ‘learning’ to play.
That said I am not much use on the
TW - though there is nothing I like
better than listen to a good player. Now having put you off I need now to list a couple of little
things that made all the difference in what I can do, little though it be.
First of all follow with severe
dicipline the correct fingerings since learning wrong makes a person
A sound horrid and B makes Piping later on, a nightmare. Chief among the wrong things newbies -including myself- do is leaving the top hole covered on the Octave note. The correct practice is well documented here at the C&F.
Second is never being taught correct phrasing and learning at the start -NOT to tounge- but Huff.
Here’s how I learned that one. I was told to sit on a stool with my boots nearly touching the floor. I had to be able to ‘slap’ the floor with one or both feet. I was shown a ‘tapping’ rhythm which I had to get off, or learn. Later on I chose a simple two finger var in G and D on the TW with which to try out my new found skills. IOW You learn to huff to a rhythm first! If you can’d do that learning reels can bea pain in the neck. If you can do it then learning new tunes is a gradual but painless process.
Some short cuts I often use to allow me to more easily move along the skill curves. I often replace three 8th notes with one dotted 4er
I allways remove all decorations until I have a really solid version of the tune, and I have good strong rhythm.
For your help here are a few simpler tunes the fingering of which is fairly easy but make one feel like a hot tootler. BTW The easiest way I know to blow Octave notes is open a small exhaust at the side of the fipple and ‘hawing’ my breath. It takes a little practice!
Reels
The Wind That Shakes The Barley
NOTICE the simpler possibilities in Pt 2
The Ballyconnel Reel ( recorded by many ceilidh bands ) But its great fun to play on TW!
Learning one air in G is a good idea, or anything that will begin your exploration of playing in C on the D whistle.