Before I took up whistle and really got ‘into’ Irish music, my main association with Irish music was the slow, sad sort, and I still really like the way those sound. What are these called? Is this what a slow air is? I haven’t really come across one in my searches for music to play…are they not generally played by the whistle? Is that the explanation?
Thanks. Sorry if the question seems sort of stupid. 
Yup, those are slow airs.
There’s at least two tune books out there entirely devoted to slow airs. Plus a couple of others that include slow airs with other tunes.
This site: http://fingertrip.net/whistle/ has a few online. I particularly like Róisín Dubh and Sliabh Geal gCua, but there’s a few others there that are equally nice.
Go to ABC tunefinde
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/FindTune.html
and look for:
Lullaby (key of D)
Selkie’s Waltz (G)
the Cradle Song (A)
Dochas (G)
Port na bPucai (D)
An Gamhuin Geal Ban (g)
Arran Boat Song (d)
Casadh an tSugain (twisting of the hayrope) (G)
An Feochan
Skye Boat Song
Inis Oirr
Spancil Hill
Tha mi sgith
Fir na Fhata
Pretty Maid Milking a Cow
Fear a Bhata
Valley near Slieve na mon
Then go to Mick’s Virtual Whistle and check out some of his lovely stuff:
http://fingertrip.net/index.html
All of this stuff can be played on the whistle!
Robin
This is stupid…is there a ‘fast’ air?
No, in reality, slow air is a bit redundant, in a repetitive way.
Though there’s more than a couple of airs that can be played as reels, highlands or jigs with little or no adjustment other than speed. The reverse applies equally as well.
I don’t think I agree with this. An air, in the traditional sense, anyway, is a tune to a song; in the modern sense it’s a tune that doesn’t fit into the jig/reel/hornpipe/etc. mold. Si Bheag Si Mhor is in the strictest sense an air (Carolan wrote words to it, though I’ve never been able to find them), and while it’s not normally played at 200 bpm, I like it much better played fast than played as a funeral dirge.
Gee, there’s a whole lot of gorgeous celtic slow
stuff, and it sounds great on the whistle.
You came to the right place, alright.
If you listen to CDs, you’ll
find plenty.
Thanks for the link to Mick’s site–geez that’s
great music. Just learned Hector the Hero,
which I’d heard often but never realized
was beautiful.
Go into Clips and Snips, find May Morning Dew by Dave Parkhurst have a listen. Your heart will ache and tears will come to your eyes.
I think the slower, weepier airs are called laments, as they were usually written after an unfortunate incident, like someone drowning or a love lost or a lost love drowning off a boat.
Is Clips and Snips supposed to be a seperate site, or a message board? I’m really stupid so I’m afraid you’ll have to tell me. I looked for May Morning Dew, and did searches and couldn’t find it. cries
http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/
The Clips and Snips Forum is on the main page of the C&F forums. Tin Whistle tunes is accessable from this same location and it is run entirely by Tony Higgins from his own website…
Tony Higgins dedicates much time and money to make things go smoothly and (in my opinion) receives little or no credit for doing so much work.
Though there’s more than a couple of airs that can be played as reels, highlands or jigs with little or no adjustment other than speed. The reverse applies equally as well.
If you play with tunes you can ‘discover’ some surprisingly nice slow, er… tunes 
I was playing An Dro at 40 bpm instead of say 120 bpm, and discovered a lovely slow piece that sounds like a lament.
I was given this clue by somebody trying to play ‘How much is that doggy in the window’ very slowly.
So, if you don’t know any slow tunes or slow airs, play something you do know very slowly, sliding into/out of the notes to ‘bend’ them and give more expression.
HTH
One of my favorites is Eamonn a’ Chnoic.
I like the lament Bold Fenian Men. The Blackbird also sounds good to me when played slowly.
In Ireland we used to call these songs “Comalye’s” because the words to a lot of lament’s begin with “Come all ye”…young maidens…young fellows…and…blah, blah, etc.
Maybe the most lovely
and soulful
Gershwin song, ‘Someone to watch over me,’
was a quick step tune played while the dancers
ran out on stage in some musical.
You can imagine how it would sound
really fast, just a throw away.
Then one day George G was musing at
the piano, and he happened to play it slowly…
As for airs and lyrics being linked, that’s generally correct, although I came across the statement that ‘Lament for Staker Wallace’ was the first known ‘air’ to have been composed w/o words. Other references I have seen refer to it as an air. However, I have also come across the term ‘piece’ in references to tunes whose purpose have nothing to do with dancing, or, I presume, song, but are art pieces composed for their own sake. Gol na mBan san Ar (sp?) would be one such. I imagine some would prefer to call ‘Staker’ a piece rather than an air. 
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=6450&forum=1&start=15&29
Here are some other views on the subject.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=773&forum=1&32
and
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=32546&highlight=#32546
OK. Some great music on all the sites suggested above! Thank you to all. Now, I am particularly interested in slow airs coming from Scotland, and preferably for the Low Whistle…
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance