I have my new Tony Dixon A whistle and love it. I need a special tune to play on it. Everybody in our folk sessions is supposed to come up with a solo and being only a whistler for 8 months I’m not up to lots of ornamentation. (Didn’t realise it was that long since I bought my first whistle. Can’t count how many I have now!) 
Can anybody suggest a tune please with a midi file preferably.
I have a Silkstone G/A set, but the A barrel doesn’t get much use.
There is one tune I like to play along with that’s in the key of A though, here’s a short clip if you’re interested:
http://webpages.charter.net/raindog1970/No_Name.mp3
I’ve never written down the notation because it’s such an easy tune to learn by ear… hope you like it.
“[Rain Dogs] …the ones you see wanderin’ around after a rain. Ones that can’t find their way back home. See the rain washes off the scent off all the mail boxes and the lamposts, fire hydrants…”
Tom Waits
[ This Message was edited by: raindog1970 on 2002-04-20 14:37 ]
That is a lovely tune and just perfect for me to learn. It’s almost like a Highland footy song. Has it got an origin? No name sounds great for a title.
Suantrai, a lullaby. Its in the “An Irish Tunebook” vol. 2, page 50 edited by John Loesberg, published by Ossian Publications.
I don’t know if its on any abc program websites. Starts with three second octave d’s in common time. Somebody may have transposed it up to G for regular whistles but it sounds better low.
Makes a beautiful processional for weddings too. has a low b that must be played where it sits, not transposed. Played well, it will make you cry (IPS, Irish Pathos Syndrome, see Kennedy, Brian “Tar Tar a Run”). It can be harmonized western-style, you know, inversions and the like. I use a guitar with 6th string to D to get walking up bass when I play with flutist.
If I could ever get my non-tunable low Chieftains A whistle to play nice I would play it.Best wishes to all.
On 2002-04-20 16:10, selkie wrote:
That is a lovely tune and just perfect for me to learn. It’s almost like a Highland footy song. Has it got an origin? No name sounds great for a title.
The clip is the instrumental ending of a song by Shane MacGowan & The Popes, and the title really is “The](http://www.shanemacgowan.com/lyrics/noname.shtml%3EThe) Song With No Name”.
I’ll post the whole thing if you want it, and I’ll ZIP it if I can’t figure out what’s causing the glitches in MP3 files I upload to my WEB space.
Be warned though, Shane’s vocals are not something everyone knows how to appreciate! 
Yes please. I’d love the whole tune. I’m sitting here just repeating it and it works really well on the A whistle. Very haunting. Please e-mail it me if you can’t post it here.
I have a version of the tune on a Tom Sweeney CD. He calls it Homes of Donegal and lists it as traditional and says in the liner notes “This was a great favorite at every gathering when I was growing up in Ireland. Donegal possesses the most rugged land and gentle hearts in the country.” I got to hear him sing it at the Milwaukee Irish Festival last summer. I take it being traditional as probably being an old melody that has had various words added to it along the line. It’s a lovely tune and really sticks in your head.
Raindog, did I ever send the Tom Sweeney CD MP3 to you, I can’t remember?
I too just got my new Dixon A today! Been playing on it all afternoon. My C nat seems flat, but it could be me.Does yours sound ok? I’ve tried different fingerings. All in all though I do like the sound of the Dixons. Now I’m waiting on my Bflat which is backordered.
A beautiful tune that works well on the A whistle is ‘Niel Gow’s Lament For The Death Of His Second Wife’.
Cowtime. My C natural is okay.
You might want to try Ashokan Farewell. It is a tune I bought my A whistle for. You can find it on <a href=http://ecf-guest.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/findtune?P=Ashokan+Farewell&F2=find+(wide)> JC’s ABC Tune finder.
Heres the ABC.
X: 1
T: Ashokan Farewell
C: Jay Ungar, 1983.
N: (c) 1983 by Swinging Door Music-BMI
N:
N: Jay Ungar <fiddlerjay@aol.com>
Z: John Erdman <jperdman@agate.NET>
M: 3/4
S: The Waltz Book
F:http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/Scotland/waltz/AshokanFarewell.abc 2002-04-22 15:13:45 UT
K: D
Ac
|| "D"d3 cBA | "D7"F4 EF | "G"G3 FED | "Bm"B,2 D3 B, | "D"A,2 D2 F2 | A2 d2 f2 | "G"f3 gf2 | "A7"e4 Ac |
| "D"d3 cBA | "D7"F4 EF | "G"G3 FED | "Bm"B,2 D3 B, | "D"A,2 D2 F2 | A2 d2 f2 | "A7"A2 c2 e2 | "D"d4 FG |
| "D"A3 FD2 | d4 A2 | "G"B3 cd2 | "D"A F3 E2 | "Bm"F3 ED2 | "G"B,4 G,2 | "A7"A,6 | A4 FE |
| "D"D2 F2 A2 | “C”=c6 | "G"B3 cd2 | "D"A2 F2 D2 | A,2 D2 F2 | A2 d2 F2 | "A7"E3 DC2 | "D"D4 |]
And an Image of the Gif from JC’s is available but I can’t get the image link to work.
Hope this helps you …
Enjoy Your Music,
Lee Marsh
[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2002-04-22 14:50 ]
My favorite A whistle tune is the shapenote hymn called ‘Prospect’. I don’t have an
ABC source, but it’s in the Big Red Book o’ shapenote tunes, aka The Sacred Harp. Play in the key of D with some slides and finger vibrato…
good luck!
–Tom Olson