I can play some songs from my head now and some more from tabs. But I want off those tabs! Mostely beacause I won’t have to translate the music to tabs annymore before playing.
Anny hints/tips?
And how long did you guys take to learn and play from written music?
I think a program like this might be handy for you:
http://noteableflashcards.com/SS4.htm
That’s just one I pulled off google now for you, I’m sure theres other free ones out there though, it’s basic enough and thats all you really need for that task. I don’t know if the program allows you to re configure the answer notes but it would make more sense to set them to DEFGABC for the whistle. When you start sight reading you’ll find yourself reading sets of notes at a time instead of just one note at a time, especially when they go in a simple pattern like say for example DEF etc. So it would be better if you can change the order in that program. If you suggested it to them they’d probably add that feature.
As regards the length of each note, rhythm, tonguing, slurring and other ornaments you should pick up by ear from other peoples recordings.
I took the long way around and first started by reading whistle tabs with pictures of the whistle under each note, then I started writing down the name of the note under each one of the sheet music, but now I just read off the normal sheet music as I play. Once I know the tune well having heard it lots of times I find I only need to play it 3 or 4 times off the sheet music then it’s in memory. So writing down the notes on the sheet music first actually took more time than learning it! I’m sure others will agree when I say this, that looking back now I find it turned out to be just as easy to read proper sheet music directly than reading little pictures of whistles.
best way I can think of, is just start listening to the music, with your EaR. 
That’s the only way you’ll get good at picking up tunes. Listen. Listen and listen. And after that, do some listening. And when you done with that, listen again. Rinse and repeat the rest of your life. And if you think I’m joking, listen again to what I just wrote.
And oh God, I didn’t captilize the first letter of my first sentence…
^–That’s pretty much what I’d advise too. Or the way Skelton puts it “you can’t really play a tune until you know it”.
Knowing the tune in your head makes it a fair bit easier to learn on the whistle. Then it’s just a question of breaking it down into its component parts until you have it.
Something that may help too is just play around with the whistle. Start picking out tunes or songs you already know - even silly stuff or kids stuff; Twinkle Twinkle… the theme song from Gilligan’s Island… The Fishin’ Hole (theme from Andy Griffith) - stuff like that. Granted you won’t play those in sessions (although starting out playing the Gilligan’s Island theme like a slow air - then speeding it up until folks recognize it is comedy plutonium*) - but they’ll help you get familiar with what playing stuff by ear. 
(*most people just groan 
)
As for written music I’ve always found it better than reading off tabs. But that is still not the preferred way. I’ve only played for a month or so and I thought I’d stick with sheet music forever because it’s easy and always right in front of me. But I did a total 180 on that about a week ago. I’ve discovered that it takes me longer to learn a tune if I use sheet music than if I just listen and play it bit by bit.
there’s also little idiosyncresies you won’t get in ITM off of sheet music, that you will get from listening to good players. Note I said listening…
Yeah that too. If you’re going to have to spend a lot of time listening to tunes anyway then sheet music really has no point whatsoever.
I think that being able to read music is a very useful skill for musicians even if it is not essential.
Deleted: double post
It does have uses. Maybe I said it wrong but I meant that ever since I started listening by ear I haven’t used sheetmusic at all.
I still use it for other instruments, it just loses it’s relevance to me when learning ITM.
I’ve found that the combination of the three, ear training, tablature, and standard notation, is the real power combination. Today we’re lucky to have so many tunes recorded and available that we could spend a couple of lifetimes learning it all. Yet even so there are still tunes that exist in notation only. Like tabalture, standard notation is only another way of recording music. When we first see tabalure it doesn’t make any sense to us either until we learn to interpret it correctly. Standard notation is just a different set of symbols. It didn’t take me any longer to learn to read music than it did to use tablature.
I’ve always looked at it like a capenter’s toolbox. The skilled carpernter uses a hammer and a saw and a tape measure. Music is like that. The more tools we have in the box, the better off we are and the more possibilities that are available to us.
I think that might be the key, ‘when learning ITM’. Reading music notation is a very important skill for a musician, but I suspect it’s importance is relative to the type of music one plays. For any kind of traditional music to be rendered correctly one has to understand the tradition. Outside of traditional music styles I like to start with the notation.
By notation I assume you mean standard five-bar notation, but what do you mean by tabs? (like guitar tabs?)
He means whistle tablature, which is an idea similar to guitar
tablature, except it shows an image which represents the whistle
fingering under each note.
Oh, well that’s useful! Kinda like cheating, though, isn’t it? 
While we’re on the subject, can I ask really quick what these are and how do you read them:
(for example, take from The Session)
X: 1
T: Foggy Dew, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
EF |: G2GA B2gf | e2dB A2GA | BA BG EG FA |1 G6EF :|2 G6ef ||
g2gfe2fg | ag fed2B^d | e3f gf e^d | e6EF |
G2GA B2gf | e2dB A2GA | BA BG EG FA | G6 |]
I don’t think it’s cheating, really, but it is a crutch, which
might keep you from actually learning to read music.
What you have posted is an example of the ABC format. It was
invented as a way to share music using text instead of graphics
files. You can convert it to regular music notation using a
program such as this online converter, the Tune-O-Tron:
http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
More info on the ABC format here:
http://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/
Thanks for the help, fearfaoin!
And I’m sorry for the thread hijack, Basch. 
Being able to read music is a terrific skill. Once you have it, you can find literally thousands of tunes to play. Granted the written notes are just the bare bones of the tune-- experience playing and listening to lots of music will help you put flesh on the bones. Reading is only a hindrance if you JUST play the tune as it’s written.
Getting back to the original question, learning to read the dots is actually a simple mental skill and, if you can read tabs, you are already halfway there. Playing from any written notation is a Pavlovian response: eye sees symbol, brain translates symbol into finger position, fingers assume position. Your brain already knows how to perform all these steps; all you do is substitute a dot symbol for the equivalent tab symbol.
Others above are right about learning by listening but I also agree with Tim2723 that reading music is a useful skill and it’s not that hard to learn. If you assume it will be difficult, then it will be; assume it will be an easy transfer of the skill you already possess and you’ll pick it up in no time.
Now that I understand what we’re actually talking about, I’ll add my two-cents worth.
It helps when you start out to write the letter of the note over (or under) the note itself. Start with something simple, like scales or a familiar tune, and make a point of reading each individual note. Recognise the name of it, where it is, and where your fingers are. Do it over and over with different scales and different tunes. Soon it will become a Pavlovian response, like walrii said.
Though a bit duller, theory worksheets and flashcards can also be a big help. Repetition is the key.
It’s not as difficult as it sounds. You learned to read letters, didn’t you? And there’s 26 of those. All you have to learn in the notation is 8 over and over again.