Thank you Peter!
I think Iâm done here. 
This is really an interesting discussion . . . and it looks like it has generated a ton of comments. Iâve wondered why the whistle hasnât been used in American country/western music. Some of the old classics like âFaded Loveâ and âYou Hear that Lonesome Whistle Blowâ sound great on the whislte . . . slurs and octave leaps in pitch really work well on the whistle. And isnât American county music a direct descendant of ITM with the jigs and reel that are part of old American folk music?
Iâve thought the whistle to be much like the diatonic harmonica . . . lacking the ability to play in any key, but have a much greated potential of expression. A chromatic harmonica can play in any key, but it just doesnât sound the same. I understand the reason some people like the whistle so much, and dislike the r******r.
Anyone else thought of the whistle and country music?
No, not really: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=789929#789929
Search back through the Whistle forum for other threads on this.
I guess I didnât express myself very well. I was NOT trying to say that WHISTLE music had a place in the ancestry of American folk music, but rather that the traditional reels and jigs had their place in the ancestry of American folk and country music . . . probably closer to bluegrass than other country music.
I just seems to me that the whistle might naturally fit with some country music if someone tried it. Celtic music and country share some common ancestry.
you need to find a smaller brush
I love ITM. I love the old tunes, and also the recently composed and all the contemporary tunes. I also along with it like writing my own tunes, as well, though I find it kind of boring to ONLY play my own music.
ITâS ALL GOOD! GET IT?
Indeed
Actually, I think youâve just hit the nail on the head. I mean, Iâm quite happy with (some of) the tunes Iâve written. But I donât pretend theyâre as musically interesting as the best examples of the tradition.
And certainly they donât have the rich history to discuss that so many of the tunes in the tradition. Nor is discussing them likely to turn up some unheard classic recording, or venerable and brilliant variation. I shouldnât be having technical problems with the tune. So what is there to say about it, other than than âHey! I wrote a tune!â, which makes for egotistical and fluffy threads.
Eastern European and Balkan folk has lots of whistle (frula or furulya or csango or kavalâŚ) in it. There are lots of examples on Youtube. Should we include side and end-blown flutes too? Are there whistle techniques that arenât possible on flutes?
To be honest West, it is not the pejorative nature of âregurgitate,â that bothers me in iteself. Rather it is the arrogance (using your word there - it is actually much stronger than I mean, as I donât mean to really attack you, but just to point out the unsettling part of your posts to those of us who are in the tradition) of someone thinking that they understand what a tradition is doing in its music, while having only the most distant knowledge of it, thus perceiving it from their own quite different understanding of music and as a result, completely misunderstanding what they hear and see.
Fantasy associated with traditional - also disturbing.
Decorating your music with empty cultural signifiers of borrowed riffs of Irish music for effect will leave those of us of the tradition listening to such music very unimpressed, for we will hear the non understanding of our tradition, recognize that the riffs are empty of cultural understanding, and know that the music that we take very seriously is merely being surface mined in the most shallow way, with nothing given back to its tradition.
Thereâs a webpage that might be of use to the fellow who began this thread. The Irish Flute Poser page. It gives tips on how to âsound Irishâ when you havenât studied it properly.
http://www.irishflutes.net/mef/Poser.htm
Mark gives all his disclaimers there as well. The key point he makes at the start:
âit is possible to fool your musically challenged listeners into believing that youâve got this Irish music thing under controlâ - note the audience he points out - âmusically challenged listenersâ. When I was a newbie I thought that was so cute. But its also the truth.
West, you said:
Ever heard of the expression âto each his ownâ?
Yes, but what has that got to do with the statement:
from my perspective, playing old tunes over and over again instead of writing new ones is odd. Not saying that thereâs anything wrong with it
Itâs just the contradictory nature, itâs odd but there is nothing wrong with it. (?)
You also said:
Well, Iâm gonna let you in on something (while weâre being snotty):
Oh dear, I should use emoticons more, I am not being snotty, itâs just the way you are reading what I say. Try reading my comments again and imagine me with this expression 
or this one .
I said:
âThe music may be âoldâ, but the music is as fresh as it has always beenâ
To which you replied:
I never said it wasnât.
EmmâŚI didnât say you did, I was just making a statement based on the overall drift of your posts. You, by your opinions, give the impression that âoldâ tunes are a waste of time when you could be off writing new ones. Thatâs just an impression, just as you have this one âI get the impression that the majority of musicans around here are focused on Irish traditional musicâ.
Good luck in your quasi Tull/Sting/Fantasy/Irish music quest!
Why?
Well, um, okay. Am I misunderstanding you or are you saying that unless a musician knows Irish music inside out s/he shouldnât even think about using such influences in his/her own music? Isnât that a bit like saying that itâs not allowed to use a jazz chord progression in a pop song unless one is a schooled and experieced jazz musician? I find this notion just as unsettling. The word âelitistâ does spring to mind.
I donât see the problem with that statement. âFrom my perspectiveâ â i.e. a musician who has done far more composing than playing the music of others â I find it odd that some people spend so much time learning and playing other peopleâs music instead of writing their own (and this isnât limited to traditional music). And thatâs what I meant by âto each his ownâ â if you want to exclusively play traditional tunes, rock covers, classical pieces or whatever, fine, be my guest. I just donât get it. I get more joy from composing but hey, thatâs just me.
If itâs still not clear what I mean Iâm gonna have to assume itâs because English is not my first language.
OK, sorry about the âsnottyâ remark. Thatâs scary, people use smileys so much these days I think Iâm losing my ability to detect irony or tongue-in-cheek remarks. Gah.
Fair enough. I can understand why you would get that impression. I must confess that the arrogant tone in some of my posts was quite deliberate â nothing beats being an ass if you want to get a discussion going. Iâm starting to regret that I didnât express myself more diplomatically though, as I seem to have mildly offended some people and given everyone the impression that Iâm a complete retard.
Thatâs funny, the word âelitistâ springs to mind again. The second time today!
Woah, now, donât be too hard on me!! I used to love the haunting, etheral âCelticâ stuff, even though it canât be produced by your local band, and I went from there into more pure ITM, so it CAN lead in a good direction!
Yes very good - donât bother actually engaging the substance of my remarks. Instead, announce a weak conclusion based on a very simplistic interpretation of them and without waiting to find out if that is in fact what I meant, dismiss the whole lot by characterizing me as elitist. No bother then, you donât have to think or worry about it any longer. I donât believe for a minute that you are even slightly unsettled. You donât appear to have given it enough thought.
So very good of you to allow us to âbe [your] guestâ in playing the music that we play. Thatâs right, ITM as you call it, is just like all other sorts of music, because arenât all traditions of music the same? This setting aside the fact that we do make up new tunes - I wouldnât want to use the fancy word compose, as, of course, clearly we donât do that. What is it with composers and this high modernist rubbish? This, we âcreate,â anything else is lesser, stuff. You walk into a place filled with people engaged in a tradition and start pointing out how you find it odd and isnât it better to compose, although youâll kindly allow us to keep on at what you fallaciously imagine we do, not really knowing anything about it, and you call me elitist? Youâve some sodding gall mate.
In replying to the original question of this thread (which seems to be very successful judging by the number of replies):
I love to play Irish traditional music. I used to hate the fast tunes, since they were WAY too hard to play, and to me they all sounded alike (then). But as time went on, I discovered that I CAN play the jigs and reels quickly, and thereâs a special joy in that. They no longer sound alike to me. I never leave any practice session without playing ALL my jigs, reels, hornpipes and polkas. Theyâre so HAPPY!
My main grief is that I still canât seem to make them sound âIrishâ enough.
But I do play other music: The whistle really shines with hymns and praise choruses. I have played praise till the tears ran down my cheeks! Worship shines on a whistle.
I find the whistle also shines on Middle Ages stuff, like what the Mideval (I just canât spell that!) Babes do. But, for some reason, I canât keep interest in playing those songs.
Well you surely donât seem to think twice about jumping to conclusions, so I donât see why I couldnât do the same. How else am I supposed to interpret, âDecorating your music with empty cultural signifiers of borrowed riffs of Irish music for effect etcâ. I take it that is what you suppose I want to do â if not, be more clear.
Well I did say "am I misunderstanding you, or.. ". Feel free to elaborate.
Up until this point I was taking your post seriously, but now I see that you have issues with non-traditional musicians in general. Not only are you putting words in my mouth, youâre reading my posts selectively. Yet you expect me to sit back and ponder your words as were they some divine wisdom. If thatâs not elitist, I donât know what is.