What makes for the basics of playing Irish trad. on the whistle? In my limited exposure to the genre, there is a variety of styles within the tradition. Much like blues, there are differences that can be found regionally too.
There must be a core or foundation that brings it all together under the same type of music. What would that be?
good question
i have several questions like that and just done know how to put them all together 
so many informations, so many questions, its so confusing for a beginner, isnt it?
what about sctotish trad, british trad, other trad, .,.. all always speak about irish trad, is it just favoured by most users here, by molst whistlers, or is all that thrad meant?
It’s hard to put it into words. To paraphrase the famous line, you know it when you hear it. Of course, you have to have listened to a lot of it to know it when you hear it.
I also wouldn’t be too sure that there is a core or foundation (although I think there is, too). Consider the definition of “sport”. What is a sport? There are many things that are considered sports that do not have any similarities to each other.
At any rate, GW’s questions are a little easier: No, everybody does not always speak about irish traditional music only, but it is what most people here play and speak about. “Trad” is a shorthand that’s confusing at best, but it can refer to other traditional music. Many people here probably do use it to mean irish traditional music (and a smaller number to mean scottish traditional music). Whistle was mostly only used in irish music, but not exclusively, and nowadays it’s hard to make that claim at all.
As a newbie with the same questions/journey… I found that I too, often wanted the simple, quick answer, when realistically, the answer is complicated, and very time consuming (maybe lifelong learning the “foundation”). My particular interest is learning to play the pennywhistle with a parallel interest in the “craftsmanship” of whistlemakers. The usual who, what, when, where, and why questions. What makes someone “make” a whistle in the first place? And, I want it answered simply and quickly. I thought. So I obtained the beginner books, CDs, etc. that many of you have mentioned recently, and devote daily time to practice the whistle. Its slow going for me. I too want to focus on just the “pennywhistle”, and commit until “mastergrade” is reached, if ever that is possible.
But, what I found to really understand a tune was “I” needed more. The simple/complexity of Irish Traditional Music. Wow! Maybe I should have stuck with just learning simple staff notation, tabs, and all that. As an additional learning resource and for the price of one good whistle, I purchased the Companion To Irish Traditional Music, http://www.companion.ie/ one good book as a starting point. I like reference material anyway, and I usually begin a book in the back, index, appendixes, bibliography, timeline, tune lists, etc. that, provide simple, complex answers quickly. The publisher, http://www.corkuniversitypress.com/Companion_to_Irish_Traditional_Music_/321/ pages offered a lot of good info as well. A book review of the first edition, http://www.irishmusicreview.com/companion.htm also offered some good “insight” from one person’s perspective on ITM to include some of the tough, historical issues, and other reviewers will provide more. The book is now in second edition, published in 2011. One book and it opened so many doors to explore. A very good “companion” for a newbie.
The book is just that a companion, while all other companions are welcomed as well continuing the journey. And if you really want to expand your horizon on “insight” concerning ITM, consider getting completely DNA tested for your foundation. You might find yourself in that broader tradition (I shouldn’t use the word Celtic, celtic, so lonely a place I’ve been told), for further inquiry, whether genetically or spiritually.
Pennywhistle time
If any of you have a “companion” to share, well… that could be fun too. Enjoy the journey
This really is true. And to make things more difficult, these days some of what used to be fairly distinguishable to the practiced ear is becoming blurred, but that’s generally your boundary-pushing high-test performance projects for the most part. BTW, I’m referring to musicians who already come from solid traditional music backgrounds and can play for dancers or sit in sessions, in full traditional manner, with the best of them. Not newcomers or dabblers who are able to sort of approximate the thing, but people who definitely have the hard street cred, IOW.
My suggestion is if you want to learn a style (let’s say Irish, because that’s what the OP asked about), then try as best you can to stick to listening solely to a big load of just that one genre at the fundamental, traditional level. Immerse yourself in it. Play it the way they do. Find particular artists to emulate. Find your place in that lot as a player of that style, yourself.
Then after a few years - or less - start listening to another style (let’s say Scottish or Shetland, because they’re close family), and the differences, though subtle or even unapparent to the casual raw listener, will start becoming apparent to you. You may not immediately know what makes those differences what they are, but keep listening to your new project, compare it with what you know, and things will become clearer not only about the one, but about your own original style as well.
And what will you find? That it’s near-impossible to put into words, as NicoMoreno said. You just know it for what it is. 
Is that true? My understanding was that both whistle and flute came into what we now know as Irish trad from English music. But it’s hard to see what’s true in this …
Anyway, back on topic, the word “trad” does seem to be used for different things by different people. I’m mostly interested in what I refer to as “Irish trad”. It covers a huge range of styles - as many styles as players - and yet still, it’s always recognisable when you hear it.
Somewhat along the lines of several other posters, or drawing from them, I’ve found that the longer I spend involved in this music (47 years and counting so far) the less sure I am of anything. So, it’s not really possible to be clear and give a definitive answer. There must be elements which could be described in some concrete sort of way, but I’m blowed if I can do it.
And yet, like NicoMoreno, I “know it when I hear it.”
From birth? 
Ooh … long before. 
What must your mother have thought, hearing those fiddle noises…
To me (surprise, surprise!) maybe 60:40 Scottish/Shetland to Irish trad, with strong interest in other related styles (eg Cape Breton, which may indeed be preserving older Scottish ways)… and of course I also love good music (because I just basically love music!) of all types, cultures and eras that’s not ‘trad’ at all. But I wouldn’t talk about British trad per se because 1. it’s just too diverse for that to be meaningful and 2. my own main ‘trad’ world is more as loosely defined above.
After I posted this it got me thinking. I grew up listening to, and have years of experience as a musician playing, country music. As much as I tried, I really couldn’t put anything into words that would give a good and basic definition of traditional country music if I had to explain it to someone new to it. Maybe the main reason for the question is from reading opinions of someone who isn’t considered playing in the traditional way, and thinking, “If they can point out what isn’t ITM, I’d like to know what is ITM.”
I’ll try something a bit different. This might be an easier request.
Which artist(s) would you recommend most for a newbie to Irish Whistle and ITM to listen to:
Micho Russell
Mary Bergin
Joanie Madden
or Paddy Moloney?
(That’s it for my Irish whistle music collection right now.)
All of them. You want the benefit of a lot of variety, and you’ve got a good start right there.
That made it easy. Thanks! 
I really should spend more time listening. The day starts out with good intentions, but it isn’t always easy to devote quality listening time.
And how could I have overlooked them? Shame on me.
And then within the scope of the greater Celtic (fraught word) musicscape you further have the traditions of Wales, Brittany, and Galicia too.
To be honest, I’m unaware if there are Cornish or Manx musical traditions identified as such. Anyone know?
I think you pick the style thing up as you listen for the purpose of learning tunes (if that’s what you do) so long as you also have emulating the style in mind. I don’t think you necessarily have to make more of a point of it than that. Just for getting the general feel, even having the music on while you’re driving, even though you can’t focus on it, is going to help, too. While I always advocate active listening, for the purposes of this discussion I think there’s plenty to be said for subliminal absorption, as well.
I haven’t gotten to the point of listening a tune to learn to play it, other than the CD that came with the Bill Ochs book. There are some tunes that seem to get stuck in my head for a while after hearing them though.
Some ITM while reading Tolkien seems like a good idea right about now. Thanks for the help!
That’s exactly the process. They get into your head like that, even whether you may have intended it or not. There are tunes I’ve learned passively, without actually intending to do so. Hear something enough times, and presto, it’ll be there. Maybe not “perfect” (whatever you may mean by that), but it’ll be there. Memory is what you rely on to get the basic tune under your fingers. After that comes follow-up and scrutiny of the finer points.
About the only things that get into my head and stay for any length of time are melodies. Finely, something about my memory that I can rely on!
To me there are a few elements which you can point to that makes a tune sound traditionally played.
And when you hear someone come from English to Irish it absolutely screams at you.
There would probably be a predominance of legato playing - in one breath, with little tonguing except to eccentuate a note
You can see the finger pads covering the holes, not the finger tips
Each tune has a personality only learned by listening, so that you understand phrasing - a simple example might be from Haste to the Wedding where there is a clear stop between two notes in the B part.
The amount of fairly unique ornamentation is considerable and lots of it requires real study, a prime example is the Roll on long held notes which needs tender loving care to reach competance. You can’t play Irish music fluently without it.
Of course my Irish friend just rolls her eyes when any discussion gets started like this. All she wants to do is just get on and play, don’t disect it.
I’m going to stand back now and I’m ready for total contradiction, because that is also part of everything.
Well yes, I can point to one person as an exception for your first two points (Mary Bergin) and another for your comment about rolls (Micho Russel). Many more exceptions of course. In fact, I can only think of one well-known irish musician who didn’t tongue on the whistle (at least not much - the only one who I think would be described by your first line): Seamus Ennis.
In fact, I can only think of one well-known irish musician who didn’t tongue on the whistle (at least not much - the only one who I think would be described by your first line): Seamus Ennis.
That’s a sort of tricky thing though, Ennis liked long legato phrases. I could think of a few who may give the impression of using an extend of tonguing when articulating their notes but Tommy Martin here once said here that Donncha O Briain, who taught Tommy, only ever used glottal stops and Bríd O Donohue once said to me she never uses tonguing in her playing. I think in either case that would easy to mistakenly think otherwise if you listen to their music casually. And that’s just two examples.