Something not too hard for a newbie to play but something that has ‘that’ sound…
if you could give me a link too, it would be much appreciated.
I was looking at John Dowland but its way above me yet! maybe someone knows some thing like some Gregorian chant type tunes ?
Foggy Dew and May Morning Dew are two good ones.
She moved through the fair.
Ashokan Farewell?
South Wind.
Song of the Kelpie. It’s on a Solas CD (Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers). Beautiful, melancholy, song. They do it really slow so it’s easy to play along with (key of D, I think). One of my favorites.
Cheers.
I just happened to look up this song called Bridget O’Malley for some other reason the other day and the melody seems quite nice. I don’t know anything about the history of it except that apparently it was popular in the States during the Civil War. There is other history, but I didn’t get that far.
The notes that are too low to play on your whistle can be played an octave higher without messing it up. So since it starts on the A below your low D, you can’t do that. But you can start it nicely on the A above your low D. I was able to work something out for all the notes that were too low that seemed to sound okay. I don’t know if it has “that sound” but it’s nice enough I think. There is a midi there so you could learn it by ear. The words can sort of guide you as to how the music should feel.
Hector the Hero
Not trying to discourage you, but I find that trying to give any tune, regardless of its apparent simplicity, a feeling of melancholy difficult. Maybe it is just me, I am just a novice. Are there any differences in timing or accented notes that help to contribute to that sound?
That really is a lovely lament. When I saw it was composed by Skinner just for fun I looked it up and at this webpage you can see James Scott Skinner’s original manuscript along with a description of who Hector was. If you scroll down to the very bottom, you can click on the audio link and hear Skinner himself playing it. It sounds quite different than I expected. He plays it extremely slowly. I don’t know what effect the type of recording would have on that. Anyway, it’s just interesting. Perhaps more than anyone wanted to know. 
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/scottskinner/display.php?ID=JSS0176
I like the Irish Waltz:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/561
That’s an interesting piece, Jen. Do you know of a CD on which someone plays it?
Click the “Details” tab on the link he provided:
Ah, thanks, Congrats! 
The Black Cat
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~nick-cj/Mp3_Samples/AnCatDubhSmpl96.mp3
Easy peasy to learn by ear.
This’ll have 'em in tears - and I don’t mean the wail
of the whistle!
Also try playing any tune reeeealy sloooowly.
You’ll be surprised at what you can make sound sad.
HTH
Roslin Castle and Crested Hen(s) are a couple of good one’s if you’d like to work on your half holed Eb/D# a little bit - although not every plays these tunes with Eb, some play them opt for E instead. The versions using Eb sound much better to my ear.
Loren
After the Battle of Aughrim (play it slowly)
Oh, and Scollay’s Reel
Not traditional, but I wonder how hard it would be to play Ballad of Glencoe and Green Fields Of France (AKA No Mans Land)
MEMORY from Cats. 
We are going to play it in the local musicschools "symfoni"orcestra, where I play the Böehm flute but it sounds beautiful on my Susato so i’ll try to play it on that and see what the others say. 
Peter Juul
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~nick-cj/Mp3_Samples/AnCatDubhSmpl96.mp3
Very nice. Any idea what make it was played on..?