I was just curious if people have favorite tunes for testing out new whistles-- either when purchasing them, or tunes that whistlemakers use to put a new whistle through it’s paces.
I usually play The Kid On The Mountain for a fast tune. It uses most of the range of the whistle, has some good rolls and some nice interval hopping arpeggios. For something slow, I like the opening Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Again, it uses nearly the whole whistle range plus some half holed notes. I realize that many of the whistles I send out in the world will never be used for Bach, so I feel good sending them to their owners with at least one dose of this splendid music having passed through their bores…
So how about a chromatic Busman…or would that be a re*****r?
Do you have the ABCs for that? 
I usually play “Harvest Home” when trying out a new whistle. “The Kid on the Mountain” is one of my favouite tunes too!
Dublingirl
I usually play an irreverant tune like the “British grenadiers” first (ironic eh?) then try out “ode to joy” and move on from there…
I often play a tune composed by the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim to test for responsiveness and ease of transitions. (In the space of a bar or two it leaps two octaves from low D to third octave D and back to second octave D.) Sorry, can’t remember the name of the tune off hand. Lots of tunes are good for speed of response: Harvest Home is a favourite of mine too. I play a bit of blues to test for how easily I can make it wail.
Paul - I usually play a series of my some favorites of didderent types/speeds that cover two octaves and some ornaments - The Lonesome Wave, Down By the Sally Garden, The Worn Torn Petticoat, Dunmoor Lasses, Cis Ni Lathain, Morrison’s Jig, Out on the Ocean and The Pikemen’s March, and always Danny Boy to check the ease of that high B in the second section…You see, it’s a vicious circle…new whistles are an excuse for playing and playing is an excuse for new whistles…
Regards,
Philo
First a full scale from bell to high as it will go without damaging the dog. Then my current favorite, “Tour de Taille”, at the moment, then “Haste to the Wedding” / “The Kesh” as a set, and finally I stumble through “Jean’s Reel”. If I’m not pressed for time, I may do either or both of “On Castle Rock” or “Inis Oirr”. Finally, I stand in front of the Korg and check the bell note for center. I know that’s superfluous, as the whistle wouldn’t have gotten this far were the bell not good, but hey, it doesn’t hurt. I then slowly play each note through its range and note variations. If the centerpoint of any note is more than a few cents flat, and cannot be brought to center by minor trimming (can’t trim out sharpness), the whistle is beheaded and the body given to the scrap bin.
Finally, the head is dunked in (ethyl) alcohol, and the whistle is set aside for final polish and washing with Ivory Liquid before shipment.
Then if it’s lunchtime or quitting time, I have a Guiness and play my own whistle for a while. Right now, I’m working on “The New Mown Meadows”.
serpent
I usually use the Belfast Horpipe. It’s good to show you what the octave transitions are like, plus it’s fun to play as fast as your little fingers will wiggle. Then I usually try The Howling Wind (Tam Lin, Glasgow Reel) substituting triple-tounging for the rolls to see how responsive the whistle is to start/stop air pressure changes. WARNING: Triple-tounging will get the insides of a whistle WET…at least the way I do it !
For what it’s worth,
Eric
Planxty Irwin, Irish Washerwoman & Moreton Bay.
Its 
A Bag O Spuds followed by 
Andersons for me .
Good question! I usually play Harvest Home and the B part of Sarah Bauhn’s She Left a Star.
Harvest Home, Donegal Lass, Boys of Blue Hill, Tully’s Reel, Merry Blacksmith, Father O’Flynn, Jesu - Joy of Man’s Desiring, Cliffs of Doneen, Irish Washerwoman and Legacy Jig.
Are you sure about that Erik?
Um… pretty sure. Why?
Kesh Jig is always a good tune to put a whistle through its paces, and Captain Picard’s Air is a good one if you really want to test the upper limits.
Fanny Power followed by planxty irwin works well for me, followed by blackthorn stick i am permitted, it is getting harder and harder to be able to test whistles before purchasing these days, many shopkeepers frown on the practice, I notice more and more manufacturers are putting those cursed plastic coverings over the heads also 
is it to be that in the future buying a whistle will be like haveing a lucky dip?? 
hope not!!
Erik, it’s just that your list seemed so, I dunno, for lack of a better term, ‘definate’. Almost like the Rain Man running down his list of test tunes 
Um, yeah, 10 tunes. Definately 10. Yeah 10.
That’s mainly because most of the tunes test something specific. Like Donegal Lass, for instance, uses the high E quite a lot. Both in transition and at the beginning of a phrase. So I use it. I play Irish Washerwoman in D which covers the upper octave nicely. I use Harvest home to check out the transition to the low D - same with Boys. Jesu tests the upper octave as well because I start on the seond D. Tully’s I like because of the name and it’s a good fast tune Cliffs is good for long slow notes that covers a pretty good range. etc.
So, I don’t necessarily use every single one, but more than likely I’ll have played each of those on any given whistle. I also play a lot of scales, but they get boring. Besides, they’re also the tunes that I know best
Haveing a lucky dip??,
Whatchu talkin bout boomie?
You guys and gals are trying your whistles before you buy em? Where’s the sport in that?