Hi Folks,
I’m going to be doing a whistle workshop for an hour or so in March for beginners and intermediate players at a dulcimer society gathering. I was thinking of working with two tunes, The Star of the County Down, and O’Carolyns Farewell to Music. Do you think these tunes would be suitable for this class? Any suggestions for alternatives would be welcome.
Thanks
A lot of dulcimer players play tunes in the key of D. I think I would start with something they already know on the dulcimer.
There is nothing more exciting musically than walking into a dulcimer session and hearing 15 people all playing the melody. 
Sometimes there will be a few guitars and a bass fiddle.
My preference would be, if I were going to teach two tunes, to start off with a song air and then teach a dance tune, probably a jig.
Oftentimes uilleann pipers start with jigs from the very beginning. A very popular one is Sean Bui, great for beginners.
Would the people in attendance know those songs? Teaching a song they already know is way easier than teaching a song they would not know. I don’t know those songs but I don’t play ITM. You don’t have your location listed. A folk song know well to your country may be an option.
Beginners? Good grief, doesn’t that start with a cran?
Thanks for the sage advice. I am in central Kentucky, so I might consider taking you advice and start with something slow and familiar like “My Old Kentucky Home” for the beginners, then crank it up a bit for the intermediate players for the second song, but still using a song they already know. Also, I forgot that my original songs are not in the key of D. Oops!
For what it’s worth, every class/workshop I’ve ever attended tried to teach a new tune that was not known already. What is the point of teaching a tune people already know?
or
A | DAD AFA | BGB AFA…
For years, I’ve tended to teach a simple tune which those that attend workshops are unlikely to know (Y Crwtyn Llwyd, since you ask) but I’ve come to think it can be useful to go with an already familiar tune or song-tune as a start. As has been noted above, you might go with a tune they already know as they’re musicians anyway. Remember, too, that a simple or faimiliar tune may not be so easy to teach to beginners if it crosses the octaves, for example.
A couple of other suggestions and queries. Apologies if I’m teaching my grandmother to suck eggs:
Are they bringing their own whistles? Handy to specify D in that case, as I’ve had people go out and buy C whistles beforehand, and be disappointed.
Start on G and go down and up the scale first, maybe just up to B. Less likely to jump octaves/squeak/etc, and Bottom D can be hard to hit from a standing start, as you know. I sometimes let people go away for a few minutes to familiarise themselves with the instrument after introducing the scale, and before teaching a tune. Depends on the noises that emanate fromt he group 
A song with well-known lyrics can be useful to learners. I suggest to them they sing the words in their head. The point in starting with the familiar, of course, is that it allows total beginners to work on the instrument only, rather than have to try to couple unfamiliar fingering and technique with an unfamiliar tune.
The other thing is to be flexible - some may race ahead whilst other struggle with ‘simple’ stuff. As I said above, maybe suggest to people they can withdraw a little to practice and familiarise themselves with the whistle if they take a while to get comfortable.
I enjoy teaching workshops - should be good for you too 
To comment on the original tunes suggested …
Star of the County Down: If you teach the Em setting, you’re going to have to fudge the lowest B, below the range of the whistle, which occurs throughout. If you teach the Am setting, the students will struggle with the C-nats, whether cross-fingered or half-holed, in combination with frequent runs up and down across the register break. The Bm setting would avoid these problems. otherwise this seems like a problematic choice of tune.
Carolan’s Farewell to Music: Do you mean the slow air? Really? This has to be one of the most difficult tunes in the Irish repertoire, even for advanced players. Teaching any slow air is going to be a problem in a class, because the timing needs to be both free and personal. I know some really good players who will not even tackle slow airs.
Whatever you teach, you should be sure to get the titles right. Such as Carolan, not O’Carolyn (or even O’Carolan, really).
You mention beginners and intermediate. But is there any way you can split this up? The #1 problem I see at workshops is trying to teach people with vastly different skill levels. Everyone suffers.
There was a recent thread here about beginner lessons from Mary Bergin. You might consider the tunes she teaches as a starting point for suggestions:
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/tin-whistle-in-a-week/74728/1
Good luck!
For rank beginners, what I’ve taught is how to play the 1st and second octave D notes, and how to shift between them.
Then I demonstrate the descending D scale, which they immediately recognize as ‘Joy To The World’. From there, they can start to pick tunes out.
For years, I’ve tended to teach a simple tune which those that attend workshops are unlikely to know (Y Crwtyn Llwyd, since you ask) but I’ve come to think it can be useful to go with an already familiar tune or song-tune as a start. As has been noted above, you might go with a tune they already know as they’re musicians anyway.
The problem I’ve experienced with this method (“teaching” a tune that the group already knows) is that the learners often bring in their own experiences and existing misconceptions into it. This has potential to cloud their hearing and limit potential. What I mean is that they hear a run of notes that is familiar and instead of listening intentfully to what the teacher is doing, they mentally shut down to an extent when they realize “I’ve got this bit already.” Teaching a tune that is not known encourages them to really listen and try to mimic what you’re doing. I realize I’m speaking in generalities here and that every student will differ but by and large my experience has been that people don’t learn as well when you present something too familiar.
That’s a fair approximation of what I was going to say. But MTG is being more tactful than I would have been. This is assuming you intend to get them all playing these tunes…
Workshops with total beginners can be fairly painful affairs for both presenter and participants.
You might consider dividing the time - spend half of it teaching Star of Co Down and the other half talking about the whistle, and the music that’s played on it, demonstrating stuff. I presume you’re in the US. As you may already know, usually about half the participants in workshops would rather talk, or listen to you talk, than actually make the effort to learn anything.