whistle tunes

Subject: whistle tunes
From: GUEST,ceitagh
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 08:09 PM

ok, i'm (fairly) new here.....no i lie, i've been lurking for months....anyway, i actually have an on topic question, so i thot i'd ask.

i play tin whistle (badly) by ear and would like to buy sheet music to teach myself more complicated tunes, jigs and reels and suchlike. but i don't want to waste my money on tunes i'll never play. so what would be your top 5 suggestions as to what i should look for music for? which tunes do you really like on whistle?

pax ceitagh

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 08:16 PM

G'day ceitagh,
You might find some good tunes at Richard Robinson's Tunebook.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: alison
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 08:20 PM

we had a thread like this ages ago which resulted in this site Mudcat Favourite Tin Whistle Tunes

I don't think dan ever went any further with the site, but there are MIDIs there see what you fancy....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: alison
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 08:24 PM

Here's the earlier thread favourite tin whistle tunes

in fact if you put "whistle" in the filter box and set the time to 3 years... you'll find a lot of whistle threads....

welcome to mudcat

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 08:48 PM

I have found that the easiest whistle book is the one that comes with the Clarke whistle, probably available separtly.

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: GUEST,ceitagh
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 09:02 PM

thank's for the links guys! i guess everythings already been said on the subject. sorry fro bringing it up again. now i just need sheet music for all this.

pax ceitagh

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: alison
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 09:10 PM

no problem for bringing it up again...... there may be new stuff comes up now...... but there's also a wealth of info to be found in the old threads......

happy whistling

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: MMario
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 09:11 PM

for tunes that are in the DT, you can go to http://www.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/

or click here

this site has pennywhistle notation for the tunes.

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Mbo
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 10:37 PM

Ok, Ceit, here you go...some good ones to learn:
Mna Na h-Eireann (The Women of Ireland)
The Silver Spear
The Atholl Highlanders
Song of the Kelpie
The Cliffs of Moher
The Kesh Jig
The Scattery Island Slide
Si Bheag, Si Mhor
Neil Gow's Farewell to Whiskey
The Beauty Spot

Check 'em out! They're loads of fun!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Alice
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 11:30 PM

The first tune I learned on the whistle was over 25 years ago.... The Gallant Forty Twa. In the last couple of months I have picked up the whistle again and decided it is time to expand my play list to more than one tune!! An easy one is Star of the County Down.
The link MMario gave to whistle notation and tunes is a good one.

Alice

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Homeless
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 11:32 PM

Since Star of the County Down has been mentioned a couple places here, I'd like to add that it can be coupled with Planxty Fanny Po'er to make a nice waltz medley.

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: alison
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 11:33 PM

If you want names:-

Harvest Home
The Boys of Bluehill
Lannigan's ball
King of the fairies, (see thread a week ago)
Haste to the wedding
The Atholl Highlanders

most of which are at the address for the MIDI site I gave earlier.. otherwise try Richar Robinsons tunebook, address given by Alan of Oz, above.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Homeless
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 11:40 PM

A nice pair of jigs - Shandon Bells and Tripping Up Stairs

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Jacob B
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 10:07 AM

Road To Lisdoonvarna (jig) and Over The Waterfall (reel) are the tunes that fall most easily under my fingers.

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 08:02 AM

I say, "Whistle, schmistle!" The whistle is a cheap instrument, usually badly made, which was played by the poor, the young and the bored in the days of yore. {Picture someone about 14 years old watching a flock of sheep alone all day with nothing between him/her and insanity but that little instrument.)

Some people can get an octave plus on some instruments, but usually once you get past an octave, the tone is enough to jar your fillings. In the olden days, people could live with that, as if to say, "We know what note you mean, even if you can't get it out."

One way to cope with this is to play music with a range of about an octave. (Most vocal music.) A better way is to put the whistle away and get a recorder. For sweetness, reliability and range, even a plastic recorder is a real improvement.

I once owned a whistle, (I'm pretty sure an Oak) and one day I took the mouthpiece off and looked in the barrel. The holes on the inside were surrounded by splinters left behind from drilling. What sloppy work!

(My cat used to cry whenever I played it. I'm sure from high frequencies it was generating which were beyond human hearing. Perhaps the splinters were speaking.)

Of course, I have heard tell of a $150 penny-whistle. Now that's getting ridiculous...

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 08:14 AM

I see we have a GG of a new variety ;-)

As regards the sound I have heard good players make cheap Generations sound very sweet.

Jon

(Who only has one tune - Harvest Home - that he can stumble through on the whistle)

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 09:04 AM

Try searching for tune titles at JC's Tunefinder website. You'll get a list of files with that title, along with various file formats. You can click on the MIDI to see what it sounds like, or click on the GIF for the notation.

Southwind is a good tune. Click for the MIDI or music.

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: GUEST,ceitagh
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 11:27 AM

Thanks to everyone for such great suggestions! Now that i have some idea what i'm looking for, i may invest in a large songbook i've been browsing at the local music store...provided of course, that it has the tunes i want to learn. There's just such a richness of tunes out there, i wasn't sure where to start!

pax Ceit

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: zander (inactive)
Date: 19 Mar 00 - 02:23 AM

Guest, guest, check out Paddy Maloney of the Cheiftains playing a tune called ' Donal Og '. this shows what a tin whistle CAN sound like.

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: Mbo
Date: 19 Mar 00 - 11:13 AM

Yeah, GUEST. TIN WHISTLES RULE!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: whistle tunes
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 19 Mar 00 - 05:08 PM

Try these two sites. http://members.xoom.com/darsie/music/tuneweb/index.html Http://www.whistleworkshop.co.uk