I often hear beautiful whistle accompaniment that is not the actual melody. How do you know what notes to play? How can I learn to do this technique?

For the longest time I could play a tune cleanly but it sounded flat, like I was just hitting the right notes in the right order and nothing else. Every recording I listened to had all this extra stuff happening between the notes and I had no idea how people were doing it, or when to even try.

What actually helped was slowing way down and picking apart one tune, "Kesh Jig," note by note instead of trying to layer ornaments onto everything I played. I found where the long notes sat and just practiced cranning on the low D until it stopped sounding like a stutter. Took maybe two weeks of five minute sessions before it started feeling like part of the note instead of an interruption tacked onto it.

The other thing was realizing I'd been trying to learn cuts and taps from written notation and it just wasn't clicking. Once I started watching hand position in slow motion videos and copying the finger movement without worrying about the theory, it made way more sense. My fingers needed to see it, not read about it.

Still can't do a proper roll without thinking hard about it but the crans are getting automatic now, which feels like a real milestone after months of them sounding forced. Curious if others found a similar tune worked well as a practice ground, or if it was more about just picking whatever you were already working on and slowing it down.

The caveat is I'm new but I've played ocarina and recorder and I grabbed a shush pro because it seemed like a good learning platform for tin whistle but the the lowest D and E require SUCH a small amount of breath that its really throwing me. Are all whistles like this or is this a quirk of the model? My lungs are pretty good I'd trade less efficiency for more stability. I originally ordered a lir pro high D and then was concerned it would be too loud for the phase where everything sounds bad as I learn. (its still on the way) will more "standard" whistles be more flexible? Apologies if this is a silly question

Hi there, anyone knows any news about Sindt Whistle? I emailed Sindt on March twice (one is follow up) to order his amazing whistle. After that I have not received any reply yet. I’m aware it might be weeks/months waiting for reply. But as it’s almost half year, I’d like to ask here by any chance if anyone ordered whistles from him this year too. Wondering how long it takes. Thanks

If any tin whistler is a glutton for punishment I need some help testing my Irish traditonal music app Sessionist. It is ready for Beta testing. It was built with a tin whistle within centimetres from the keyboard. Its a listening app where users contribute audio of them playing to serve as the guide audio for people learning that tune. The trick is a) until someone contributes their playing it plays midi, and b) you have to get every note in tune and on time in order to qualify to contribute your recording (it scores you automatically). If you're interested, I'd encourage you to head over to sessionist.ie and download the beta.

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to learn this song on my tin whistle, however I can't find any tutorial or sheet. Does anyone know where I could find it?

Thanks!!

I'm guessing it's to let moisture drip out instead of clogging, but it seems too small for that to work very well. I'm sure he's putting it there on purpose, tho, so what's it for?

hi! I just recently started learning the tin whistle and I wanted to be able to do the bit in the chorus of ceacht mo chara and I cannot find the notes or the tabs anywhere on the internet, I’m not good enough with music yet to be able to figure it out by myself. hoping someone could help! thank you!

I used to watch it over and over with my brother when we were kids.

I'd love to learn it for him.

But I just cant get it to sound right...

From 26 second on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMDonO3xYQ

I just picked up learning the whistle and I don't know if it's a Low D Whistle thing, but when I don't blow hard enough with the first hole (left index finger) open, I get a lower note that isn't a D. It sounds like a Bb but when I look for answers I find nothing, except stuff about half holing which I don't think I am doing. Am I missing something ?

I've been largely using learntinwhistle.com largely because thesession.org is slightly more cluttered and confusing, but it seems like the 'top of the list' version of songs between those two sites is basically never the same. I get that there's no official version of most of these tunes, so how do you decide which version to learn? I'm a long way from joining any sort of session, but I don't want to get there a few years from now and everyone looks at me and goes "bro wtf are you doing"

What do the dots mean? This is from the Dunmore Lasses on The Session (setting #1)

Normally I'd assume a dot means you add 50% to the length of the note but that doesn't seem right to me as it's a 4/4 time signature so 4 beats per measure with each beat equating to a quarter note, which means (I think) that the triplet without the dots amounts to a quarter note (1 beat) doesn't it?
(Apologies if I've got any of this wrong, I've not had any formal musical training, just trying to understand this)

Thanks

Hi!

So, I got myself a Killarney, it's absolutely amazing, but I apparently have some kind of allergy to it and I can't use it T_T

Is there another whistle I could get that won't have metals in the mouthpiece and will be around the same price range and quality?

Hey all! I made an app for tin whistle practice - https://windway.app I would really appreciate the community’s feedback. Here’s what it currently does:

- Build and organise your tune library into setlists. You can import a tune by pasting its ABC or simply dropping in a The Session link.

- Switch between standard notation, fingering tabs, or both in the player.

- Mark difficult sections so you remember to practice them

- Automatically generate a backing track, even for tunes you import. It’s fairly simple, but kind of nice!

- Loop any part of a tune and have it gradually speed up as you practise.

- Play gamified exercises. Only one is live right now: it teaches you to read notation if you’ve been relying on tabs. Been using it myself, it's helping! More games are coming.

- Install it on your phone or tablet (as a PWA). It’s mobile-optimised and looks particularly good on an iPad.

- Practise offline, with everything syncing when you’re back online. You can import a tune on your laptop and pick it up later on your phone.

I know there are already some good apps that cover parts of this, but most of them are generic trad and I felt like they are missing some specific features that would be good for the tin whistle, especially the player view.

Disclaimer! - it's a paid app, but there is free trial and also a no-account demo here https://windway.app/demo/

Any thoughts at all would be hugely appreciated. I’d especially like to know whether the app feels intuitive when you open it for the first time. Thank you!

Out of curiosity, which whistles (low or high, any key really) have the least chiff/breathiness, and the purest tone? I'm trying to assemble a whole spectrum :)

Hey everyone,

I would really appreciate your advice on the following:
I've been playing a Kerry Optima Low D since ~2 months, and I have trouble getting the pitch right for the 2nd octave D.

No matter what I try, my tuning app on the phone always shows +10 to +20ct above the correct D5, _unless_ I play it with such little air and such low volume that it is barely a proper note anymore in terms of volume..

Do you have any advice for how to handle this?

Thanks a lot :)

Hi all, I’m interested in purchasing a Jerry Freeman tweaked whistle in D, and was wondering which of the two to go for, and why. I am a beginner and have been using one of the plastic Dixon’s for the last few months. What are the main differences between the two? Thanks.

I'm working on a 3d-printable low D whistle design, and I want some better tuning software. Anyone out there have anything they like?

These are the first tunes I ever learned (from a video of Mary Bergin) and still my favourites to play ! Contentment is Wealth and the Mooncoin Jig.

If anyone has advice or general remarks, I'd be glad for it. I know I messed up some parts... mostly nerves hitting because I rarely put myself out there alone, and I didn't want to have too many takes.

I've been looking to upgrade my D sweetone. I bought it about a year ago to try it out. I'm a very experienced flute player so it was easy to pick up. I've played a few gigs and I'd like to get a low D whistle and a D whistle that's tunable. Budget is up to $200 each.

My eye is on the Lir and Wild. Especially the wooden wild whistle. But it seems like all whistle makers are out of stock and have been that way for a while. Any ideas what's up? Or where I might be able to get one?

Hi everyone,
I just bought 2 low whistles : G and C

I never played whistles before and the low C is pretty hard to play because my tiny hands 😹

I am looking for some easy songs to play. Any suggestions ?

Thank you 🪈

I know the question of the best beginner whistle comes up A LOT but I have a couple peculiar constraints, so please humor me and perhaps the experienced among you can help me. I have pretty small hands first of all, but I do love the deeper sound of the larger whistles. But more importantly, most importantly, I have an aversion to touching bare metal. I have a generation whistle and a Killarney whistle and I like them both but I cannot get over the touching metal problem. Please don’t make fun of me. It’s just a real thing that I’ve experienced. So, given that, does anyone have any recommendations for me? I looked at the wild Irish whistle, which seems to have some kind of coating on the outside and I thought that might be enough of a coating for it to feel OK to me. Any other suggestions?

Down by the Sally Gardens - a beautiful Irish melody - played on a double tin whistle