Irish Whistle
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Welcome to our Whistle and Celtic music page. 
This page will continue to develop with music, links and info relating to the Whistle and Celtic music 

Playing Tips                Links and Resources              Music

There are links relating to the Whistle, Bodhran and Celtic music.. 
If you have any suggestions or web sites that would be of use to other musicians please email with the details.

The Irish/Penny/Tin whistle is a simple instrument - easy to grasp the fingerings and produce a sound - unlike many other instruments. 
Played well the whistle is a very expressive and emotional instrument with a haunting and evocative sound. 
Playing traditional music as it was many years ago by musicians of another era is a very powerful satisfying experience.
The whistle is a great way to introduce anyone interested in music to playing an instrument - the rudiments of music can be taught easily and there is a wealth of information and music available on the web to help. 
Progressing to low whistles and Irish flutes is then possible.
The fingering also has similarity to the flute, clarinet and saxophone so it is even possible for the keen musician to develop an interest in other instruments !!.

Playing Tips:

Fingering Chart

The Irish Whistle page : Scales/Arpeggios of G and D Major and note values.

G major scale has the notes : G A B C D E F# G           D Major scale has the notes : D E F# G A B C# D

G major arpeggio has the notes : G B D G                      D major arpeggio has the notes : D E F# D

and are written in music as (print this music) :

There are 5 lines of music above

Line 1 = Scale of G major - G A B C D E F# G - listen
Line 2 = Arpeggio of G major - G B D G - listen
Line 3  = Scale of D major - D E F# G A B C# D - listen
Line 4 = Arpeggio of D major - D F# A D - listen
Line 5 = Note values - listen

Place the whistle in the mouth without biting the mouthpiece.
Blow gently for the lower notes slightly harder for the higher notes.
Play covering the holes with the finger tip.

The fingerings represent the first three fingers on each hand used to cover the six holes.
The top 123 represent the left hand (cover the 3 holes nearest the mouthpiece) the bottom 123 represent the right hand (3 holes nearest the end of the instrument) 0 represents an uncovered hole.

Practice the above scales and arpeggios regularly until familiar with the fingerings, name and position of notes on the staff.

Note values consist of quavers, crotchets, minims and semibreves.
Count quavers as 1 + (one and)- two quavers in a crotchet.
Count 1 beat for every crotchet.
A minim lasts for the count of 2 crotchets.
A semibreve lasts for the count of 4 crotchets.

When you have mastered these two scales there are many web sites you can download traditional whistle tunes to play.

Please come back as there will soon be mp3 files to listen to and notation available for the music played
to help you play your whistle plus links to other whistle web sites and information.

Have fun !!.

LInks and Resources

Music