How to Play the Tin Whistle

The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, Irish whistle, or just plain old whistle, is an
instrument with a plastic or wooden fipple, or mouthpiece, and a metal body tube. They are fairly
easy to play and the fingerings are similar to that of the saxophone, clarinet, and flute. Tin
whistles are a great way to introduce someone to playing a musical instrument and lots of fun!

Steps
1. 1

Purchase a tin whistle at a local music store or online. Whistles are available in all the
major keys. The most common, a D whistle, can play in the keys of D and G major. The
second most common, a C whistle, can play in the keys of C and F major. The lowest
note of a penny whistle, with all the fingers covered, is called the tonic - on a D whistle
the tonic is D.

o The tone of the tin whistle is largely determined by its manufacturing. Clarke
style rolled metal whistles tend to have a smooth soft sound, while Generation
style cylindrical instruments tend to have louder or shrill whistle sounds.
Inexpensive rolled metal whistles, such as those from Cooperman Fife and Drum
(which also produces high-end instruments) may be very airy in sound, and may
be difficult to play in the upper register (second octave). Often placing a piece of
tape over one edge of the fipple slot (just below the mouthpiece) to narrow the
fipple will improve the instrument's tone and playability significantly.

o Whistles are pitched in different keys and octaves.

Low whistles, or concert whistles, are longer and wider and produce tones an
octave (or in rare cases two octaves) lower. Whistles in this category are likely to
be made of metal or plastic tubing, with a tuning-slide head. The term soprano
whistle is sometimes used for the higher-pitched whistles when it is necessary to
distinguish them from low whistles.
2.

Hold the whistle correctly. It should face downwards and away from you at a 45 degree
angle. Place your dominant hand at the bottom and your other hand at the top of the tube.
Pinkies are not used except to support the whistle while playing certain notes, or when
playing the largest (and lowest) tin whistles. Thumbs hold up the whistle from below.
Cover the six keyholes with your fingertips. Place the tip of the fipple between your lips,
but not between your teeth.

3. 3

Learn how to finger the notes. The standard range of the whistle is two octaves. For a D
whistle, this includes notes from the second D above middle C to the fourth D above
middle C. (It is possible to make sounds above this range, by blowing with sufficient
force, but, in most musical contexts, the result will be loud and out of tune.) As you go up
a note on a whistle you generally lift one finger. Read the tablature for a D whistle below.
White holes indicate that it is uncovered, black indicate covered, and plus signs below the
fingerings indicate the higher octave.
4.

Play the lower octave notes. Hold the whistle with all the finger holes covered. (You
don't need to press hard, just make sure each hole is completely covered.) Blow a steady
stream of air, with your mouth shaped as if you were saying "too". This will produce the
tonic (a D on the D whistle). Blowing too softly will make the note airy or nonexistent.
Blowing too hard will produce the upper octave or a squeak. Blowing just right will
create a steady, low tonic pitch. Progressively remove a finger at a time, starting by
uncovering the hole at the end and working your way up to your mouth until you're
playing the note with no holes covered (C#). You might need to use the pinky of your
dominant hand to help support the whistle when none of the holes are covered.

5. 5

Play the upper octave notes. Cover all the holes again and blow harder than before to
get a higher pitch. If you're having trouble hitting the note, slightly uncover the top hole
(the one closest to your mouth) and try again. Doing this might help with all the notes in
the higher octave. Like before, uncover the holes, one at a time until you get to the
 highest note (C#). As the notes get higher, you'll have to blow harder to reach it. If you
overblow, however, the whistle will squeak.

6. 6

Play music! If you don't know already, learn how to read sheet music.

o A
"D" whistle

If you have music transposed for a concert pitch instrument (violin, flute, piano)
you can play this if it is in the right key. A player will usually play a whistle only
in its tonic key and possibly in the key beginning on the fourth (e.g. G on a D
whistle), but nearly any key is possible, becoming progressively more difficult to
keep in tune as the player moves away from the whistle's tonic, according to the
circle of fifths. Thus a D whistle is fairly apt for playing both G and A, and a C
instrument can be used fairly easily for F and G.

 To play a C natural on a D whistle or a B flat on a C whistle you can either

half cover the top hole of the whistle[1] or cover the two holes below the
top hole. (The latter is more practical for faster playing.)
o Click on the thumbnails below to see a few simple tunes.
7. 7

Practice! Not only should you be looking for clean, steady notes and smooth transitions
between them, but you can also practice ornamentation:

o Cuts - Just before you play a note, play a higher note for an instant. Snap one of
your fingers off a hole momentarily to hit the next higher note. It should be so
short that the listener can't determine the pitch.
o Strikes - This is like a cut, except you go one note lower instead of higher.
o Sliding up a note - Slide your finger slowly off a hole so that you ease into the
next note. It should only take about half a second.
o Vibrato can be achieved by varying the air speed slightly. Faster air means a
higher tone, and slower air means a lower one, so by pulsing the air using your
diaphragm, one can achieve vibrato. Don't blow too hard, or the instrument will
 play the next partial. Vibrato can also be achieved by opening and closing the
second open hole counting down from the mouthpiece. For example, on the note
A, play a normal A a

Tin whistle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tin whistle

Several high D tin whistles

from left to right: Clarke Sweetone; Shaw
(customised); O'Brien; Reyburn; Generation
(customised); Copeland; Overton
Woodwind instrument
Other names Pennywhistle
 Woodwind
 Wind
Classification
 Aerophone

421.221.12
Hornbostel–Sachs
(Open flute with internal duct
classification
and fingerholes)
Playing range
Two octaves
Related instruments
 Simple-system flute
 Pipe and tabor
 Fife
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle,[1] English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin
flageolet, Irish whistle, Belfast Hornpipe, feadóg stáin (or simply feadóg) and Clarke
London Flageolet[2] is a simple, six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a fipple flute, putting it in
the same category as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that
meet such criteria. A tin whistle player is called a tin whistler or simply a whistler. The tin
whistle is closely associated with Celtic music.

Contents
 1 History of the whistle
o 1.1 Modern tin whistle
 2 Contemporary whistles
 3 Tuning
o 3.1 Whistle keys
 3.1.1 Low whistles
 4 Playing technique
o 4.1 Fingering and range
o 4.2 Ornamentation
o 4.3 Some tricks
 5 Repertoire
o 5.1 Irish and Scottish music
o 5.2 Kwela
o 5.3 Other music
 6 Notation
o 6.1 Standard musical notation
o 6.2 Tonic solfa
o 6.3 Abc notation
 7 Well-known performers
 8 See also
 9 References
o 9.1 Footnotes
o 9.2 General
 10 External links

History of the whistle

The tin whistle in its modern form is from a wider family of fipple flutes which have been seen
in many forms and cultures throughout the world. In Europe such instruments have a long and
distinguished history and take various forms; most widely known of these are the recorder, tin
whistle, Flabiol, Txistu and tabor pipe.

Almost all primitive cultures had a type of fipple flute and is most likely the first pitched flute
type instrument in existence.[3] A possible Neanderthal fipple flute from Slovenia dates from
81,000-53,000 B.C.,[2][4][5] a German flute from 35,000 years ago, and flute made from sheep's
bone in West Yorkshire dating to the Iron Age.[6] Written sources that describe a fipple-type flute
include the Roman and Greek aulos and tibia. In the early Middle Ages peoples of northern
Europe were playing the instrument as seen in 3rd-century British bone flutes,[7] and Irish Brehon
Law describes flute like instrument. By the 12th century Italian flutes came in a variety of sizes,
[8][9]
and fragments of 12th-century Norman bone whistles have been found in Ireland, and an
intact 14 cm Tusculum clay whistle from the 14th century in Scotland. In the 17th century
whistles were called flageolets; a term to describe a whistle with a French made fipple headpiece
(common to the modern penny whistle) and such instruments are linked to the development of
the English flageolet, French flageolet and recorders of the renaissance and baroque period.[10]
The term flageolet is still preferred by some modern tin whistle who feel this better describes the
instrument, as this characterises a wide variety of fipple flutes, including penny whistles.[11][12]

Modern tin whistle

The modern penny whistle is indigenous to the British Isles[11] particularly England[11] when
factory-made "tin whistles" were produced by Robert Clarke from 1840–1882 in Manchester and
later New Moston, England. Down to 1900, they were also marketed as "Clarke London
Flageolets" or "Clarke Flageolets".[13] The whistle's fingering system is similar to that of the six
hole, "simple system English flutes" ("simple" in comparison to Boehm system flutes). The six
hole, diatonic system is also used on baroque flutes, and was of course well known before Robert
Clarke began producing his tin whistles. Clarke's first whistle, the Meg, was pitched in high A
and was later made in other keys suitable for Victorian parlour music. The company showed the
whistles in The Great Exhibition of 1851.[14] The Clark tin whistle is voiced somewhat on an
organ-pipe with a flattened tube forming the lip of the fipple mouthpiece[15] and is usually made
from rolled tin sheet or brass. Manufactured tin whistles became available no earlier than 1840,
and were mass-produced and widespread due to their relative affordability.

As the penny whistle was generally considered a toy[2] it has been suggested that children or
street musicians were paid a penny by those who heard them playing the whistle. However, in
reality the instrument was so called because it could be purchased for a penny.[2] The name "tin-
whistle" was also coined as early as 1825.[16] but neither the tin whistle nor the penny whistle
name seems to have been common until the 20th century.[17] The instrument became popular in
several musical traditions namely: English,[4] Scottish,[2] Irish and[4] American traditional music.[4]
Due to its affordability the tin whistle was a popular household instrument, as ubiquitous as the
harmonica.[2] In the second half of the 19th century, some flute manufacturers such as Barnett
Samuel and Joseph Wallis also sold whistles. These had a cylindrical brass tube. Like many old
whistles, they had lead fipple plugs, and since lead is poisonous, caution should be exercised
before playing an old whistle.

The Generation whistle was introduced in the first half of the 20th century, and also featured a
brass tube with a lead fipple plug. The design was updated somewhat over the years, most
notably the substitution of a plastic fipple for the lead plug design.

While whistles have most often been produced in higher pitches, the "low" whistle is not
unknown historically. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has in its collection an example of a
19th-century low whistle from the Galpin collection.[18] During the 1960s revival of traditional
Irish music the low whistle was "recreated" by Bernard Overton at the request of Finbar Furey.[19]

Contemporary whistles

Contemporary tin whistles in several keys

All Plastic Tin Whistle

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Sample of music played on all plastic tin whistle in key of D.

Metal Tin Whistle with Wooden Stop

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Sample of music played on key of D metal tin whistle with wooden stop.
 Metal Tin Whistle with Plastic Fipple

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Sample of music played on key of D metal tin whistle with plastic fipple.

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The most common whistles today are made of brass tubing, or nickel plated brass tubing, with a
plastic fipple (mouthpiece). Generation, Feadóg, Oak, Acorn, Soodlum's (now Walton's), and
other brands fall in this category. The next most common form is the conical sheet metal whistle
with a wooden stop in the wide end to form the fipple, the Clarke's brand being the most
prevalent. Other less common variants are the all-metal whistle, the PVC whistle, the Flanna
square holed whistle, and the wooden whistle.

Gaining popularity as a folk instrument in the early 19th century in the Celtic music revivals,
penny whistles now play an integral part of several folk traditions. Whistles are a prevalent
starting instrument in English traditional music, Scottish traditional music and Irish traditional
music, since they are often cheap (under US$10), relatively easy to start with (no tricky
embouchure such as found with the flute), and the fingerings are nearly identical to those on the
traditional six holed flute (Irish flute, baroque flute). The tin whistle is a good starting instrument
to learn the uilleann pipes, which has similar finger technique, range of notes and repertoire. The
tin whistle is the most popular instrument in Irish traditional music today.[20]

In recent years a number of instrument builders have started lines of "high-end," hand-made
whistles, which can cost hundreds of dollars US each — expensive in comparison to cheap
whistles, but nevertheless cheaper than most other instruments. These companies are typically
either a single individual or a very small group of craftsmen who work closely together. The
instruments are distinguished from the inexpensive whistles in that each whistle is individually
manufactured and "voiced" by a skilled person rather than made in a factory.

Tuning
Whistle keys

The whistle is tuned diatonically, which allows it to be used to easily play music in two major
keys a perfect fourth apart and the minor key a major second above the lowest note. The whistle
is identified by its lowest note, which is the tonic of the lower of two major keys whose tonics
are a perfect fourth apart that the whistle most easily plays in. Note that this method of
determining the key of the instrument is different from the method used to determine the key of a
chromatic instrument, which is based on the relationship between notes on a score and sounded
pitch. Whistles are available in a wide variety of different keys.[21]

The most common whistles can easily play notes in the keys of D and G major. Since the D
major key is lower these whistles are identified as D whistles. The next most common whistle
tuning is a C whistle, which can easily play notes in the keys of C and F major. The D whistle is
the most common choice for Irish and Scottish music.

Although the whistle is essentially a diatonic instrument, it is possible to get notes outside the
principal major key of the whistle, either by half-holing (partially covering the highest open
finger hole) or by cross-fingering (covering some holes while leaving some higher ones open).
However, half-holing is somewhat more difficult to do correctly, and whistles are available in
many keys, so for other keys a whistler will typically use a different whistle instead, reserving
half-holing for accidentals. Some whistle designs allow a single fipple, or mouthpiece, to be used
on differently keyed bodies.

Low whistles

Main article: Low whistle

There are larger whistles, which by virtue of being longer and wider produce tones an octave (or
in rare cases two octaves) lower. Whistles in this category are likely to be made of metal or
plastic tubing, sometimes with a tuning-slide head, and are almost always referred to as low
whistles but sometimes called concert whistles. The low whistle operates on identical principles
to the standard whistles, but musicians in the tradition may consider it a separate instrument.

The term soprano whistle is sometimes used for the higher-pitched whistles when it is necessary
to distinguish them from low whistles.

Playing technique
Fingering and range
Young man demonstrating the use of a tin whistle.

The notes are selected by opening or closing holes with the fingers. With all the holes closed, the
whistle generates its lowest note, the tonic of a major scale. Successively opening holes from the
bottom upward produces the rest of the notes of the scale in sequence: with the lowest hole open
it generates the second, with the lowest two holes open, it produces the third and so on. With all
six holes open, it produces the seventh.

As with a number of woodwind instruments, the tin whistle's second and higher registers are
achieved by increasing the air velocity into the ducted flue windway. [22] On a transverse flute
this is generally done by narrowing the lip/embouchure.[23] Since the size and direction of the tin
whistle's windway is fixed, like that of the recorder or fipple flute, it is necessary to increase the
velocity of the air stream. (See overblowing).

Fingering in the second register is generally the same as in the first/fundamental, though
alternate fingerings are sometimes employed in the higher end of the registers to correct a
flattening effect caused by higher aircolumn velocity.[24] Also, the tonic note of the second
register is usually played with the top hole of the whistle partially uncovered instead of covering
all holes as with the tonic note of the first register; this makes it harder to accidentally drop into
the first register and helps to correct pitch. Recorders perform this by "pinching" open the dorsal
thumb hole.

Various other notes (relatively flat or sharp with respect to those of the major scale) can be
accessed by cross fingering techniques, and all the notes (except the lowest of each
octave/register) can be flattened by half holing. Perhaps the most effective and most used cross
fingering is that which produces a flattened form of the seventh note (B flat instead of B on a C
whistle, for example, or C natural instead of C sharp on a D whistle). This makes available
another major scale (F on a C whistle, G on a D whistle).

The standard range of the whistle is two octaves. For a D whistle, this includes notes from D5 to
D7; that is, from the second D above middle C to the fourth D above middle C. It is possible to
make sounds above this range, by blowing with sufficient force, but, in most musical contexts,
the result will be loud and out of tune due to a cylindrical bore.

Ornamentation

Traditional whistle playing uses a number of ornaments to embellish the music, including cuts,
strikes and rolls. Most playing is legato with ornaments to create breaks between notes, rather
than tongued. The traditional music concept of the word "ornamentation" differs somewhat from
that of European classical music in that ornaments are more commonly changes in how a note is
articulated rather than the addition of separately-perceived notes to the piece.[25] Common
ornaments and articulations include:

Cuts
Cuts are very briefly lifting a finger above the note being sounded without interrupting
airflow into the whistle. For example, a player playing a low D on a D whistle can cut the
note by very briefly lifting the first finger of his or her lower hand. This causes the pitch
to briefly shift upward. The cut can be performed either at the very start of the note or
after the note has begun to sound; some people call the latter a "double cut" or a "mid-
note cut."
Strikes
Strikes or taps are similar to cuts except that a finger below the sounded note is briefly
lowered to the whistle. For example, if a player is playing a low E on a D whistle the
player could tap by quickly lowering and raising his or her bottom finger. Both cuts and
taps are essentially instantaneous; the listener should not perceive them as separate notes.
Rolls
A roll is a note with first a cut and then a strike. Alternatively, a roll can be considered as
a group of notes of identical pitch and duration with different articulations.[25] There are
two common types of rolls:

 The long roll is a group of three slurred notes of equal pitch and duration, the first
sounded without a cut or strike, the second sounded with a cut, and the third
sounded with a strike.
 The short roll is a group of two slurred notes of equal pitch and duration, the first
sounded with a cut and the second sounded with a strike.

Cranns
Cranns (or crans) are ornaments borrowed from the Uilleann piping tradition. They are
similar to rolls except that only cuts are used, not taps or strikes. On the tin whistle they
are generally only used for notes where a roll is impossible, such as the lowest note of the
instrument.
Slides
Slides are similar to portamentos in classical music; a note below or above (usually
below) the intended note is fingered, and then the fingering is gradually shifted in order
to smoothly raise or lower the pitch to the intended note. The slide is generally a longer
duration ornament than, for example, the cut or the tap and the listener should perceive
the pitch changing.
Tonguing
Tonguing is used sparingly as a means of emphasizing certain notes, such as the first note
in a tune. Tin whistle players usually do not tongue most notes. To tongue a note a player
briefly touches their tongue to the front of the roof of the mouth at the start of the note (as
if articulating a 't'), creating a percussive attack.
Vibrato
Vibrato can be achieved on most notes by opening and closing one of the open holes, or
by variation of breath pressure (this last is actually both vibrato (pitch modulation), and
tremolo (amplitude modulation)). Of the two, fingered (i.e., true) vibrato is much more
common than diaphragmatic (breath) vibrato (i.e., tremolo), except on notes like the
lowest note on the whistle where fingered vibrato is much more difficult. A common
method of achieving vibrato is to finger a note, and then quickly flick a finger on and off,
not the hole below the fingered note, but the hole two below the fingered note, leaving an
open hole in between. This technique can be heard on the Chieftain's iconic air, Women
of Ireland (Chieftains IV).

Some tricks

Leading tone
Leading tones are the seventh just before the tonic, so named because melodic styling
often uses the seventh to lead into the tonic at the end of a phrase. On most tin whistles
the leading tone to the lowest tonic can be played by using the little finger of the lower
hand to partially cover the very end opening of the whistle, while keeping all other holes
covered as usual for the tonic.
Tone
The tone of the tin whistle is largely determined by its manufacturing. Clarke style rolled
metal whistles tend to have an airy "impure" sound, while Generation style cylindrical
instruments tend to have clear or "pure" whistle sounds. Inexpensive rolled metal
whistles, such as those from Cooperman Fife and Drum (which also produces high-end
instruments) may be very airy in sound, and may be difficult to play in the upper register
(second octave). Often placing a piece of tape over one edge of the fipple slot (just below
the mouthpiece) to narrow the fipple will improve the instrument's tone and playability
significantly.
Scales
While, as mentioned under Fingering, a player will usually play a given instrument only
in its tonic key and possibly in the key beginning on the fourth (e.g. G on a D whistle),
nearly any key is possible, becoming progressively more difficult to keep in tune as the
player moves away from the whistle's tonic, according to the circle of fifths. Thus a D
whistle is fairly apt for playing both G and A, and a C instrument can be used fairly
easily for F and G.

Repertoire
A number of music genres commonly feature the tin whistle.

Irish and Scottish music

 The Old Grey Goose

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A jig featuring the tin whistle, performed by Dancing Willow

The Foggy Dew

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Instrumental version, featuring low whistle and viola da gamba, performed by Dancing
Willow

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Traditional music from Ireland and Scotland is by far the most common music to play on the tin
whistle, and comprises the vast majority of published scores suitable for whistle players. While
the tin whistle is very common in Irish music to the point that it could be called characteristic of
the genre and fairly common in Scottish music, it is not "required" in either genre.

Kwela

Main article: Kwela

Kwela is a genre of music created in South Africa in the 1950s, and is characterized by an
upbeat, jazzy tin whistle lead. Kwela is the only music genre created around the sound of the tin
whistle. The low cost of the tin whistle, or jive flute, made it an attractive instrument in the
impoverished, apartheid-era townships; the Hohner tin whistle was especially popular in kwela
performance. The kwela craze accounted for the sale of more than one million tin whistles.[26]

In the late 1950s, mbaqanga music largely superseded kwela in South Africa, and so it followed
that the saxophone surpassed the tin whistle as the township people's wind instrument of choice.
Kwela master Aaron "Big Voice Jack" Lerole continued to perform into the 1990s; a few bands,
such as The Positively Testcard of London, continue to record kwela music.
Kwela sheet music is rarely published, and many of the recordings of founding kwela artists are
out of print. One representative compilation is South African Jazz and Jive (Rhino
Entertainment, 2000).

Other music

The tin whistle is used in many other types of music, though not to the extent that it could be
called characteristic as with Irish music and kwela. In some Irish music composed for symphonic
ensembles, it is often replaced with piccolo. It is not unusual to hear the tin whistle used in praise
music and film soundtracks, and published scores suitable for tin whistle performance are
available in both of these genres. The tin whistle also appears in "crossover" genres like world
music, folk rock, folk metal and folk punk.

Notation
Tin whistle music collections are generally notated in one of three different formats.

Standard musical notation

It is common to score music for the whistle using standard musical notation. The tin whistle is
not a transposing instrument - for example, music for the D tin whistle is written in concert pitch,
not transposed down a tone as would be normal for transposing instruments. Nevertheless, there
is no real consensus on how tin whistle music should be written, or on how reading music onto
the whistle should be taught. However, when music is scored for a soprano whistle it will be
written an octave lower than it sounds, to spare ledger lines and make it much easier to read.

The traditional music of Ireland and Scotland constitutes the majority of published scores for the
whistle.[27] Since the majority of that music is written in D major, G major, or one of the
corresponding musical modes, use of the D major or G major key signatures is a de facto
standard. For example, the "C whistle" edition of Bill Ochs's popular The Clarke Tin Whistle
Handbook is scored in D and differs from the D edition only in that the accompanying audio CD
is played on a C whistle.[28]

Reading directly onto the C whistle is popular for the obvious reason that its home key or name
key is the all-natural major key (C major). Some musicians are encouraged to learn to read
directly onto one whistle, while others are taught to read directly onto another.

The whistle player who wants music to read on to all whistles will need to learn the mechanics of
written transposition, taking music with one key signature and rewriting it with another.

Tablature notation for the tin whistle is a graphical representation of which tone holes the player
should cover. The most common format is a vertical column of six circles, with holes to be
covered for a given note shown filled with black, and a plus sign (+) at the top for notes in the
second octave. Tablature is most commonly found in tutorial books for beginners.
Tonic solfa

The tonic solfa is found in Ireland and possibly Wales,[citation needed] especially in schools. Many
schools have printed sheets with tunes notated in tonic solfa, although in Ireland more have
teaching by rote. With the availability of good standard notation tutor books, teaching is possibly
moving in this direction.[original research?]

Abc notation

Since the majority of popular tin whistle music is traditional and out of copyright, it is common
to share tune collections on the Internet.[29] Abc notation is the most common means of electronic
exchange of tunes. It is also designed to be easy to read by people, and many musicians learn to
read it directly instead of using a computer program to transform it into a standard musical
notation score.

Well-known performers
In Irish traditional music
See also: List of All-Ireland Champions

During the 1960s, Tommy Makem played the tin whistle as a member of The Clancy Brothers
and Tommy Makem, one of the most influential Irish folk groups, especially popular during the
American folk music revival.[30]

In 1973, Paddy Moloney (of The Chieftains) and Sean Potts released the album Tin Whistles,
which helped to popularise the tin whistle in particular, and Irish music in general. Mary Bergin's
Feadóga Stáin (1979) and Feadóga Stáin 2 (1993) were similarly influential.[31] Other notable
players include Carmel Gunning, Micho Russell, Joanie Madden, Brian Finnegan, and Seán
Ryan. Many traditional pipers and flute players also play the whistle to a high standard. Festy
Conlon is considered by some to be the best slow air player.[32]

In Scottish traditional music

Award winning singer and musician Julie Fowlis recorded several tracks on the tin whistle, both
in her solo work and with the band Dòchas.[33]

In kwela

Aaron "Big Voice Jack" Lerole and his band recorded a single called "Tom Hark", which sold
five million copies worldwide, and which Associated Television used as the theme song for the
1958 television series The Killing Stones. But the most famous star of the kwela era was Spokes
Mashiyane.[26] Paul Simon's 1986 album Graceland draws heavily on South African music, and
includes pennywhistle solos in the traditional style, played by Morris Goldberg.

In popular music
As a traditional Irish musical instrument, the Irish rock bands The Cranberries and The Pogues
(with Spider Stacy as whistler) incorporate the tin whistle in some of their songs, as do such
American Celtic punk bands as The Tossers, Dropkick Murphys, and Flogging Molly (in which
Bridget Regan plays the instrument).

Andrea Corr of Irish folk rock band The Corrs also plays the tin whistle. Saxophonist LeRoi
Moore, founding member of the American jam band Dave Matthews Band, plays the tin whistle
in a few of the band's songs.

Bob Hallett of the Canadian folk rock group Great Big Sea is also a renowned performer of the
tin whistle, playing it in arrangements of both traditional and original material.

Icelandic post rock band Sigur Rós concludes their song "Hafsól" with a tin whistle solo.

Barry Privett of the American Celtic rock band Carbon Leaf performs several songs using the tin
whistle.

Lambchop uses the tin whistle in the song "The Scary Caroler."

The Unicorns use the tin whistle in the song "Sea Ghost".

In jazz

Steve Buckley, a British jazz musician is renowned for using the penny whistle as a serious
instrument. His whistle playing can be heard on recordings with Loose Tubes, Django Bates and
his album with Chris Batchelor Life As We Know It. Les Lieber is a celebrated American Jazz
Tinwhistle player. Lieber has played with Paul Whiteman's Band and also with the Benny
Goodman Sextet. Lieber made a record with Django Reinhardt in the AFN Studios in Paris in the
post Second World War era and started an event called "Jazz at Noon" every Friday in a New
York restaurant playing with a nucleus of advertising men, doctors, lawyers, and business
executives who had been or could have been jazz musicians. Howard Johnson has also been
known to play this instrument. Musical polymath Howard Levy introduces the tune True North
with a jazz and very traditionally Celtic-inspired whistle piece on Bela Fleck and the Flecktones'
UFO TOFU.

In film music

Howard Shore called for a tin whistle in D for a passage in his "Concerning Hobbits" from The
Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The tin whistle symbolizes the Shire, together with other
instruments such as the guitar, the double bass, and the bodhrán. The tin whistle also plays a
passage in the main theme in the same trilogy.

The tin whistle is is featured prominently in the song "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion in
the movie Titanic. The song's introduction consists of a tin whistle solo which has become
iconic.
The tin whistle also features prominently in the soundtrack of the film How to Train Your
Dragon, and is connected to the main character, Hiccup.

The tin whistle is featured in the winning song of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest Only
Teardrops by Emmile De Forrest

Understanding the Tin Whistle Diagrams

The numbers on the fingers show which fingers should be used to cover the holes as
demonstrated in the previous photo.

The following photo shows a B note. This is produced by covering the top hole with the first
finger of your left hand. In the photo this is indicated by a white number inside a red circle,
covering the hole. The notation for this note is shown further below.
Playing Your First Note on the Tin Whistle
The first note you will learn to play is the B note, shown above. Place your fingers in position to
play the note and put the tip of the mouthpiece into your mouth. Use your lips to seal off any air
from escaping out the sides of your mouth and blow smoothly and steadily into the tin whistle.
Don’t blow too hard or start the note too suddenly, or you may cause the note to sound at the
wrong pitch or cause the instrument to squeak.

Tonguing
To control the beginning and end of a note, the technique of tonguing is used. To prepare for this
technique whisper the sound “taa”. The sound begins with your tongue sitting behind your top
teeth, blocking the passage of air, and you make the “taa” sound by quickly withdrawing
it, letting a stream of air begin from your outgoing breath.

The next step is to practice this with the tin whistle in position to play a B note, with your tongue
lightly on the hole in the mouthpiece. As you withdraw your tongue, the note will have a well
articulated beginning. The “t” part of the sound gives the note a definite starting point, and the
“aa” part of the sound keeps your throat open so that the flow of air remains constant and the
note sounds even. To end the note, you put your tongue back on the mouthpiece rather than
stopping your breath. This will end the note as crisply as it started. It is worth practicing the
tonguing technique many times on a single note until you are comfortable with it.
Breathing technique When Playing the Tin Whistle
When learning any wind instrument, it is important to learn how to take a new breath without
losing your timing. Breath marks are indicated in the following exercise by the large comma-
shaped symbol. Take a quick, deep breath, and be careful not to lose your timing when you
breathe. Counting as you play should help you become more confident with this. The correct
breathing technique is discussed in detail in Lesson 6 of our Progressive Tin Whistle book.

If you look at the following example, you will notice a line of letters and symbols above the staff
(Em, B7, Em, etc.) These are chord symbols which indicate the harmony to be played by
accompanying instruments such as keyboard or guitar. The chord symbols do not affect the notes
you play on the tin whistle. You will also notice the counting numbers underneath the staff. The
bigger bold numbers tell you to play a note and the smaller numbers tell you to sustain it until the
next note.