Where can I find easy to learn tin whistle music online?

November 17, 2009 1:14 PM

Does anyone know where I can find short or easy songs for the tin whistle online?

I've spontaneously decided I want to play the tin whistle, however, I have an infamously short attention span and I'd ideally like to be able to play something just about bearable sounding within about two weeks.

I know that this isn't how learning to play musical instruments works, and I have got a couple of songs that I'm practicing in the hopes that I won't lose interest really quickly, but just in case, are there any spectacularly easy songs that might encourage me into sticking with it? And if so, where can I find them?

posted by emperor.seamus to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total)

Best answer: Here's a simple course in penny whistle online.

I also highly recomment this book and CD. It what I used, and starts with extremely simple songs before getting more complicated. After my first wee with it, I think I was able to play about 14 songs.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:43 PM on November 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yes, my first wee.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:25 PM on November 17, 2009 [2 favorites]

When I learned the tin whistle that was my first introduction to the music of Turlough O'Carolan - a blind harpist from the 17th century who wrote people great tunes as a way of earning his living. Here is somebody making a pretty good job of Carolan on the tin whistle. Whilst getting all the nuances right will take longer than a couple of weeks the tunes are quite easy from a note perspective. Here are some - you can (and probably should) learn to sight read but each tune comes with a midi file if you'd prefer to learn by ear.
posted by rongorongo at 2:47 PM on November 17, 2009

Drop by Chiff and Fipple. Lot's of helpful folks in the whistle forum.

And be careful, it's addicting.
posted by beowulf573 at 4:51 PM on November 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ceolas is an old-shool, great, and wide-ranging site on things Celtical, including this batch of tunes in a variety of formats.

Ye olde Mudcat Cafe is another good resource for tunes, as it is the home of the Digitrad archive.
posted by mwhybark at 4:57 PM on November 17, 2009

"shool." It seems the Irish, the Jewish, and the sacred get mixed up in my fingertips. I shoould play more often.
posted by mwhybark at 4:59 PM on November 17, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks very much for all the great answers! I'm looking over all the resources as we speak, and there's some really great stuff here! Thank you all!
posted by emperor.seamus at 10:51 AM on November 18, 2009

Response by poster: And upon review, that course in penny whistle is absolutely excellent! Thank you especially astrozombie!
posted by emperor.seamus at 12:16 PM on November 18, 2009

thesession.org has about a zillion tunes, so there's a lot of wheat-and-chaffing to be done, but there's just so much there.
posted by threeants at 3:43 AM on November 19, 2009