Welcome to the Whistle Workshops ‘Getting Started’ course!
This course is supported by the Belfast Traditional Music Trail (www.belfasttradtrail.com) and is intended to help teach you the fundamentals of tin whistle playing and get you working on your first few tunes.
– Lesson 1 –
Getting Started
In this video you will learn how to hold the whistle, correctly blow into the instrument and identify and play each note of the scale.
– Lesson 2 –
Happy Birthday
I’m sure this is a tune you will all recognise!
It is always easier to play a piece of music if you can already sing the melody! So… you should be off to a head start with this one.
Download and print the music if it helps and take your time to learn each line before moving on to the next. Remember to pause the video as you practice each line slowly on repeat.
– Lesson 3 –
Tripping to the Well (Polka)
This is a well known polka, and a really fun tune to play! Expect it to take a little longer to learn than Happy Birthday, so have patience, take it slow and work on it phrase by phrase as discussed in the video.
Further Learning
Once you can play each note of the whistle by name and have learned your first couple of tunes, then you are in a great position to start expanding your whistle repertoire.
I have recorded a selection of tunes played at a slow, medium and fast pace, available on the Tunes page of this website. The sheet music is provided alongside the videos, and I would recommend The Foggy Dew and Riding on a Bale of Hay as great tunes to learn next.
If you would like to meet up for a one-to-one or group lesson online I would be delighted to personally help develop your whistle skills. Further information about Group and Private tuition is available on this website and if you have any questions, or would like to book a lesson, simply contact me via email at conor@whistleworkshops.com 🙂
Thanks again and good luck!
Conor
