Chiff and Fipple Forums

Greetings! I'm a traditional turkish flute player recently begun dabbling in the whistles, playing with some cheap high ds as I wait for my Mk Kelpie to arrive.

Anyway, I have a second hand familiarity with celtic / irish music in general but I'd like to explore and broaden my musical vocabulary. The sticky YouTube thread is a great repository but I'm specifically looking for long, slow to maybe mid tempo, low whistle recordings. Something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bXMbSO1bsY

Consider me a complete noob, so any pointers for some obvious household names, albums, improv recordings etc. would be amazingly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Welcome to the wild world o' whistles! As for recordings, YouTube videos, ect., you'll probably just have to search through audio files and videos to broaden that musical vocabulary you're looking for. There are countless recordings by traditional musicians that include one or more slow airs or slower tunes, but again, you'll most likely have to do some digging on your own. For whistles (esp. low whistles), Davy Spillane is definitely worth exploring. If you're on FB, you might check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/211078343727396. And if you haven't done so already, you'll find plenty of material (for better or worse) on YT: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +slow+airs

But also, I wouldn't limit yourself to only whistle recordings, as there's a veritable treasure trove of slower music (esp. on uilleann pipes) on other instruments.

Cheers –
stiofan

stiofan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 10:37 pm Welcome to the wild world o' whistles! As for recordings, YouTube videos, ect., you'll probably just have to search through audio files and videos to broaden that musical vocabulary you're looking for. There are countless recordings by traditional musicians that include one or more slow airs or slower tunes, but again, you'll most likely have to do some digging on your own. For whistles (esp. low whistles), Davy Spillane is definitely worth exploring. If you're on FB, you might check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/211078343727396. And if you haven't done so already, you'll find plenty of material (for better or worse) on YT: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +slow+airs

But also, I wouldn't limit yourself to only whistle recordings, as there's a veritable treasure trove of slower music (esp. on uilleann pipes) on other instruments.

Cheers –
stiofan

Aye, I've been digging through the YouTube thread here and the recordings but most of them seem to be jiggly reels, which are fine distractions and nice breakfast tunes, but yeah.

Not even knowing the proper terminology stiffled my search - ironically that's exactly what we call them in Turkish, i.e "long airs".

Also good point on pipes etc, might find some inspiration there as well . Thanks a lot for recommendations!

A much-abused piece of music, but when you hear it played by the composer...........
https://youtu.be/oRZMtFAItgA?si=7iX1DVY9kCfYT3oa

You might want to use the search term slow airs, Kedster, rather than long airs.

If you're looking for examples of playing technique, of course you'll want to concentrate on low whistle recordings. But if you're also looking for tunes that are well suited to low whistle, search for recordings by solo fluters.

Trad players tend to use D flutes a lot of the time, so they have a similar basic range to a low D whistle. There are far more fluters making commercial recordings than there are low whistlers, so you'll find a bigger choice of music. When recording solo or with accompaniment from just one other artist, fluters often include some slow airs on their albums.

Flutes have more flexibility and dynamic range than whistles, so you wouldn't be able to replicate everything that expert players do. But it's a good way to find suitable tunes, and you can still learn a great deal from the players.

Good luck!