As nice as the internet is, I like to go out on the back porch with a song book and try to practice stuff that way. So, time to pick up a few whistle books come pay day.
The Penny Whistle Book by Robin Williamson The Clarke Tin Whistle: Deluxe Edition Mel Bay’s Deluxe Tinwhistle Songbook
These are three of the book on Amazon that caught my attention. I am gravitating toward’s the Mel Bay book because it is just a song book. What I don’t know is if the book has the tab for the songs, as well. As much as I know I read musical notation, I also just want to play. Does the Mel Bay book include fingering tab?
If not, please recommend to me some books that include the tab.
I think I remember the Mey Bay book as having whistle tab, but that’s from having seen it once in a music store, not owning it. Can someone else confirm or correct this?
Of the books I own, the only one with whistle tab is Ireland’s Best Tin Whistle Tunes (vol 1), which has tab for all the tunes in the beginner’s section. This is a nice book because you can get it in an edition that comes with CDs that have all the tunes, played on tin whistle (with guitar). This was my favorite tunebook from the period when I was collecting tutorials and tunebooks.
Of the books you mentioned, the Williamson book is a collection of English folk tunes, all set within the whistle’s range. The Clarke book is by Bill Ochs, and is a complete tutorial for learning to read music and play whistle, with the first half having non-Irish tunes (American traditional, some Playford, Morris dances, etc.) for learning the whistle basics, and then the 2nd half going into Irish music and ornamentation. Those two I own. I think I remember the Mel Bay book being Irish tunes, mostly jigs and reels.
Mel Bay seems to have a whole series of tinwhistle books. I have “You Can Teach Yourself Tinwhistle” and it does NOT have tabs but does have standard notation and fingering schematics at the beginning of appropriate sections where it introduces new notes. (Perhaps this is what you mean by tabs?)
I have dozens of whistle books, very few offer tablature throughout. The Walton’s book that came with my Irish whistle pack included a short tunebook that had tablature. Also, I have another pocket whistle tunebook (I think it’s MelBay) that has tablature. I would probably recommend something like http://www.thewhistleshop.com to give you more book choices. My favorite would be the Ireland’s Best Tin Whistle Tunes book mentioned above although, like squidgirl mentioned, only the beginning part includes tablature.
I have a few books but the only one with tab throughout is my very first: ‘Instant Tin Whistle IRISH’. The tunes are simple enough for me maybe too simple for you?
[unsolicited advice]
I am a relative dunce, musically speaking, (and probably in almost every other sphere) but I have picked up enough knowledge of dots to be able to use them to refresh my memory when I am learning a tune. This ‘skill’ has helped me immensely. Maybe you should give the dots a try. It certainly removes the need restrict your book choices.
[/unsolicited advice]
It takes about a day for a normal person to learn the basics of the classical musical notation, and it’s beyond comparison in quality to ABC or whistle tabs. Don’t bereft yourselves of all those nice tunes, only because you are lazy to read a music theory book for a few hours.
I like this one but it starts out faster than the Clarke book by Bill Ochs, so I switched to that one as my first go. I am learning to read music, but I’m still glad to have the tablature.
She also has a two CD set to go with it, but I haven’t ordered that yet.
p.s. I just had all my tutorials cut and rebound with plastic spiral binding so they stay open to the page you want and lay flat or stay open on a stand. At less than $4 a piece, it’s a great deal for so much more convenience.
I will learn the A to G’s eventually, but having a collection of music I can just sit down and play by tab gets me to the ‘fun’ part of playing faster. That is the type of learner that I am. Learn by ‘tell me which button to push’, to ‘these buttons do these kind of things’ to ‘and now I will try this combination fo buttons’. It is a progression of learning.
When I first joined the band in 5th grade, I was taught how to hit the drum, the different methods. Then I was taught how to read music. So, before I could read a quarter note, I was already following along with the rhythm of the songs on the set.
I can appreciate the argument that I should learn to read standard notation sooner, and later. Yes, it opens more music to me. And I will. We all learn at a different pace.
Actually, ABC is “classical” music notation. That is, it’s just another formalism for the exact same information. Either is easy to read if you learn it. Unlike whistle tab, which is pitch/fingering only.
Having the tabs and/or notation and/or the ABC’s is great, and I use them to remind myself of how a tune goes, or to figure out a section my ears can’t decipher, but I strongly suggest that you invest in good ITM recordings (or whatever genre you are seeking to play) more than books. Listening to the music will teach you far more about the playing of it than any number of pages of notation in any form. Even if you read music “perfectly”, if you don’t know how the music is supposed to sound, you will only be playing what that person managed to get down on paper, and that hardly ever matches what the tune actually is like when played well.
Reading music, ABC or tab can be good too, but without listening and learning to hear what it’s doing, you miss a whole lot… some would even say ‘the soul’ of the music. That said, learning everything you can is not a bad thing.
There’s a point to tab if you play an instrument like Guitar, mandolin, or fiddle, because the same note can be found in several places on the fretboard and the one you use makes a difference, but that’s not the case with a whistle. Apart from variable notes like C natural, where individual whistles might sound better half-holed instead of forked, but in the main there’s only one fingering for any paticular note. Learn the name of the note, and you know how to play it. Tab will just slow you down.
Yes, I always imagine piano tab - with a 88-key diagram under each note, and only one key marked. Would seem kind of loony.
The thing is … The regular 5-line staff already IS whistle tab, in effect. Just match up the 6 whistle holes to the lines and spaces, like this:
O
O ----------- a
O
O ----------- f#
O
O ----------- d
O ----------- B
O
O ----------- G
O
O ----------- E
O
Divide the staff into 2 groups: the bottom 3 lines (1st octave), and the top 2 lines plus one extra ledger line above (2nd octave). Every adjacent line or space corresponds to the next whistle hole. And voilà - instant whistle tablature, covering both octaves, no special notation needed.
maybe too simple for you?
