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With a piece of software like “Audacity” (free, open source) you can put in your whistle heroes and slow them down without changing the pitch. That way you can hear exactly what they are doing, then play along, turning up the speed a notch at a time. It’s the best way I’ve found of getting to grips with the feel of the tunes.
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(From personal experience) If you have a book of tunes, don’t try to learn any from the sheet music without having heard them played properly first. That way you don’t have to unlearn when you do hear them.
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Don’t get despondent when you hear other people who are better than you. I had been learning for about five years when I heard a ten year old kid who had been learning about six weeks (his Dad said) who was way better than me. Some people are naturally gifted: it’s annoying, but it’s just the way it is. Some, like me, have to slog slog slog and will never be more than average. I also find that I improve in steps: I will go along for ages getting nowhere and then I will suddenly find I can do something I couldn’t do before, often having laid my whistles down for a few days.
Tip: for when the mind goes blank…scribble the first word of your current ‘practice window’ sets on a scrap of paper in your wallet - make yourself start at least one of those sets at every session.
…and if I can have two bites at the cherry…
work out how to set up your mobile phone so that the sound recorder function is available as a one touch short cut.
I’d also like another bite.
If you have prior experience from musical instruments you will already know this, but those that are learning the tin whistle as first instrument should keep in mind that you can’t have fun and play with feeling all the time. So don’t expect that from yourselves, and don’t think you totally lack talent or that the instrument is not for you.
Sometimes playing gets repetitive, and even boring.
When you’ve practiced a tune many times each day for a week, it is normal not to feel so inspired anymore. Just in the same way as a very good song loses it’s attraction when played too many times.
Inspiration and the joy you get from playing functions similar to learning, that is, you make progress in steps, and hard work gets you there faster, but a break now and then can be good also both for inspiration and learning.
great tips, I’m going to give as many a go as I can.
Free-feets post interested me though. After three and a half years have you seriously only learned 27 tunes? Or have you simply selected 27 to really work whilst still having knowledge of others?
The way I see it, when I started to go to a session although I knew a few tunes I rarely heard them played so I have had to broaden my repertoire, particularly with English tunes, if I want to make any effort to take part at all.
I’m like a magpie with a very short attention span. I love trying out new tunes and can’t wait to try any that I hear at a session or on a recording. Everyone laughs at me as I try and scribble down the names. It really annoys me when I can’t find the tunes, like the Cape Breton Jigs on Music at Matt Malloys.
It would be impossible for me to stick to the same 27 tunes only, which is why your post amazed me. You must be a very determined and discipled person, who is capable of sustained dedication. I’d love to hear you play some of those tunes.
I know I could use some of your patience.
I can’t speak as an experienced whistle player, given that I’m still a greenie and rather suck at the moment, but I can speak from my experience on violin. This right here, is the absolute truth. There are tunes that are so bloody fun to play when you first pick them up, but practicing them for months on end, playing them through hundreds, perhaps thousands of times, repeating small sections over and over to get them perfected… it can be incredibly draining. All of this practice leading up to a performance and at the end, you feel like you never want to play the thing ever again.
The whole process is a bit misleading, though. I’ve always found that the initial thrill returns ten fold on that night of performance. Several years ago, I had the privilege to perform on a small tour in the UK, and the practice leading up to the tour was mind numbing, but every single night of performance was an absolute joy.
My tip is to take a shot at everything. Irish traditional music has taken the whistle to wonderful places. It may never be used in more effective ways. But who knows?
It’s fine to immerse yourself in Irish traditional music, and try to learn it correctly. But it’s not the only way.
Play pop tunes, show tunes, classical, jazz and folk tunes. You can always go back to ITrad, and you’ll be none the worse for it. Most of all, enjoy it! 
I have learned the first one by ear. They’re played on an Eb whistle in case you didn’t know. The third one seems like it will be the hardest to learn by ear.
Indeed, when you can play the tune well and get in the mood, it is a great experience. There is usually a boring gap between that point and the first steps. When you bridge it, you get something extra from it.
Good advice.
I play a bit swedish folk on the whistle, and also some tunes from Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. Fits the whistle perfectly I think.
Lots of great tips here, thanks all!
I have a request for other tips, but my request might be too vague… Can anyone offer tips on honing one’s sense of rhythm / lilt / pulse? (There might be multiple subjects in there for all I know.)
I sense that subtle differences in rhythm can make a huge difference in the overall sound of an arrangement. If you have too much lilt, or not enough, then the sound isn’t quite right. Know what I mean? And I’m often unsure of whether lilt is appropriate.
One specific example: The last track on the Edel Fox /Ronan O’Flaherty cd starts with the Fisherman’s Lilt (reel), which I love. (It’s on her myspace page if you want to hear it.)
But then I find on youtube a video of Bothy Band, a Drunken Landlady set:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3oO6I56Guc
35 seconds in they start Fisherman’s Lilt and I don’t hear any lilt at all (irony?).
Am I just imagining the difference in lilt? Is one style more appropriate / “better”?
I guess pulse is another matter, as you want a pulse regardless of the lilt. My main question regarding pulse, I guess, is, should I be consciously emphasizing some notes to reinforce a tune’s pulse? Or should a whistle leave it to the rhythm players to emphasize the pulse?
If these questions even make any sense then I’d appreciate relevant tips, including pointers to recordings that you think provide good examples. Thanks!
Most definitely. [some text edited]. Noting the other parts of your post, there’s also swing, backbeat, and other syncopations to consider.
No, don’t rely on other players to compensate for what you should be playing. Listen to these solo samples:
Track 3:
http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Aire-Dordan/dp/B00000JJNY
Track 9:
http://www.amazon.com/Feadoga-Stain-2-Mary-Bergin/dp/B000000E87
When I first started playing the flute and uilleann pipes back in the 70’s my mentor/teacher gave some great advice:
“When you’re learning pipes, don’t just listen to pipers. Listen to everybody: fiddlers, accordion players, singers, everybody.”
Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of really good New Orleans clarinetists, and I realised that I could learn a lot about tone, phrasing, breathing, etc from them. On some levels, music is music and musical playing is musical playing.
WHO DAT!
yassir…Pete Fountain!
you wanna learn “phrasin'”!
Or should a whistle leave it to the rhythm players to emphasize the pulse?
NOOO. I’m no accomplished ITM player, just a couple years of amateur, but one thing I’ve learned, is that if the melody players can’t hold the pulse, they can’t expect the rhythm players to do a thing to fix it. They’re there to ornament and enhance and reinforce and even rest on top of your playing, not the other way around.
I think that if a melody player can’t make sufficient, presentable music by himself, he’s not doing what he should do (which means I aint doing what I’m doing, but like I said I’m no expert). So don’t rely on other sections to do what you should do yourself 
Tip: occasionally play impromptu in public.
I don’t mean busking, but every once in awhile I’ll have a whistle with me somewhere (bus stop, hanging around in the park, etc.) and I’ll just break out the ole feadog and bust a couple of my best tunes.
I usually start with an aire or slow reel to calm the nerves, and then progress to a couple of the faster standards like Out on the Ocean or The Kesh.
99.9% of the time the folk around don’t even know what a whistle IS, much less have enough experience to know that I’m not really all that good!
It most often brings a smattering of applause and vocal appreciation from passers-by and stand-arounds alike.
A few times I’ve even established an “audience” of some who actually stick around to hear me play!
It does absolute wonders for the old confidence, adds a little spice, and when it works, is a blast. When it doesn’t work so well, I just pocket the weapon and move along, no harm done to anything but ego.