This is my first post here and have really enjoyed the community thus far. Everybody is very warm and welcoming, which as it should be!
Anyway, I am seasoned musician with a jazz background and I am starting whistle. I got a hold of a Freeman tweaked Sweetone and am looking to dive right in. As a jazz musician I had to learn standards and much to my delight the music you guys play is much the same. Is there a fake book of sorts or better yet a list I can check out to learn the most standard of Irish and or English standards? I know that its all by ear (mostly) so that’s really no problem, I would just like to sink my teeth into the rich lexicon of this fine music and get started! Oh I have been listening to a lot of Chieftans, Mary Bergin and The Dubliners, can you guys recommend other great groups and musicians to check out!
This site has pennywhitle notation & tabs for THOUSANDS of songs
It is the Mudcat database run through some other software to give sheet music for dulcemers, whistles and more, choose from the bottom list, pick
A-Z Pick Song, Pick Pennyswistle, Pick Key, If it is not in the right key just find one that is playable and play it on whatever key you have. http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/
Go to the Members link at www.thesession.org and click on the Tunebook tab. You’ll get a descending “greatest hits” list of the most popular tunes, which is roughly representative.
No matter how seasoned a musician you are, Irish music is another breed altogether. Humble yourself. Start with polkas. Then move on to the older tunes – the session standards. Get the feel of the traditional rhythms before you start trying to be Flook. And get a good, tuneable whistle.
Polkas:
Martin O’Connor’s polka
Sweeney’s polka
Any number of Denis Murphy polkas
Jigs:
Behind the Haystack
Kesh
Morrisson’s
reels:
rolling in the ryegrass
earl’s chair
cooley’s