Fiddles and Whistles

Norma · Post by **Norma** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:55 pm

Does anyone know of any recordings of Fiddles and whistles playing together? Would love to play some duets with my kids, but would like to hear how one would combine the two. We prefer Irish tunes over folk tunes.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:56 pm

Irish tradtional music is folk music, and much Irish music has both fiddles and whistles.

Norma · Post by **Norma** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:02 pm

OK, how bout this...Your FAVORITE CD of whistling/fiddling tunes or the name of your favorite artist. The music stores here are just full of teenager pop and I need some names to find sources on the internet for music.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 3:08 pm

Norma, the thing about Irish music, often called Irtrad here on the board, is that all the instruments play basically the same thing. Whistles, fiddles, boxes....we're all playing the same melody line off the same 'page'. There is no 'backup' or 'lead' or 'filler' or 'parts'.

Any good recording that doesn't confuse that point will do nicely for you. I like the bare bones music, and find nice stuff to listen to, and work off of, that isn't big name stuff. Two of my favorites are (both) called Mountain Road, (one of them was from the Cork/Kerry region, the other from Sligo). I like compilations, and recordings by the regional players more than the stellar performances.

Best of luck!

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 3:24 pm

Hi. Off hand I can't think of any recordings with only whistle and fiddle. Maybe one of the board members will have some personal recordings (MP3's) they could give you access to.

Celtic Grooves is an online store where you can purchase traditional Irish CD's. The have them categorized by instrument. You might check here for some ideas:

http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CGCa ... ument.html

Most of the "big name" traditional Irish bands will have tunes with whistle and fiddle, but they may have accordion, banjo, guitar, etc... mixed in too.

Dervish and Lunasa are both good. For some older stuff try The Bothy Band or Boys of the Lough. I don't really care for The Chieftans, but I'm sure someone will suggest them too.

-brett

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 3:27 pm

Norma, this is far from the last or only word on the subject, but CDs I've been listening to a lot lately:

Wooden Flute Obsession I (2 CD compilation - Wooden Flute Obsession II is supposed to be coming soon)

Catherin McEvoy - "Flute Music in the Sligo-Roscommon Style"

Cathal McConnell - "Long Expectant Comes at Last"

Packie Manus Byrne - "A Dossan of Heather" (A book of Packie's tunes with an accompanying CD put together by the board's own StevieJ)

Micho Russell - "Ireland's Whistling Ambassador" (CD, though a videotape with the same name is also available)

I'm still building a collection of Irish music, but I keep playing these over and over again. I'm sure others will chime in with their own favorites, but this should get you started.

<edit> I love the Chieftains, but as Bretton implied they're not the best place to listen for simple solos or duets. I find that I pick up a lot of ideas for tinwhistle from flute pieces - the tinwhistle specialty CDs like Mary Bergin's "Feadog Stain 1 & 2" or the Maloney/Potts "Tin Whistles" are often played much faster than normal performance speed - inspiring to listen to, but well above the speed most of us will ever be able to play.

chas · Post by **chas** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 5:28 pm

I don't know of much whistle and fiddle. Deanta certainly did some, likely the Bothy Band, too.

Flute and fiddle is a different story, though. Both of the above have great flute/whistle players and fiddlers. One of the best for flute and fiddle is Altan -- their first few albums were built around one of the best flute/fiddle combos I've ever heard.

As has been pointed out, though, it's pretty much unison or parallel playing, so any tune you like that's whistle-friendly is appropriate.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 9:15 pm

You can listen to archived, streaming media, one hour performances at the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage by both Lunasa and Dervish by typing the name of the band in search box on this page:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/ ... esults.cfm

There are over 2,000 performances available there. Try different search words, like "fiddle," "Irish," "whistle," and see what you can find.

Best wishes,
Jerry

amar · Post by **amar** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 11:06 am

hi there norma, I've got friends in winnipeg.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:45 pm

There's some pretty tasty low whistle/fiddle interaction on the early Solas recordings. Odd that more stuff doesn't come readily to mind. As mentioned earlier, there's plenty of flute/fiddle duets around and low whistle could easily be used in the place of flute.

slowair · Post by **slowair** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 7:42 am

The Bothy Band has already been mentioned and I'll add my recommendation there as well.

Don't forget the Irish Rovers. You know the Unicorn song? That's them. They do a lots of IrTrad. Very easy to follow even with out sheet music. Mind ya, they play SONGS, not tunes, and if they do play tunes, I've yet to hear it. But I love listening to them. The best advantage here would be that your children could learn the words as well. Easier to follow.

Mike