Learning to Play > Online Lessons & Software

This list of online whistling lessons and instructional software is ordered from brief 'n' breezy to thick 'n' meaty: shorter, simpler lessons appear first, while longer, more involved lessons appear toward the end of the list.

If you're aiming to master the low whistle, skip this list and instead visit the Whistling Low page on proper technique. The information is broad, but not deep, and addresses gripping, fingering, breathing, and ornamentation.

Online lessons & software:

• The Irish Whistle and Music Resources site contains a useful breathing lesson. Though limited in scope, this lesson is invaluable, saving new whistlers needless huffing and puffing and reminding seasoned whistlers to fill their diaphragms ... and give their lungs a break. If you take nothing else away from the lesson, commit this gem to memory: "If you can't talk normally, you can't play normally."
  
  
• Kim Fulton-Bennett claims to show you how to play the pennywhistle in ten easy steps. His tutorial is aimed at folks who are new not only to the tin whistle but also to written music notation. Though useful as is, the tutorial would benefit from illustrations of handling and blowing into the whistle (steps 1–3) and from sound clips demonstrating the difference between a low G and a high G (step 4). Kudos to Kim for offering advice on how to support the whistle when no holes are covered (step 8): It never occurred to me to use my pinky to stabilize the whistle from the side or top.

The sites below haven't yet been properly ordered! The next time you visit this page, don't be surprised if some of them have moved (though none will be removed).

• Whistletutor.com provides beginning, intermediate, and advanced whistling lessons—some sound clips are in Real Audio format, others in Windows Media Player format. The beginning lessons focus on the different types of songs commonly played on a tin whistle, how to hold a whistle, and the keys of D, G, and A.
  
  
• Some of the tutorial topics at Brother Steve's tin-whistle pages are bit off the beaten path: meditations on learning music, relaxation, tonguing, and breathing. Brother Steve also offers more standard fare: instruction on the economy of fingering, ornamentation techniques, and jigs. His collection of quick tips is a true gem—from "sticky tack" to wide-brimmed hats.
  
  
• The Whistle Workshop offers whistling lessons on airs, articulation, scales and arpeggios, phrasing, ornamentation, jigs, cross fingering, and hornpipes.
  
  
• For another perspective on some of the tutorials mentioned above, see The Whistle Annex's page on online whistle tutorials. The author lavishes a lot of praise on Brother Steve's tin-whistle pages.
  
  
• In addition to the sites above, whistle maker MK Music has a link to the Web site of the UK band Flook, a member of which has developed a CD-ROM that teaches whistling.
  
  
• Whistle maker Tony Dixon offers a concise yet comprehensive whistling tutorial in three parts. He begins with the basics, then moves on to ornamentation and jigs.
  
  
• Scoiltrade offers online lessons, ranging from beginner to advanced, for various folk instruments, including the tin whistle.