Learning to Play > Practice Tunes

• Mick's Virtual Whistle offers sound clips and notation for more than 20 songs (clips are in mp3 format). It's not clear what order the songs are listed in, and the page requires a lot of scrolling. An especially noteworthy tune is "Planxty Dale Wisely," a nod to Chiff & Fipple author Dale Wisely.
  
  
• Brother Steve's tin-whistle pages offers sound clips and notation for about 30 songs. The informative song index indicates the key of the whistle each tune was played on (clips are in mp3 format), although the "Contributor" and "Posted" columns could easily have been omitted.
  
  
• The Whistle Workshop uses several tunes in the lessons it provides. The site's tunes page lists all the songs used in the lessons.
  
  
• Abacci Music provides notation, whistle tablature, and midi sound clips for scads of songs. Tablature is provided for tin whistles and for four other instruments as well. Music with tin-whistle tablature is available in five keys, though not every song is available in all keys.
  
  
• Pretend you've taken the stage at "open mic nite" at your favorite pub. Irish Music and Whistle Resources offers sound clips of a bodhrán (drum) and of uillean pipes. The mp3 sound clips enable you to sit in on a virtual music session.
  
  
• The Session offers musical notation for hundreds of songs. Although this site doesn't offer whistle tablature and browsing the library is awkward (you can't even order song listings alphabetically), the site is worth exploring. Not only can you see which professional musicians have recorded a particular tune, you can add tunes to a personal tune book (provided you register with the site). The best way to navigate the library is to "search" by type of song or by key—leave the search box blank to view all the songs of a particular type or in a particular key.
  
  
• Find more than 1,600 tunes at Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. If you're unfamiliar with ABC tablature, fear not—the site introduces the format and provides links to other sites with additional information. (Another useful ABC site is that of the ABC2Win music notation program.)
  
  
• Though it offers notation for only three tunes, Martin Diers' Hexavento Notation site merits inclusion, if only for the, um ... ambitiousness ... of Martin's enterprise. He has created a new form of notation for tin whistles and other six-holed instruments. If you're looking for a musical notation system with the ease, obviousness, and clarity of the Greek alphabetic, look no further!