Q&A for How to Play the Tin Whistle

Play it just like a recorder. If you want short, sharp, detached notes, play "too too". If you want softer ones, go "oo, oo".

In most beginner music pieces, there are diagrams showing you which holes to use.

You are probably blowing too hard. Also, press the holes harder to prevent air escaping. You should press hard enough that you have little hole marks on your fingers.

No, just if your music isn't written for an Eb whistle, (or Eb instrument at all), you will have to transpose it into the correct key.

The key of the whistle is the lowest note that you can play on the whistle. So you play the bottom note (that is, all holes covered) to find out what it is. Most beginners whistles are in the key of D or C.

There are at least 3 ways of playing a C natural on a whistle in the key of D. The first way (probably the easiest) is called 'one handed cross fingering', where you place your second finger on the second hole down from the top and your third finger on the third hole down from the top, leaving all other holes uncovered [|oxx-ooo]. This is fine for the first octave, but doesn't work too well for the second octave C natural. For the second octave, you only cover the second hole from the top, like this: [|oxo-ooo]. It can vary between individual whistles though.

Yes, the major scale is fingered exactly the same on every tin whistle, regardless of the key it is in. The key of the whistle refers to the lowest note playable on that whistle i.e. a D for a D whistle; a C for a C whistle.

It comes with practice! When starting out with the tin whistle, you can be concentrating so hard and are a bit tense, so you tend to produce a lot of saliva and then that ends up in the whistle, affecting the sound of the whistle and also spraying saliva about. As you grow more confident in whistling, this should reduce. Give your whistle a good hard shake to rid it of any saliva - careful that no one is standing close by!

Do the same fingerings as the lower notes, only blow harder. Doing this should get you up to the upper octave. Remember, the higher notes come easier and easier if you practice, so keep trying.