The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a small woodwind instrument with six holes. It belongs to a group of instruments known as fipple flutes, which also includes the recorder and the Native American flute. A person who plays the tin whistle is called a whistler. The instrument is often linked to Irish traditional music and Celtic music. It is also known by other names, such as flageolet, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, or Irish whistle. In Irish, it is called feadóg stáin or feadóg.
History
The modern tin whistle is part of a larger group of fipple flutes. These flutes have been found in many forms and cultures around the world. In Europe, these instruments have a long and important history. Some well-known examples include the recorder, tin whistle, Flabiol, Txistu, and tabor pipe.
Many early cultures had a type of fipple flute. It is likely the first pitched flute-type instrument ever made. Examples found so far include a possible Neanderthal fipple flute from Slovenia, which some scientists believe is between 81,000 and 53,000 years old. Another example is a German flute from 35,000 years ago. A flute called the Malham Pipe, made from sheep bone in West Yorkshire, dates to the Iron Age. However, new research suggests the Malham Pipe is from the early medieval period. Written records from ancient times mention fipple flutes, such as the Roman tibia and Greek aulos. In the early Middle Ages, people in northern Europe played these instruments, as seen in 3rd-century British bone flutes. Irish Brehon Law also describes a flute-like instrument. By the 12th century, Italian flutes came in many sizes. Fragments of 12th-century Norman bone whistles have been found in Ireland, and a complete 14 cm Tusculum clay whistle from the 14th century was discovered in Scotland. In the 17th century, whistles were called flageolets, a term used for whistles with a French-made fipple headpiece, which is common in modern penny whistles. These instruments are linked to the development of the English flageolet, French flageolet, and Renaissance and Baroque-era recorders. Some modern tin whistlers still prefer the term "flageolet" because it describes a wide variety of fipple flutes, including penny whistles.
The modern penny whistle is native to Great Britain and Ireland, especially England. From 1840 to 1889, Robert Clarke in Manchester, and later New Moston, England, produced factory-made "tin whistles." These were also sold as "Clarke London Flageolets" or "Clarke Flageolets" until 1900. The tin whistle’s fingering system is similar to that of the six-hole "simple system Irish flutes," which are simpler compared to Boehm system flutes. The six-hole, diatonic system was also used on Baroque flutes and was well known before Robert Clarke began making his tin whistles. Clarke’s first whistle, the Meg, was tuned to high A and later made in other keys for Victorian parlour music. The company displayed its whistles at The Great Exhibition of 1851. The Clarke tin whistle has a shape similar to an organ pipe, with a flattened tube forming the fipple mouthpiece. It is usually made from rolled tin sheet or brass. These whistles became widespread because they were affordable.
The name "penny whistle" came from the fact that the instrument could be bought for a penny, not because it was used by children or street musicians. The name "tin whistle" was first used in 1825, but neither name became common until the 20th century. The tin whistle became popular in several musical traditions, including English, Scottish, Irish, and American traditional music.
Because of its low cost, the tin whistle was a common household instrument, as widespread as the harmonica. In the second half of the 19th century, flute makers like Barnett Samuel and Joseph Wallis also sold whistles with cylindrical brass tubes. Many older whistles had lead fipple plugs, and since lead is poisonous, care should be taken when playing old whistles.
Although whistles are usually made in higher pitches, "low" whistles have also been produced. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has a 19th-century low whistle from the Galpin collection in its collection.
Today, most whistles are made of brass or nickel-plated brass with a plastic mouthpiece that contains the fipple. Brands like Generation, Feadóg, Oak, Acorn, Soodlum's (now Walton's), and others fall into this category.
The Generation Whistle was introduced in 1966 and featured a brass tube with a lead fipple. Founded by Alfred Brown in Oswestry, Shropshire, the company’s most popular whistle, the Generation Flageolet, was introduced in 1968. Over time, the design was updated, most notably by replacing the lead fipple with a plastic one.
Most whistles have a cylindrical shape, but other designs exist. For example, a conical sheet metal whistle with a wooden stop forms the fipple, and the Clarke brand is most common in this style. Other less common types include all-metal whistles, PVC whistles, Flanna square-holed whistles, and wooden whistles.
The tin whistle became popular in the early 19th-century Celtic music revivals and is now a key instrument in several folk traditions. It is widely used in English, Scottish, and Irish traditional music because it is inexpensive, easy to play, and has fingerings similar to traditional six-holed flutes like the Irish flute and Baroque flute. The tin whistle is also a good starting instrument for learning the uilleann pipes, which share similar finger techniques, note ranges, and music. Today, the tin whistle is the most popular instrument in Irish traditional music.
In recent years, some instrument makers have created "high-end" hand-made whistles. These can cost many times more than cheaper whistles but are still less expensive than most other instruments. These companies are usually small groups of craftsmen who make each whistle individually and "voice" it by hand, rather than mass-producing them in a factory.
Tuning
The whistle is designed to play notes in a specific musical scale, which makes it easy to use for music in all standard keys. The lowest note on the whistle determines the main key of the instrument, which is different from how the key of a chromatic instrument is identified. Chromatic instruments use the relationship between written notes and the actual sound produced to determine their key.
Whistles are available in all 12 musical keys. However, the most common types are D whistles, followed by C, F, G, B♭, and E♭ whistles, with other keys being less common. A D whistle can easily play notes in the keys of D and G major. These whistles are called D whistles because the D major key is the lowest note. A C whistle can easily play notes in the keys of C and F major. The D whistle is most often used for traditional Irish and Scottish music.
Although whistles are primarily designed for a specific scale, players can produce notes outside the main key by using techniques like half-holing (partially covering the highest open hole) or cross-fingering (leaving some higher holes open while covering others). However, half-holing is more difficult to perform correctly. Because whistles are available in all keys, players usually switch to a different whistle for other keys, using half-holing only for notes that are not part of the main scale. Some whistle designs allow a single mouthpiece to be used with different key bodies.
During the 1960s revival of traditional Irish music, the low whistle was created by Bernard Overton at the request of Finbar Furey.
Larger whistles, which are longer and wider, produce sounds one or two octaves lower than standard whistles. These whistles are often made of metal, wood, or plastic and may include a tuning slide. They are usually called low whistles or concert whistles. These instruments work the same way as standard whistles but are sometimes considered separate by musicians in traditional styles.
The term "soprano whistle" is sometimes used to describe higher-pitched whistles when it is necessary to distinguish them from low whistles.
Low whistles are typically handmade in small workshops by individual makers or small teams. Well-known makers include Howard, Burke, MK, Goldie, Tony Dixon, and Carbony Celtric Winds.
Playing technique
The notes on the tin whistle are made by opening or closing holes with the fingers. Players usually cover the holes with the pads of their fingers, but some may use a special grip called the "piper's grip" when playing larger holes on low whistles. When all the holes are closed, the whistle makes its lowest note, which is called the "bell tone." Opening the holes one by one, starting from the bottom, creates the other notes in order: the second note when the lowest hole is open, the third note when the two lowest holes are open, and so on. When all six holes are open, the whistle makes the seventh note.
Like many woodwind instruments, the tin whistle’s higher notes are made by blowing air faster into the windway. On a transverse flute, this is done by narrowing the lips, but the tin whistle’s windway is fixed in size and direction, like a recorder’s. To make higher notes, players must increase the speed of the air stream. (See "overblowing" for more details.)
Fingering for the second register is similar to the first register, but alternate fingerings are sometimes used in the higher notes to fix pitch issues caused by faster air movement. The tonic note in the second register is usually played by leaving the top hole slightly open instead of covering all holes, which helps prevent accidentally playing the lower register. Recorders achieve this by partially opening a specific thumb hole.
Some notes that are slightly flat or sharp compared to the major scale can be played using cross fingering. All notes, except the lowest in each octave, can be flattened by partially covering holes, a technique called "half holing." One common cross fingering creates a flattened version of the seventh note (like B♭ instead of B on a C whistle or C♮ instead of C♯ on a D whistle), which allows playing another major scale (F on a C whistle or G on a D whistle).
The tin whistle’s standard range covers two octaves. For a D whistle, this includes notes from D5 to D7, which are the second D above middle C to the fourth D above middle C. Notes higher than this range can be made by blowing strongly, but they are often too loud and out of tune due to the whistle’s cylindrical shape.
Traditional whistle music uses ornaments like cuts, strikes, and rolls to add variety. Most playing is smooth (legato), with ornaments creating breaks between notes instead of using tongue articulation. In traditional music, ornaments are often changes in how notes are played rather than adding separate notes, as in classical music. Common ornaments include:
Repertoire
The tin whistle is used in many different types of music. Music from Ireland and Scotland is the most common type of music played on the tin whistle. This style of music makes up most of the published music that tin whistle players can use. The tin whistle is so common in Irish music that it is considered a key part of that genre. It is also found in Scottish music.
Kwela is a type of music from South Africa that started in the 1950s. It uses a fast, jazzy tin whistle melody. Kwela is the only music style that began because of the tin whistle's sound. Because it was cheap, it became popular in poor areas during apartheid. The Hohner tin whistle was especially used in kwela music. The popularity of kwela led to over one million tin whistles being sold.
In the late 1950s, mbaqanga music became more popular than kwela. The saxophone became the preferred wind instrument in townships. Kwela musician Aaron "Big Voice Jack" Lerole kept performing until the 1990s. Some bands, like The Positively Testcard of London, still record kwela music. Sheet music for kwela is not commonly published. Many recordings by early kwela musicians are no longer in print. One example is the compilation Drum: South African Jazz and Jive.
The tin whistle is also used in other music styles, like the Tuk band tradition in Barbados. In some Irish music written for large ensembles, the piccolo is sometimes used instead of the tin whistle. It is common to hear the tin whistle in praise music and movie soundtracks. Especially in the soundtracks of Lord of the Rings and Titanic. Sheet music for tin whistle performances is available in these genres. The tin whistle is also found in "crossover" genres such as world music, folk rock, folk metal, and folk punk.
Notation
Tin whistle music collections are usually written in one of three different formats.
It is common to write music for the tin whistle using standard musical notation. The tin whistle is not a transposing instrument, meaning that music for the D tin whistle is written in concert pitch, not adjusted down by a tone as is typical for transposing instruments. However, there is no clear agreement on how tin whistle music should be written or how to teach reading music for the whistle. When music is written for a soprano whistle, it is written an octave lower than it sounds to avoid using extra lines and make it easier to read.
Most published tin whistle music comes from the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland. Since much of this music is written in D major, G major, or related musical modes, using D major or G major key signatures has become a widely accepted standard. For example, the "C whistle" version of Bill Ochs's The Clarke Tin Whistle Handbook is written in D major, just like the D whistle version, but the audio CD is played on a C whistle.
Some musicians learn to read music directly onto the C whistle because its home key, or name key, is the natural major key (C major). Others are taught to read music directly onto different whistles.
A tin whistle player who wants to read music for all whistles must learn how to transpose written music, changing the key signature from one to another.
Tablature notation for the tin whistle is a visual guide showing which tone holes to cover. The most common format uses a vertical column of six circles, with black circles indicating holes to cover for a specific note. A plus sign (+) at the top shows notes in the second octave. Tablature is often found in beginner tutorial books.
Most popular tin whistle music is traditional and not under copyright, so it is common to share collections online. ABC notation is the most common way to share tunes electronically. It is designed to be easy to read, and many musicians learn to read it directly without using a computer program to convert it into standard musical notation.
Well-known performers
During the 1960s, Tommy Makem played the tin whistle as part of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, one of the most important Irish folk groups. This group was especially popular during the American folk music revival.
In 1973, Paddy Moloney (of The Chieftains) and Sean Potts released the album Tin Whistles, which helped make the tin whistle more popular, as well as Irish music in general. Mary Bergin’s Feadóga Stáin (1979) and Feadóga Stáin 2 (1993) were also influential. Other well-known tin whistle players include Carmel Gunning, Micho Russell, Joanie Madden, Brian Finnegan, Cathal McConnell, and Seán Ryan. Many traditional pipers and flute players also play the tin whistle at a high level. Festy Conlon is considered by some to be the best slow air player.
Award-winning singer and musician Julie Fowlis recorded several tracks on the tin whistle in her solo work and with the band Dòchas.
Aaron "Big Voice Jack" Lerole and his band recorded a single called "Tom Hark," which sold five million copies worldwide. This song was used as the theme for the 1958 television series The Killing Stones. The most famous star of the kwela era was Spokes Mashiyane. Paul Simon’s 1986 album Graceland uses South African music heavily and includes pennywhistle solos played by Morris Goldberg.
The tin whistle is used in songs by Irish rock bands such as The Cranberries and The Pogues (with Spider Stacy as the whistler). American Celtic punk bands like The Tossers, Dropkick Murphys, and Flogging Molly (with Bridget Regan playing the instrument) also use the tin whistle. Andrea Corr of the Irish folk rock band The Corrs plays the tin whistle.
Daniel Lanois, a legendary music producer, learned to play the penny whistle at age nine. He credits this experience as a major influence on his approach to music production.
Saxophonist LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the American jam band Dave Matthews Band, plays the tin whistle in some of the band’s songs.
Bob Hallett of the Canadian folk rock group Great Big Sea is known for his tin whistle performances in both traditional and original music.
Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós ends their song "Hafsól" with a tin whistle solo. Barry Privett of the American Celtic rock band Carbon Leaf uses the tin whistle in several songs. Lambchop uses the tin whistle in the song "The Scary Caroler." The Unicorns use the tin whistle in the song "Sea Ghost."
The Paul Simon song "You Can Call Me Al" includes a pennywhistle solo played by jazz musician Morris Goldberg. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull plays the tin whistle on "The Whistler" from the Songs from the Wood album (1977). Mike Oldfield plays the tin whistle in the first part of "Tubular Bells" (1973).
Rusted Root features the tin whistle, played by John Buynak, in its 1994 hit "Send Me On My Way." Steve Buckley, a British jazz musician, is known for using the pennywhistle as a serious instrument. His work can be heard on recordings with Loose Tubes, Django Bates, and his album Life As We Know It with Chris Batchelor.
Les Lieber is a celebrated American jazz tin whistle player. He performed with Paul Whiteman’s Band and the Benny Goodman Sextet. He recorded with Django Reinhardt in Paris after World War II and started an event called "Jazz at Noon" in a New York City restaurant.
Howard Johnson also plays the tin whistle. Howard Levy, a musical polymath, introduces the tune "True North" with a jazz and Celtic-inspired whistle piece on UFO TOFU by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
Tyler Duncan, a musician and producer, is known for blending jazz with traditional Celtic melodies on the tin whistle. He was the first low whistle player accepted into the jazz studies program at the University of Michigan. He plays a custom-made chromatic low whistle designed for jazz. His arrangement of The May Morning Dew was featured on NPR’s Jazz Set.
Howard Shore included a tin whistle in the passage "Concerning Hobbits" from The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The tin whistle represents the Shire, along with other instruments like the guitar, double bass, and bodhrán. It also appears in the main theme of the trilogy.
The tin whistle is featured in the song "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion in the movie Titanic. The song’s introduction includes a famous tin whistle solo.
The tin whistle is also prominent in the soundtrack of the film How to Train Your Dragon and is connected to the main character, Hiccup.
The tin whistle is heard at the beginning of the 1984 short film The Adventures of Andre and Wally B.
The tin whistle appears in the winning song of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest.
The tin whistle is featured in the track "Wild Woods" from the Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack of Mario Kart 8.