For a piece in band at school, the clarinet section is directed to play an Irish melody on tinwhistles. After some noodling around, I've figured out how to play the part. They are surprisingly intuitive. After establishing where the scale was (these whistles are diatonic {based on a single scale}), I was able to pick out the melody starting on the right pitch.
A bit about these little whistles:
According to the Clarke Tinwhistle Company website, a man named Robert Clarke, in Coney Weston, England, designed and developed a whistle made of a new material known as "tinplate." Clarke met visiting Irish laborers who bought his instruments and took them home. It soon gained popularity among Irish people and found a way into the country's music.
Generally speaking though, penny whistles are even older, and are descended from whistles called fipple flutes. I think fipple refers to the type of mouthpiece. These instruments date back as far as Neanderthal times (32,000-33,000 years ago).
I think I'll try to learn some other tunes, too. Doot do doot do doooo!
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