Irish Whistles

One of my ideals in my journey in music is to learn a new instrument every five years, to the point of being able to perform it adequately in public. For 2010, I chose to learn the Irish Whistle. At this point adequacy is still a delusion...

These two tunes are my first attempts at playing penny whistles (a total misrepresentation based on the cost of them) however, in spite of my pitch issues in places, this is a pretty good representation of where I am at in my development six weeks into learning this simple but trying instrument.

The Celtic Knot, is another of my original compositions, written for pipes, but performed on the whistle. It is the basis of a much larger medley of original tunes, and this is the open sequence... happy, open, simple. There is always much anticipation and hope for ourselves and those we want to connect with - and musically, the knot is yet to be formed at this point in the performance. This simple theme is a gentle reminder of the things that can be, and the desire we have in our own lives to be connected with the things we want - and the effort we take to make things the way we want them to be; intertwined, happily entangled and still at peace. Like a sleepy dreamer, lightly snoring, warm and content, yet still connected... First the theme is played with just the melody line, then harmonized, it is interlaced.


The Gael is performed in the key of C - which is the key it was composed in by Dougie MacLean - an amazing Scottish composer and performer. Interesting point - Dougie plays his material in a bizarre guitar tuning - open C, which is a dream for tradition instruments as he uses capos to bring his guitar into the range of fiddles, mandolins and other melody instruments. I've tried to bring the two themes of this tune out individually, then place them, layered over each other in the fashion that the counterpoint was written. I know I haven't done Dougie's amazing music justice, nor is my recording technique anything to write home about; however, it is a snapshot in time. I will do some major performance (meaning a helluva lot more practice on the whistles) and production work on both of these before the CD is produced.

Please enjoy the Celtic Knot and The Gael.