It’s time to move on to the actual post. Let’s get on to the meat. Today, the meat will be accompanied by a little bit of history. History is something everyone likes, right? Right…? You are correct?

The Irish penny whistle is a basic woodwind instrument that produces sound using a fipple. It is essentially a simple woodwind instrument that you use to make sounds. There are no buttons or levers on the body and you can blow into it like you would a recorder. It is very easy to use and the result is that you can play it much faster if you have fewer holes. This is it. (Thankfully. A few months back, I was able to pick up my old concert fiddle and felt the same way my grandparents did when they were in front of computers. “What’s this button doing?” “It’s making bad noises, what’s the problem?”

These instruments have been around for longer than any recorded history. They were used by nearly every civilization. They have found Neanderthal versions. If the Irish cultural aspects of the Tin Whistle don’t appeal to your taste, but you like another culture, you can still learn how to play a whistle. If someone sells one, the Irish tin whistle is likely to be less expensive than its equivalent.

The modern whistle we know today was born from those roots in Manchester in England. In the 1840s, Robert Clarke started mass producing his whistle. This was the basic model from which all modern whistle styles are derived. It is also where the whistle got its two main names: The tin whistle (made mostly out of brass or Tin) and the penny whistle (made so cheaply that they could be bought for less than a British penny in the 19th Century).

Plastics replaced metal fipples in the 1900s. However, you will still find many whistles that have metal fipples. The whistle was popularized and accepted into folk music during the period.