Tin Whistle Games

Drowsy Maggie on the tin whistle

An Irish reel for a D whistle, 58 notes. Press play to hear it on Penny's whistle, then learn it one note at a time.

58 notes. Press play, or Next note to go one at a time.

E

Top five holes covered.

The notes

Each box is one bar. A + means the high octave: same fingers, blow a little harder. A longer line under a note means hold it longer.

    1. E
    2. B
    3. E
    4. high D
    5. E
    6. B
    7. E
    1. E
    2. B
    3. E
    4. A
    5. F sharp
    6. D
    7. F sharp
    1. E
    2. B
    3. E
    4. high D
    5. E
    6. B
    7. E
    1. B
    2. A
    3. B
    4. C sharp
    5. high D
    6. A
    7. F sharp
    8. D
    1. E
    2. B
    3. E
    4. high D
    5. E
    6. B
    7. E
    1. E
    2. B
    3. E
    4. A
    5. F sharp
    6. D
    7. F sharp
    1. E
    2. B
    3. E
    4. high D
    5. E
    6. B
    7. E
    1. B
    2. A
    3. B
    4. C sharp
    5. high D
    6. A
    7. F sharp
    8. A

Fingers for each note

  • D

  • E

  • F sharp

  • A

  • B

  • C sharp

  • high D

About the tune

Drowsy Maggie is an Irish reel. It is tune 1425 in O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903), a book of 1,850 pieces collected by Francis O'Neill, then head of the Chicago police. The notes here are the first part of the tune as it is printed there (a scan of the book), set for a D whistle, with the ornaments left out.

Alan Lomax made a field recording of it for the Library of Congress in 1938, from the fiddler Patrick Bonner of Beaver Island, Michigan. Source: The Traditional Tune Archive

How hard is it

Level
Easier
Notes
58
Range
D to D+
High notes
6 of 58
C♯
2 times. Lift every finger.

Keep going

All 18 tunesThe full finger chart

Every tune here also plays in Typing Meadow, our free typing music game for kids.