Tin Whistle Games

St. Patrick's Day on the tin whistle

An Irish set dance for a D whistle, 45 notes. Press play to hear it on Penny's whistle, then learn it one note at a time.

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

D

All six 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. D
    1. G
    2. A
    3. G
    4. G
    5. B
    6. high D
    1. high G
    2. high F sharp
    3. high E
    4. high D
    5. B
    6. G
    1. A
    2. G
    3. A
    4. B
    5. G
    6. D
    1. E
    2. F sharp
    3. E
    4. E
    5. D
    1. G
    2. A
    3. G
    4. G
    5. B
    6. high D
    1. high G
    2. high F sharp
    3. high E
    4. high D
    5. B
    6. G
    1. A
    2. G
    3. A
    4. B
    5. G
    6. D
    1. E
    2. F sharp
    3. G

Fingers for each note

  • D

  • E

  • F sharp

  • G

  • A

  • B

  • high D

  • high E

  • high F sharp

  • high G

About the tune

St. Patrick's Day is an Irish set dance. It is tune 298 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.

It was first printed as a country dance in Rutherford's 200 Country Dances in 1756. When Queen Victoria first visited Ireland, in 1849, she asked the piper Thomas Mahon to play it. Source: The Traditional Tune Archive

How hard is it

Level
In between
Notes
45
Range
D to G+
High notes
10 of 45

Keep going

All 18 tunesThe full finger chart

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