Tin Whistle Games

The Wind That Shakes the Barley on the tin whistle

An Irish reel for a D whistle, 56 notes. Press play to hear it on Penny's whistle, then learn it one note at a time.

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

B

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

Fingers for each note

  • D

  • E

  • F sharp

  • A

  • B

  • C sharp

  • high D

  • high E

  • high F sharp

  • high G

About the tune

The Wind That Shakes the Barley is an Irish reel. It is tune 1518 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.

The earliest Irish printings found so far are in Power's Collection of Country Dances, printed in Dublin around 1812. Source: The Traditional Tune Archive

How hard is it

Level
In between
Notes
56
Range
D to G+
High notes
11 of 56
C♯
3 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.