Whistleberry Tunes: Adventures on Irish Tin Whistle for Kids
What you'll learn
- play the scales of D major and G major with confidence
- perform beautiful Irish airs such as 'Dawning of the Day' and 'Mo Ghile Mear'
- play a lively traditional march called 'Song of the Chanter'
- let you fingers waltz along to 'The South Wind'
- play toe-tapping polkas such as 'Maggie in the Woods'
- play new tunes composed especially for this course such as 'Faolán's frolics' and 'Tradoodle Do'.
- know the difference between different traditional tune types such as airs, polkas, marches, and waltzes.
- feel the rhythm of a tune and keep a steady beat
- play your music along with other learners and friends
- play different ornaments in Irish traditional music such as cuts, taps, slides, vibrato, and bounces
Requirements
- You should have a tin-whistle in the key of D
- You should be ready to learn and have fun!
Description
Welcome to Whistleberry Forest, a musical land of curiosity, creativity, and wonder!
Whistleberry Tunes has been designed by Dr. Thomas Johnston, an Irish traditional musician, educator, and researcher, with over 18 years experience teaching the tin whistle in Ireland and internationally.
Whistleberry Tunes draws on Thomas' experience as a traditional musician, but also as an educator and a researcher in the areas of Irish traditional music, music education, and theatre for young audiences. In designing Whistleberry Tunes, Thomas set out to create a series of music lessons that would be fun, meaningful, and engaging for children (and their adults) at home and at school.
The course is suitable for beginner whistle players of all ages, but in particular, it is geared towards children aged between 7 and 77.
How you will learn in Whistleberry Tunes is very similar to how you would learn in a traditional teaching and learning context. As Thomas guides you through each lesson, you will:
- begin by learning whistle basics such as (i) how to hold the whistle, (ii) the importance of warming up, and (iii) scales of D major and G major (i.e., the building blocks of all the tunes you will learn)
- progressively develop your aural learning skills
- develop technical musical abilities
- learn lots of old traditional tunes such as Dawning of the Day, Song of the Chanter, and Maggie in the Woods
- learn some new tunes composed especially for this course such as Tradoodle Do! and Faolán's frolics
- discover ways that you can decorate the tune with a range of ornaments such as cuts, taps, and bounces
Who this course is for:
- Children aged 7+ and their adults
- Families who want to learn music together at home
- Groups of children learning music in a school or community setting
- Anyone, including adults, who want to learn basic skills and Irish tunes on the tin-whistle
Instructor
![Dr. Thomas Johnston](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.9 Instructor Rating
- 40 Reviews
- 627 Students
- 1 Course
Musician, educator, researcher Dr. Thomas Johnston's work lies in those spaces between Irish traditional music, performing arts for children and young audiences, community music, and music education practice and policy. In 2016, Thomas was a recipient of the Arts Council's Next Generation Bursary Award.
In recent years, Thomas has gained expertise as a musician in the area of music for young children. He has recently worked, for example, with organisations such the National Concert Hall, University of Limerick, Music Generation, Common Ground, Music Network, and Early Childhood Ireland. Other related work includes designing and facilitating music workshops at The Ark (‘Tiny Traddies’, ‘Circus Sounds’, and ‘Small Sounds’), and designing professional development workshops for various early childhood care and education providers. Most recently, Thomas collaborated on 'Pop Up Picnic', an interactive and immersive multi-sensory performance for very young children with Helium Arts in partnership with the Jack and Jill Foundation.
As Artistic Director of Ceol Connected, Thomas recently produced Tradoodle Festival, Ireland's first traditional arts festival for young audiences. Ceol connected has also created and toured several traditional music and theatrical productions for young audiences including: 'The Quiet Tree and the Creatures of Whistleberry Forest', ‘The Far Field', ‘The Wonderful Tune’, and 'Return of Spring'.
His PhD (funded by the Irish Research Council at the University of Limerick, 2013) entitled ‘The Bloom of Youth’ was an investigation into the place of Irish traditional music in post-primary music education in Ireland. In 2015, Thomas completed a two-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship with Music Generation (Ireland’s National Music Education Programme) in partnership with St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra. The report entitled ‘Possible Selves in Music: The Transformative Potential for Children and Young People of Performance Music Education underpinned by Principles of Diversity’ was published in 2016.
His most recent recording endeavours includes composing, directing, and recording a musical score for 'Béal na Farraige', a short-film project with Púca Puppets and Beyond the Bark (in development), recording with Kathleen Turner for her debut EP 'Some Stories', and with Síle Denvir’s ‘Caithréim: Ceol agus Amhráin ó Dhrámaí an Phiarsaigh’