“Celtic” Whistle:  
Origins and Developments  
It was the Celtic and English cultures (mostly among folk music circles) that kept  
the musical, open-hole, six-hole flute and whistle alive in the 19th and early 20th  
centuries. Robert Clarke (of the Clarke Tinwhistle Company) was one of the early  
manufacturers of simple whistles in 1843. Clarke used rolled tin in a "conical" barrel  
to make very, inexpensive whistles, and he would fill a wheelbarrow full of these  
"tin whistles" to demonstrate and to sell them in market places.  
They quickly became extremely popular, and because they were so popular, and  
inexpensive, many children used them to play traditional Celtic tunes in the streets  
of Dublin and London during depressed times to earn pennies from passing  
people. For this reason, they also became known as "pennywhistles." Today, these  
open-hole, six-hole whistles are also called “Irish whistles.”  
As a renaissance of all things Celtic  
began to become popular around  
the world, starting in the 1940s  
through the 1960s, more and more  
musicians and instrument makers  
brought back the craft in making  
and playing Celtic-style flutes and  
whistles. Today there are a wide  
variety of open-hole, Celtic-Style  
whistles and flutes ranging in  
almost every key, including low-key  
varieties.  
These low-key types require more  
breath, and there is still a physical  
dimension and condition for playing  
these types of low-sounding flutes  
and whistles. Those with small  
hands may not be able to play them  
as well as those who have larger  
hands or longer fingers.  
However, when the Celtic music  
revivals began in the 1960s, whistle  
Six-hole whistles are easy to make,  
but much harder to ensure  
makers took up the challenge and re-  
consistent tuning with the open six-  
tooled the six-hole whistles for the  
hole design. The 440-scale that we  
used today in the United States was  
standardized only in the late 1800s  
and early 1900s, and this changed  
440-scale making the six-hole  
whistles competitive, even in  
orchestration settings.  
instruments from “natural” tuning.  
Almost all of the tunes and songs presented by the KelticDead Music initiative  
uses the keys that can be produced from the C and D six-hole whistles. Visit the  
KelticDead Music home site to see the recommended C and D tone hole chart for  
these remarkable musical instruments.  
Suggested Fingering Chart for Six-Hole Whistles  

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