Irish flute and whistle are an ideal “bridge” into the world of folk flutes because so much of how they’re played mirrors how we play Boehm-system flutes. It’s even easier if you have any experience with recorders (even thinking back to music classes when you were 8 years old and you were either terrified or completely delighted to pull that big hunk of brown plastic out of its little rubber sleeve).
Fingerings are mostly the same (with some exceptions I’ll get into in my section on Fingering Differences). Embouchure from Boehm flute to Irish flute is mostly the same, if not identical. There are differences, though – some of which can be easy to accept, and some that can seem rather mind-blowing at first.
Hey, wait! You’re doing that wrong!
One thing that still makes me instinctively twitch when I see it is that there are so many left-handed Irish flute players out there (and by left-handed, I don’t mean that they write with their left hand and play flute just like the rest of us). There are many, many, many players out there who play with the flute off to the left side of their body – an actual mirror image of how almost everyone would hold a Boehm flute! There are even people who play whistle with the right hand on top and left hand on bottom. This is a world where there aren’t as many hard-and-fast rules, and you do what works best for you.
Transverse vs. End-Blown
Whistles (or tin whistle, or pennywhistle, or Irish whistle, or feadóg, if you prefer it in Irish) are very similar to recorders, at least in function. You hold the instrument vertically and blow into the end (the fipple). Your airstream is split at the labium, which sends some of the air out of the instrument, and some through the instrument, where it then encounters your six finger holes.
Irish flutes are transverse flutes, which you play with a very similar embouchure as a Boehm-system flute. They can be keyless or have keywork. Keyless flutes will have the same fingering system as whistles. Irish flutes with keywork vary greatly, depending on the maker, the model, and your preferences, but you can have a variety of keys and levers added to allow for more access to chromatics.
Bore Shape
Most whistles have cylindrical bores (like a Boehm flute), where most Irish flutes will have a conical bore (which is different from Boehm flutes). The conical bore gives the Irish flute a brighter, more open sound, with more overtones, and lends itself to the characteristic Irish sound.
Materials
Irish flutes are typically made of wood, although some composite materials and plastic options are available. Whistles are often made of wood, but there are composite, plastic, or metal options available, as well.
Naming the Key of the Flute
Assuming that the flute/whistle is keyless, you’re pretty much limited to a diatonic scale or two, before the various cross-fingering and half-holing requirements become too unreasonable to play a particular key on a specific whistle. In general, a whistle/flute in the key of D is good for the keys of D and G major (and thus b and e minor).
So how are the keys of Irish flutes and whistles named? Surely it’s just like every other instrument, like trumpet or alto sax, right? Nope.
I’ll do the deep dive on this topic over in the Instrument Key Naming section, but for right now, let’s boil it down to this: If you’re a classical player, coming from the world of Boehm-system flutes, when you play a D on the Irish flute or whistle, the note you hear is the key of that instrument. I know – that’s crazy, but it’s ok!