Pick a tune that fits
Twenty tunes span beginner folk songs, slow airs, polkas, jigs, reels, and hornpipes. Start with three notes or jump to a session set.
A tin whistle practice app for iPhone and iPad
Make music with six holes and five minutes.
Learn your first three notes, play a complete tune, and keep going through airs, jigs, reels, and ornaments until you have music you can share. Five chapters, twenty tunes, and a microphone that listens at your pace.
In development. Built by one developer, and so far tested mostly by me. There is no public App Store release yet.
Start with music. The first button opens a three-note tune.
Use your own whistle. Pitch feedback runs on the device.
No account required. Progress and recordings stay local.
How practice works
Listen. Learn the fingering. Play it back.
The app is a practice companion, not a substitute for listening, teachers, or other musicians.
Choose what helps
Read six-hole fingering diagrams, staff notation, or both together. Explore every note in the interactive fingering guide. Tune up with the built-in chromatic tuner.
Play with real feedback
Wait-for-note mode listens for the right pitch. Flow mode keeps time. Add a metronome click or a full backing band with bodhrán, guitar, bouzouki, strings, and drone.
What is in the current beta
Real tools, described plainly.
- Live pitch feedback
- The microphone is analyzed on-device. A moving waterfall view shows your pitch against the target note in real time.
- Backing tracks
- A six-channel accompaniment engine: metronome, bodhrán, guitar, bouzouki, strings, and a low D drone. Mix each channel to taste.
- Fingering explorer
- An interactive guide to every note and ornament on the whistle. Tap a note name to see the fingering diagram and hear the pitch.
- Memory practice
- Learn a tune from memory, phrase by phrase. The app hides the notation gradually until you can play without looking.
- Daily warmup
- A guided five-minute routine that walks through breathing, long tones, scale fragments, and a short tune.
- Chromatic tuner
- A built-in tuner studio with a live gauge, waveform display, and cent-deviation readout.
- Recorder and ABC import
- Save a local practice take. Paste basic, single-voice ABC notation and open supported notes in Practice.
- Progress without punishment
- A daily goal is a guide. Missing a day does not mean you failed or owe the app anything.
Play with other people
Learn a few tunes you can carry with you.
Pick two or three tunes you genuinely like—The Kesh Jig, Cooley's Reel, Morrison's, whatever suits you. Practice them in short phrases, rely less on the screen each time, and put them together as a small set of your own.
The later lessons cover how tunes are called at a session, why local versions differ, when to listen, and how to join without playing over everyone else.
Questions
Before you buy another whistle.
Which whistle should I start with?
A standard high D whistle is the simplest match for the lessons. An inexpensive Waltons, Clarke, Generation, or similar whistle is enough. The app includes a buying guide with recommendations. Upgrade after you can describe what you want to change.
Do I need to read music?
No. Six-hole fingering diagrams are available for every tune, and the app can show them beside staff notation if you want to learn the connection gradually.
How many tunes are included?
Twenty. Four beginner folk songs, five slow airs, six dance tunes (polkas, jigs, and a hornpipe), five advanced reels and slip jigs, and five film themes. The library will grow.
What happens to microphone audio?
Live practice audio is analyzed on your device and is not saved. The separate Recorder saves a file locally only when you choose to record. Nothing is uploaded by the pitch detector.
Is it on the App Store?
Not yet. A small TestFlight beta is running. Email me if you would like to try it.
Help shape the beta