Editing Tin whistle (section)

=== Standard musical notation ===
It is common to score music for the whistle using standard [[musical notation]]. The tin whistle is not a [[transposing instrument]] - for example, music for the D tin whistle is written in concert pitch, not transposed down a tone as would be normal for transposing instruments. Nevertheless, there is no real consensus on how tin whistle music should be written, or on how reading music onto the whistle should be taught. However, when music is scored for a soprano whistle it will be written an octave lower than it sounds, to spare [[ledger lines]] and make it much easier to read.

The traditional music of Ireland and Scotland constitutes the majority of published scores for the whistle.{{efn|See, for example, the Open Directory's [http://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Music/Instruments/Winds/Tin_Whistle/Tune_Collections/ Tin whistle tune collections] or the books published by [http://www.dmoz.org/Shopping/Music/Instruments/Winds/Tin_Whistle/ online stores catering to tin whistle players].}} Since the majority of that music is written in D major, G major, or one of the corresponding musical modes, use of the D major or G major key signatures is a ''[[de facto]]'' standard. For example, the "C whistle" edition of Bill Ochs's popular ''The Clarke Tin Whistle Handbook'' is scored in D and differs from the D edition only in that the accompanying audio CD is played on a C whistle.<ref name="OchsTutor">Ochs</ref>

Reading directly onto the C whistle is popular for the obvious reason that its ''home key'' or ''name key'' is the ''all-natural'' major key ([[C major]]). Some musicians are encouraged to learn to read directly onto one whistle, while others are taught to read directly onto another.

The whistle player who wants music to read on to all whistles will need to learn the mechanics of written [[transposition (music)|transposition]], taking music with one [[key signature]] and rewriting it with another.

[[Tablature]] notation for the tin whistle is a graphical representation of which tone holes the player should cover. The most common format is a vertical column of six circles, with holes to be covered for a given note shown filled with black, and a plus sign (+) at the top for notes in the second octave. Tablature is most commonly found in tutorial books for beginners.