I've decided to learn how to play an instrument. I've never been that musically inclined so I decided to start easy. The easiest choice would be to take up the tambourine, but I think I can do a little better than that. So, on an impulse, I decided to look into Pennywhistles. I got the idea from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere book. A roguish and somewhat dodgy character pulls out a pennywhistle from his coat pocket and plays a tune on it. The fact that a passable pennywhistle can be purchased for under ten dollars is also a factor in my decision. After plenty of research I decided to go with a lovely starter whistle from the Walton company. Walton whistles are the top sellers in Ireland, and the particular whistle I bought is a Walton's Little Black Whistle. If anyone needs to ask, the answer is yes, the color did affect my choice of whistles. I almost went with the Guiness whistle from Walton, but I read in several places that there is no difference between the Guiness and the Little Black except color and 3 extra dollars for the Guiness version. So here it is, the Little Black whistle.



















I have found several places online to start my study of the instrument. One of the best seems to be this nice fellow, who just happens to be a Jesuit in training but I wont hold that against him.