Tin whistle Tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, Irish whistle, Belfast Hornpipe, (or simply ) and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple, six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. A tin whistle player is called a tin whistler or simply a whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Celtic music. The tin whistle in its modern form is from a wider family of fipple flutes which have
Tin whistle that describe a fipple-type flute include the Roman tibia and Greek aulos. In the early Middle Ages peoples of northern Europe were playing the instrument as seen in 3rd-century British bone flutes, and Irish Brehon Law describes flute like instrument. By the 12th century Italian flutes came in a variety of sizes, and fragments of 12th-century Norman bone whistles have been found in Ireland, and an intact 14 cm Tusculum clay whistle from the 14th century in Scotland. In the 17th century whistles were called flageolets; a term to describe a whistle with a French made fipple headpiece (common to