Tin whistle part of several folk traditions. Whistles are a prevalent starting instrument in English traditional music, Scottish traditional music and Irish traditional music, since they are often cheap (under US$10), relatively easy to start with (no tricky embouchure such as found with the flute), and the fingerings are nearly identical to those on the traditional six holed flute (Irish flute, baroque flute). The tin whistle is a good starting instrument to learn the uilleann pipes, which has similar finger technique, range of notes and repertoire. The tin whistle is the most popular instrument in Irish traditional music today. In recent years
Tin whistle that the accompanying audio CD is played on a C whistle. 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, taking music with one key signature and rewriting it with another. Tablature notation for the tin whistle is a graphical representation