3 Reasons why Myles O`Malley is considered The Tin Whistle King

By Joao Ferreira

I have decided to write about Myles O`Malley after a deep research through the history of the tin whistle. I`ve really got really attracted for the life of this very important musician and found out that he is considered the Tin Whistle King.

After writing about so many legends in my previous posts of this blog, I started wonder why he was called the king among such great tin whistle legends and I listed 3 reasons that might explains.

Before the list it is nice to write briefly about who was Myles O`Malley.

He was born in Everett, Massachusetts, in 1910. He studied music from a young age, becoming a talented clarinetist and saxophonist. While a saxophonist in the Truman Carew Big Band in Boston, O’Malley taught himself to play the whistle. His performances of Irish melodies on whistle led to his doing regular commercial radio broadcast work.

Let`s go through the list:

1- His Saxophone Background

As a teenager Myles discovered the saxophone listening musicians as Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. He practiced the sax to the detriment of all else. The fingerings of the sax were similar to the fingerings of the tin whistle. Some people used to believe that helped him a lot to become the King.

2- Truman Carew

In 1928 he moved easily into the Truman Carew Big Band, a Boston band with whom he performed six nights a week. The band leader Carew wrote an arrangement intended to feature the budding tin whistler. Feature him indeed. The large Boston population was just crying out for sounds of home, and very soon Myles started to perform on his whistle for short commercial broadcasts very often.

3- His famous tunes

Over his career Myles recorded well-known tunes that are still played by every Irish musician, from the very beginners to the more advanced ones. “Off to California”, “Connaught Man`s Rambles”, “Sweeps”, and many others.

I believe after reading Myles O`Malley history, you will get inspired to start and get motivated to learn how to play our Feadog Whistles. Browse our website and look for the one that suits you. If you are already a player becomes our fan visiting our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to be aware of tips and further information.