Celtic Music School: Tin Whistle with James Stockton

The tin whistle is a distinctive and classic sound in Irish traditional music, but how does it work, and what gives it that unmistakable character? This workshop offers complete beginners a basic introduction to the tin whistle’s foundations, and for slightly more experienced players (or whistle novices with a background in another instrument) we'll unlock some of the secrets of how to create that expressive whistle character, sound and feel, within the context of the Celtic/Traditional musical idiom (a tune or two!)

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James has been playing the Tin Whistle for more than 20 years and has a great love of traditional as well as modern Celtic and folk music. He has performed widely at various pubs, private events and festivals as a featured guest player with the popular Irish traditional band "Failte", most notably for several years at the Fergus Scottish Festival in Fergus, ON, as well as on the southwestern Ontario pub circuit. He has featured with the Cambridge, ON.-based traditional band "The Murphys", performing in that city's annual Mill Race Folk Festival. In the summer of 2009 as a member of the Kingston, ON based group "The Rivals", James toured the province from Windsor to Timmins as part of the Alexander Keith's Kitchen Party Summer Tour, including a stop at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. He is currently the host musician for the monthly Kitchen Party Sessions at the Malt & Barley pub in Kitchener, ON, and he plays whistles and bagpipes with the KW-based Celtic folk group "The Gaes".  

James has also played the Highland Bagpipes for more than 15 years and as a member of the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band he has appeared at Springtime in Paris, Burlington's Sound of Music Festival, live on the air during TSN's Sportscentre broadcast from Port Dover, ON during the 2010 Kraft Celebration Tour, and notably, on stage in 2015 for The Scottish Tattoo: The Music of Scotland at Toronto's Sony Centre for the Performing Arts (below). James also performed as a piper with the band during the recording of their 2012 album "Live At The Lighthouse Theatre" in Port Dover ON, an album on which he was also featured on the Tin Whistle.  In addition to 'Live At The Lighthouse Theatre', James' whistle contributions can be heard on Failte's third CD, "Kitchen Party Sessions", recorded live at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener, ON, and on Irish-Canadian folk artist Brian Crozier's album "Home".  James is the owner and director of the Sound Factory Music School.