text:
Tin whistle

The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, 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 whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Irish traditional music and Celtic music. Other names for the instrument are the flageolet, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, or Irish whistle (also feadóg stáin or feadóg).

History
The tin whistle in its modern form is from a wider family of fipple flutes which have been seen in many forms and cultures throughout the world. In Europe, such instruments have a long and distinguished history and take various forms, of which the most widely known are the recorder, tin whistle, Flabiol, Txistu and tabor pipe.

Predecessors
Almost all early cultures had a type of fipple flute, and it is most likely the first pitched flute-type instrument in existence. Examples found to date include a possible Neanderthal fipple flute from Slovenia, which according to some scientists may date from 81,000 to 53,000 BC; a German flute from 35,000 years ago; and a flute, known as the Malham Pipe, made from sheep's bone in West Yorkshire dating to the Iron Age. (A revised dating of the Malham Pipe now places it within the early medieval period. ) Written sources 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 a 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, as well as 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 the modern penny whistle); and such instruments are linked to the development of the English flageolet, French flageolet and recorders of the renaissance and baroque period. The term flageolet is still preferred by some modern tin whistlers, who feel that this better describes the instrument, as the term characterises a wide variety of fipple flutes, including penny whistles.

19th century
The modern penny whistle is indigenous to Great Britain and Ireland, in particular to England, when factory-made "tin whistles" were produced by Robert Clarke from 1840 to 1889 in Manchester, and later New Moston, England. Down to 1900, they were also marketed as "Clarke London Flageolets" or "Clarke Flageolets". The whistle's fingering system is similar to that of the six-hole, "simple system Irish flutes" ("simple" in comparison to Boehm system flutes). The six-hole, diatonic system is also used on baroque flutes, and was of course well-known before Robert Clarke began producing his tin whistles. Clarke's first whistle, the Meg, was pitched in high A, and was later made in other keys suitable for Victorian parlour music. The company showed the whistles in The Great Exhibition of 1851. The Clarke tin whistle is voiced somewhat on an organ-pipe with a flattened tube forming the lip of the fipple mouthpiece, and is usually made from rolled tin sheet or brass. They were mass-produced and widespread due to their relative affordability.

As the penny whistle was generally considered a toy, it has been suggested that children or street musicians were paid a penny by those who heard them playing the whistle. However, in reality, the instrument was so called because it could be purchased for a penny. The name "tin-whistle" was also coined as early as 1825 but neither the tin whistle nor the penny whistle name seems to have been common until the 20th century. The instrument became popular in several musical traditions, namely: English, Scottish, Irish and American traditional music.

Due to its affordability, the tin whistle was a popular household instrument, as ubiquitous as the harmonica. In the second half of the 19th century, some flute manufacturers such as Barnett Samuel and Joseph Wallis also sold whistles. These had cylindrical brass tubes. Like many old whistles, they had lead fipple plugs, and since lead is poisonous, caution should be exercised before playing an old whistle.

Low whistle
While whistles have most often been produced in higher pitches, the "low" whistle has historically been produced. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has in its collection an example of a 19th-century low whistle from the Galpin collection.

Modern tin whistle

The most common whistles today are made of brass or nickel-plated brass, with a plastic mouthpiece, which contains the fipple. Generation, Feadóg, Oak, Acorn, Soodlum's (now Walton's), and other brands fall in this category.

The Generation Whistle was introduced in 1966, and featured a brass tube with a lead fipple. Founded by businessman and engineer Alfred Brown in Oswestry, Shropshire, their most popular whistle, the Generation Flageolet, was introduced in 1968. The design was updated somewhat over the years, most notably the substitution of a plastic fipple for the lead fipple.

Although most whistles have a cylindrical bore, other designs exist, for example a conical sheet metal whistle with a wooden stop in the wide end to form the fipple, the Clarke's brand being the most prevalent. Other less common variants are the all-metal whistle, the PVC whistle, the Flanna square holed whistle, and the wooden whistle.

Gaining popularity as a folk instrument in the early 19th-century Celtic music revivals, penny whistles now play an integral part in several folk traditions. Whistles are a prevalent starting instrument in English traditional music, Scottish traditional music and Irish traditional music, since they are usually inexpensive; relatively easy to play, free of tricky embouchure such as found with the transverse flute; and use fingerings are nearly identical to those on traditional six-holed flutes, such as the Irish flute and the 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, a number of instrument builders have started lines of "high-end" hand-made whistles, which can cost hundreds of US dollars each—expensive in comparison to cheap whistles, but nevertheless cheaper than most other instruments. These companies are typically either a single individual or a very small group of craftsmen who work closely together. The instruments are distinguished from the inexpensive whistles in that each whistle is individually manufactured and "voiced" by a skilled person rather than made in a factory.

Whistle keys
The whistle is tuned diatonically, which allows it to be used to easily play music in two major keys a perfect fourth apart and the natural minor key and Dorian mode a major second above the lowest note. The whistle is identified by its lowest note, which is the tonic of the lower of two major keys. This method of determining the key of the instrument is different from the method used to determine the key of a chromatic instrument, which is based on the relationship between notes on a score and sounded pitch.

Whistles are available in all 12 chromatic keys; however, the most common whistles are pitched in D, followed by whistles in C and F, G, and then B♭ and E♭, with other keys being somewhat rarer. The D whistle can easily play notes in the keys of D and G major. Since the D major key is lower these whistles are identified as D whistles. The next most common whistle tuning is a C whistle, which can easily play notes in the keys of C and F major. The D whistle is by far the most common choice for Irish and Scottish music.

Although the whistle is essentially a diatonic instrument, it is possible to get notes outside the principal major key of the whistle, either by half-holing (partially covering the highest open finger hole) or by cross-fingering (covering some holes while leaving some higher ones open). However, half-holing is somewhat more difficult to do correctly, and whistles are available in all keys, so for other keys a whistler will typically use a different whistle instead, reserving half-holing for accidentals. Some whistle designs allow a single mouthpiece to be used on differently keyed bodies.

Low whistle
During the 1960s revival of traditional Irish music, the low whistle was "recreated" by Bernard Overton at the request of Finbar Furey.

There are larger whistles which, by virtue of being longer and wider, produce tones an octave (or in rare cases two octaves) lower. Whistles in this category are likely to be made of metal or plastic tubing, sometimes with a tuning-slide head, and are almost always referred to as low whistles but sometimes called concert whistles. The low whistle operates on identical principles to the standard whistles, but musicians in the tradition may consider it a separate instrument.

The term soprano whistle is sometimes used for higher-pitched whistles when it is necessary to distinguish them from low whistles.

Fingering and range

The notes are selected by opening or closing holes with the fingers. Holes are typically covered with the pads of the fingers, but some players, particularly when negotiating the larger holes and spacing in low whistles, may employ the "piper's grip". With all the holes closed, the whistle generates its lowest note. This lowest available note is commonly referred to as the whistle’s “bell tone”. Successively opening holes from the bottom upward produces the rest of the notes of the scale in sequence: with the lowest hole open it generates the second, with the lowest two holes open, it produces the third and so on. With all six holes open, it produces the seventh.

As with a number of woodwind instruments, the tin whistle's second and higher registers are achieved by increasing the air velocity into the ducted flue windway. On a transverse flute this is generally done by narrowing the lip/embouchure. Since the size and direction of the tin whistle's windway is fixed, like that of the recorder or fipple flute, it is necessary to increase the velocity of the air stream. (See overblowing).

Fingering in the second register is generally the same as in the first/fundamental, though alternate fingerings are sometimes employed in the higher end of the registers to correct a flattening effect caused by higher air column velocity. Also, the tonic note of the second register is usually played with the top hole of the whistle partially uncovered instead of covering all holes as with the tonic note of the first register; this makes it harder to accidentally drop into the first register and helps to correct pitch. Recorders perform this by "pinching" open the dorsal thumb hole.

Various other notes (relatively flat or sharp with respect to those of the major scale) can be accessed by cross fingering techniques, and all the notes (except the lowest of each octave/register) can be flattened by half holing. Perhaps the most effective and most used cross fingering is that which produces a flattened form of the seventh note (B♭ instead of B on a C whistle, for example, or C♮ instead of C♯ on a D whistle). This makes available another major scale (F on a C whistle, G on a D whistle).

The standard range of the whistle is two octaves. For a D whistle, this includes notes from D5 to D7; that is, from the second D above middle C to the fourth D above middle C. It is possible to make sounds above this range, by blowing with sufficient force, but, in most musical contexts, the result will be loud and out of tune due to a cylindrical bore.

Ornamentation
Traditional whistle playing uses a number of ornaments to embellish the music, including cuts, strikes and rolls. Most playing is legato with ornaments to create breaks between notes, rather than tongued. The traditional music concept of the word "ornamentation" differs somewhat from that of European classical music in that ornaments are more commonly changes in how a note is articulated rather than the addition of separately-perceived notes to the piece. Common ornaments and articulations include:

 * Cuts: Cuts are very briefly lifting a finger above the note being sounded without interrupting airflow into the whistle. For example, a player playing a low D on a D whistle can cut the note by very briefly lifting the first finger of their lower hand. This causes the pitch to briefly shift upward. The cut can be performed either at the very start of the note or after the note has begun to sound; some people call the latter a "double cut" or a "mid-note cut."
 * Strikes: Strikes or taps are similar to cuts except that a finger below the sounded note is briefly lowered to the whistle. For example, if a player is playing a low E on a D whistle the player could tap by quickly lowering and raising their bottom finger. Both cuts and taps are essentially instantaneous; the listener should not perceive them as separate notes.
 * Rolls: A roll is a note with first a cut and then a strike. Alternatively, a roll can be considered as a group of notes of identical pitch and duration with different articulations. There are two common types of rolls:
 * The long roll is a group of three slurred notes of equal pitch and duration, the first sounded without a cut or strike, the second sounded with a cut, and the third sounded with a strike.
 * The short roll is a group of two slurred notes of equal pitch and duration, the first sounded with a cut and the second sounded with a strike.

 * Cranns: Cranns (or crans) are ornaments borrowed from the Uilleann piping tradition. They are similar to rolls except that only cuts are used, not taps or strikes. On the tin whistle they are generally only used for notes where a roll is impossible, such as the lowest note of the instrument.
 * Slides: Slides are similar to portamentos in classical music; a note below or above (usually below) the intended note is fingered, and then the fingering is gradually shifted in order to smoothly raise or lower the pitch to the intended note. The slide is generally a longer duration ornament than, for example, the cut or the tap and the listener should perceive the pitch changing.
 * Tonguing: Tonguing is used as a means of emphasizing certain notes, such as the first note in a tune. Some tin whistle players usually do not tongue most notes, but this varies depending on the player and their background. To tongue a note a player briefly touches their tongue to the front of the roof of the mouth at the start of the note (as if articulating a 't'), creating a percussive attack.
 * Vibrato: Vibrato can be achieved on most notes by opening and closing one of the open holes, or by variation of breath pressure (this last is actually both vibrato (pitch modulation), and tremolo (amplitude modulation)). Of the two, fingered (i.e., true) vibrato is much more common than diaphragmatic (breath) vibrato (i.e., tremolo), except on notes like the lowest note on the whistle where fingered vibrato is much more difficult. A common method of achieving vibrato is to finger a note, and then quickly flick a finger on and off, not the hole below the fingered note, but the hole two below the fingered note, leaving an open hole in between.  This technique can be heard on The Chieftains' iconic air, Women of Ireland (Chieftains IV).

Some tricks

 * Leading tone: Leading tones are the seventh just before the tonic, so named because melodic styling often uses the seventh to lead into the tonic at the end of a phrase. On most tin whistles the leading tone to the lowest tonic can be played by using the little finger of the lower hand to partially cover the very end opening of the whistle, while keeping all other holes covered as usual for the tonic.
 * Tone: The tone of the tin whistle is largely determined by its manufacturing. Clarke style rolled metal whistles tend to have an airy "impure" sound, while Generation style cylindrical instruments tend to have clear or "pure" whistle sounds. Inexpensive rolled metal whistles, such as those from Cooperman Fife and Drum (which also produces high-end instruments) may be very airy in sound, and may be difficult to play in the upper register (second octave). Often placing a piece of tape over one edge of the fipple slot (just below the mouthpiece) to narrow the fipple will improve the instrument's tone and playability significantly. Another method of tone improvement on some molded plastic mouthpieces is to lengthen the block with a small piece of poster-putty inserted on the downstream side of the mouthpiece, to lengthen the block and maintain a narrow airstream prior to the fipple's edge.
 * Scales: While, as mentioned under Fingering, a player will usually play a given instrument only in its tonic key and the key beginning on the fourth (e.g. G on a D whistle), nearly any key is possible, becoming progressively more difficult to keep in tune as the player moves away from the whistle's tonic, according to the circle of fifths. Thus a D whistle is fairly apt for playing both G and A, and a C instrument can be used fairly easily for F and G.

Repertoire
A number of music genres commonly feature the tin whistle.

Irish and Scottish music
Traditional music from Ireland and Scotland is by far the most common music to play on the tin whistle, and comprises the vast majority of published scores suitable for whistle players. The tin whistle is very common in Irish music to the point that it could be called characteristic of the genre and fairly common in Scottish music.

Kwela
Kwela is a genre of music created in South Africa in the 1950s, and is characterized by an upbeat, jazzy tin whistle lead. Kwela is the only music genre created around the sound of the tin whistle. The low cost of the tin whistle, or jive flute, made it an attractive instrument in the impoverished, apartheid-era townships; the Hohner tin whistle was especially popular in kwela performance. The kwela craze accounted for the sale of more than one million tin whistles.

In the late 1950s, mbaqanga music largely superseded kwela in South Africa, and so it followed that the saxophone surpassed the tin whistle as the township people's wind instrument of choice. Kwela master Aaron "Big Voice Jack" Lerole continued to perform into the 1990s; a few bands, such as The Positively Testcard of London, continue to record kwela music.

Kwela sheet music is rarely published, and many of the recordings of founding kwela artists are out of print. One representative compilation is Drum: South African Jazz and Jive.

Other music
The tin whistle is used in many other types of music, though not to the extent that it could be called characteristic as with Irish music and kwela. In some Irish music composed for symphonic ensembles, it is often replaced with piccolo. It is not unusual to hear the tin whistle used in praise music and film soundtracks, notably the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings and Titanic. Published scores suitable for tin whistle performance are available in both of these genres. The tin whistle also appears in "crossover" genres like world music, folk rock, folk metal and folk punk.

Notation
Tin whistle music collections are generally notated in one of three different formats.

Standard musical notation
It is common to score music for the whistle using standard musical notation. The tin whistle is not a transposing instrument - for example, music for the D tin whistle is written in concert pitch, not transposed down a tone as would be normal for transposing instruments. Nevertheless, there is no real consensus on how tin whistle music should be written, or on how reading music onto the whistle should be taught. However, when music is scored for a soprano whistle it will be written an octave lower than it sounds, to spare ledger lines and make it much easier to read.

The traditional music of Ireland and Scotland constitutes the majority of published scores for the whistle. Since the majority of that music is written in D major, G major, or one of the corresponding musical modes, use of the D major or G major key signatures is a de facto standard. For example, the "C whistle" edition of Bill Ochs's popular The Clarke Tin Whistle Handbook is scored in D and differs from the D edition only in 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 of which tone holes the player should cover. The most common format is a vertical column of six circles, with holes to be covered for a given note shown filled with black, and a plus sign (+) at the top for notes in the second octave. Tablature is most commonly found in tutorial books for beginners.

ABC notation
Since the majority of popular tin whistle music is traditional and out of copyright, it is common to share tune collections on the Internet. ABC notation is the most common means of electronic exchange of tunes. It is also designed to be easy to read by people, and many musicians learn to read it directly instead of using a computer program to transform it into a standard musical notation score.

Well-known performers

 * In Irish traditional music

During the 1960s, Tommy Makem played the tin whistle as a member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, one of the most influential Irish folk groups, especially popular during the American folk music revival.

In 1973, Paddy Moloney (of The Chieftains) and Sean Potts released the album Tin Whistles, which helped to popularise the tin whistle in particular, and Irish music in general. Mary Bergin's Feadóga Stáin (1979) and Feadóga Stáin 2 (1993) were similarly influential. Other notable players include Carmel Gunning, Micho Russell, Joanie Madden, Brian Finnegan, Cathal McConnell, and Seán Ryan. Many traditional pipers and flute players also play the whistle to a high standard. Festy Conlon is considered by some to be the best slow air player.

Award-winning singer and musician Julie Fowlis recorded several tracks on the tin whistle, both in her solo work and with the band Dòchas.
 * In Scottish traditional music

Aaron "Big Voice Jack" Lerole and his band recorded a single called "Tom Hark", which sold five million copies worldwide, and which Associated Television used as the theme song for the 1958 television series The Killing Stones. But the most famous star of the kwela era was Spokes Mashiyane. Paul Simon's 1986 album Graceland draws heavily on South African music, and includes pennywhistle solos in the traditional style, played by Morris Goldberg.
 * In kwela

As a traditional Irish musical instrument, the Irish rock bands The Cranberries and The Pogues (with Spider Stacy as whistler) incorporate the tin whistle in some of their songs, as do such American Celtic punk bands as The Tossers, Dropkick Murphys, and Flogging Molly (in which Bridget Regan plays the instrument). Andrea Corr of Irish folk rock band The Corrs also plays the tin whistle.
 * In popular music

Saxophonist LeRoi Moore, founding member of the American jam band Dave Matthews Band, plays the tin whistle in a few of the band's songs.

Bob Hallett of the Canadian folk rock group Great Big Sea is also a renowned performer of the tin whistle, playing it in arrangements of both traditional and original material.

Icelandic post rock band Sigur Rós concludes their song "Hafsól" with a tin whistle solo.

Barry Privett of the American Celtic rock band Carbon Leaf performs several songs using the tin whistle.

Lambchop uses the tin whistle in the song "The Scary Caroler."

The Unicorns use the tin whistle in the song "Sea Ghost".

The Paul Simon song You Can Call Me Al features a penny whistle solo, played by jazz musician Morris Goldberg.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull plays a tin whistle on "The Whistler" from the Songs from the Wood album (1977).

Mike Oldfield plays the tin whistle in the first part of "Tubular Bells" (1973).

Rusted Root features the tin whistle, played by band member John Buynak, in its 1994 cult song "Send Me On My Way".

Steve Buckley, a British jazz musician is renowned for using the penny whistle as a serious instrument. His whistle playing can be heard on recordings with Loose Tubes, Django Bates and his album with Chris Batchelor Life As We Know It.
 * In jazz

Les Lieber is a celebrated American Jazz Tin whistle player. Lieber has played with Paul Whiteman's Band and also with the Benny Goodman Sextet. Lieber made a record with Django Reinhardt in the AFN Studios in Paris in the post Second World War era and started an event called "Jazz at Noon" every Friday in a New York City restaurant playing with a nucleus of advertising men, doctors, lawyers, and business executives who had been or could have been jazz musicians.

Howard Johnson has also been known to play this instrument. Musical polymath Howard Levy introduces the tune True North with a jazz and very traditionally Celtic-inspired whistle piece on Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' UFO TOFU.

Musician and producer Tyler Duncan (Millish, the olllam, Daren Criss, Vulfpeck, Ella Riot, Lake Street Dive) is known for his incorporation of jazz into traditional Celtic melodies on tin whistle. He was the first Low Whistle player to be accepted into the jazz studies major at the University of Michigan. He plays a custom made chromatic low whistle designed for Jazz. Duncan's modern big band arrangement of The May Morning Dew was featured on NPR's Jazz Set and showcases him on tin whistle as lead instrumentalist.

Howard Shore called for a tin whistle in D for a passage in his "Concerning Hobbits" from The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The tin whistle symbolizes the Shire, together with other instruments such as the guitar, the double bass, and the bodhrán. The tin whistle also plays a passage in the main theme in the same trilogy.
 * In film and video game music

The tin whistle is featured prominently in the song "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion in the movie Titanic. The song's introduction consists of a tin whistle solo which has become iconic. Famously performed by Abigail Butler and Emily Black.

The tin whistle also features prominently in the soundtrack of the film How to Train Your Dragon, and is connected to the main character, Hiccup.

The tin whistle is heard at the start of the 1984 short film The Adventures of Andre and Wally B

The tin whistle is featured in the winning song of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest Only Teardrops by Emmelie de Forest.

The tin whistle is featured in Mario Kart 8's track Wild Woods of the DLC Pack, Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8.

General

 * Dannatt, Norman (2005) The History of the Tinwhistle.   The Clarke Tinwhistle Co. ISBN 0-9549693-2-4
 * Dannatt, Norman (2005) The History of the Tinwhistle.   The Clarke Tinwhistle Co. ISBN 0-9549693-2-4

title: Tin whistle


text:
900

Year 900 (CM) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was the 900th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 900th year of the 1st millennium, the 100th and last year of the 9th century, and the 1st year of the 900s decade.

Abbasid Caliphate

 * Spring – Forces under the Transoxianian emir Isma'il ibn Ahmad are victorious at Balkh (Northern Afghanistan) over Amr ibn al-Layth; the latter is captured and sent to Caliph Al-Mu'tadid in Baghdad. The Samanid Dynasty rules over Khorasan, as well as Transoxiana. A few months later, the Samanids conquer the Zaydid emirate of Tabaristan. This victory marks the beginning of the dispersion of the local Shi'ites by the new Sunni power.
 * Arab–Byzantine wars: Emperor Leo VI ("the Wise") begins an offensive against the Abbasid army in Cilicia, Upper Mesopotamia and Armenia. He also continues the war against the Muslims in Sicily and southern Italy.
 * The future founder of the Fatimid Caliphate, Abdallah al-Mahdi and his family migrate to North Africa. They claim to be descendants of Fatimah, the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
 * The Qarmatians of al-Bahrayn, under Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, score a major victory over the Abbasid army led by al-Abbas ibn Amr al-Ghanawi.

Europe

 * Spring – Atenulf I, Lombard prince of Capua, conquers the Duchy of Benevento. He deposes Duke Radelchis II and unites the two southern Lombard duchies in Mezzogiorno (Southern Italy). The Byzantines offer a strategic alliance to Atenulf who directs a campaign against the Saracens. They have establish themselves on the banks of the Garigliano River. From here, Arab warbands launch frequent raids in Campania.
 * February 4 – The 7-year-old Louis IV ("the Child") is proclaimed king of the East Frankish Kingdom at an assembly at Forchheim (Bavaria). Because of his young age, the reins of government are entirely in the hands of others – the Frankish nobles and bishops. The most influential of Louis' councillors are Hatto I, archbishop of Mainz, and Solomon III, bishop of Constance.
 * June 8 – Edward the Elder (son of Alfred the Great) is crowned king of England at Kingston upon Thames.
 * June 17 – Baldwin II, Count of Flanders has Fulk the Venerable, bishop of Reims, assassinated.
 * June 29 – The Venetians repel the Magyar raiders at Rialto.
 * Summer – After the death of his wife Zoe Zaoutzaina, the Byzantine emperor Leo VI marries Eudokia Baïana.
 * August – Abdallah, son of the Aghlabid emir Ibrahim II, represses a revolt of his Muslim subjects, and then initiates a campaign against the last Byzantine strongholds in Sicily.
 * August 13 – Zwentibold, king of Lotharingia, is killed in battle on the Meuse River, while fighting against his rebellious subjects; subsequently they recognize Louis IV as their rightful suzerain - Lotharingia is then converted from a kingdom to a duchy.
 * October 12 – Following Magyars raids in Lombardy, king Louis III ("the Blind") is called to Italy by the grandees. He takes Pavia, forcing king Berengar I to flee, and replaces him as King of Italy.
 * King Donald II is killed after an 11-year reign. He is succeeded by his cousin Constantine II as king of Scotland; he will reign for more than 40 years.
 * Docibilis I of Gaeta and his Saracen mercenaries attack Capua, in vain.
 * After the rejection of their alliance proposal by the Bavarians, the Hungarians attack this country, occupying Pannonia and parts of Ostmark, which become part of the Hungarian state.

Asia

 * April 21 – Namwaran and his children, Lady Angkatan and Bukah, are granted pardon by the Lakan (ruler) of Tondo, as represented by Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pila, which released them of all their debts as inscribed in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (Philippines).
 * Maravarman Rajasimha II, king of Pandya, begins to rule. He is constantly at war with Chola (his overlord) and becomes the last ruler of the first Pandyan Empire (India).
 * December 1 – Emperor Zhao Zong is deposed and forced by a group of Tang eunuchs led by Liu Jishu to abdicate the throne to his son, Crown Prince Li Yu (until 901).

Mesoamerica

 * The Postclassic Period: The Maya civilization that has flourished for about 650 years in upland areas of what later will be called Central America comes to an end as a result either of depleted agricultural resources or warfare between some 40 rival city-states. The great stone pyramids, ball courts and other structures at cities such as Tikal, Copán, and Palenque are abandoned and overgrown with jungle, as will eventually be the sculpture and relief carvings of the Maya, who have developed a calendar based on almost perfect astronomic measurements. Cities such as Chichen Itza, Mayapan and Uxmal in the highlands of the Yucatán Peninsula will continue to flourish.
 * In Peru the Lambayeque people establish themselves over areas previously developed by the Moche (approximate date).

Art

 * c. 900 –1230 – Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, is built by the Ancestral Pueblo people.

Religion

 * January – Pope John IX dies after a two year reign. He is succeeded by Benedict IV as the 117th pope of the Catholic Church.

Commerce

 * The east coast of Africa is impacted by trade and Arab, Persian and Indian traders mix with the indigenous Bantu. Many of the coastal Bantu adopt Islam, reaching as far south as Sofala (Mozambique).

Exploration

 * Greenland is discovered by the Norseman Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, sailing from Norway to Iceland: he is blown off course by a storm and comes in sight of some islands off the coast (approximate date).

Medicine

 * The Persian scientist Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi distinguishes smallpox from measles in the course of his writings. Holding against any sort of orthodoxy, particularly Aristotle's physics, he maintains the conception of an 'absolute' time, regarded by him as "a never-ending flow".

Births

 * Abū Ja'far al-Khāzin, Persian astronomer (d. 971)
 * Adaldag, archbishop of Bremen (approximate date)
 * Berengar II, king of Italy (approximate date)
 * Berthold, duke of Bavaria (approximate date)
 * Conrad, bishop of Constance (approximate date)
 * Fujiwara no Saneyori, Japanese statesman (d. 970)
 * Gero, archbishop of Cologne (approximate date)
 * Gero, Frankish nobleman (approximate date)
 * John of Gorze, Frankish abbot and diplomat (d. 974)
 * Mord Fiddle, Icelandic farmer and law expert (d. 968)
 * Nicodemus of Mammola, Italian monk (d. 990)
 * Ramiro II, king of León (approximate date)
 * Ramwold, Frankish abbot (approximate date)
 * Rasso, Frankish military leader (approximate date)
 * Yang Pu, emperor of Wu (d. 939)

Deaths

 * June 17 – Fulk, archbishop of Reims
 * July 8 – Qatr al-Nada, wife of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tadid
 * August 13 – Zwentibold, king of Lotharingia (b. 870)
 * Donald II, king of the Picts (Scotland)
 * Dongshan Shouchu, Chinese Zen teacher
 * Eardulf, bishop of Lindisfarne (approximate date)
 * Fujiwara no Takafuji, Japanese nobleman (b. 838)
 * Ibn Abi Asim, Muslim Sunni scholar (b. 822)
 * John IX, pope of the Catholic Church
 * Lde-dpal-hkhor-btsan, Indian ruler
 * Litan, Irish abbot (approximate date)
 * Liu Chongwang, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
 * Li Zhirou, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
 * Merfyn ap Rhodri, king of Powys (approximate date)
 * Muhammad ibn Zayd, emir of Tabaristan (Iran)
 * Ono no Komachi, Japanese poet (approximate date)
 * Tadg mac Conchobair, king of Connacht (Ireland)
 * Wang Tuan, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
 * Wulfhere, archbishop of York (approximate date)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 900


text:
Going My Way

Going My Way is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran. Crosby sings five songs with other songs performed onscreen by Metropolitan Opera's star mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir. Going My Way was the highest-grossing picture of 1944, and was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture. Its success helped to make movie exhibitors choose Crosby as the biggest box-office draw of the year, a record he would hold for the remainder of the 1940s. After World War II, Crosby and McCarey presented a copy of the film to Pope Pius XII at the Vatican. Going My Way was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's.

Plot
Father Charles "Chuck" O'Malley (Bing Crosby), an incoming priest from East St. Louis, is transferred to St. Dominic's Church in New York City.

On his first day, his unconventional style gets him into a series of mishaps; his informal appearance and attitude make a poor impression with the elder pastor, Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). The very traditional Fitzgibbon is further put off by O'Malley's recreational habits – particularly his golf-playing – and his friendship with the even more casual Father Timmy O'Dowd (Frank McHugh). O'Dowd tricks O'Malley into revealing that the bishop actually sent him to take charge of the parish's affairs, with Fitzgibbon remaining on as pastor. To spare Fitzgibbon's feelings, O'Malley acts as if he is simply his assistant.

The difference between O'Malley and Fitzgibbon's styles is openly apparent as they deal with events like a parishioner being evicted and a young woman named Carol James (Jean Heather) having run away from home. The most consequential difference arises in their handling of the church youth, many of whom consistently get into trouble with the law in a gang led by Tony Scaponi (Stanley Clements). Fitzgibbon is inclined to look the other way, siding with the boys because of their frequent church attendance. O'Malley seeks to make inroads into the boys' lives, befriending Scaponi and eventually convincing the boys to become a church choir.

The noise of the practicing choir annoys Fitzgibbon, who goes to the bishop and asks for O'Malley to be transferred away. In the course of the conversation, Fitzgibbon infers the bishop's intention to put O'Malley in charge of the parish. To avoid an uncomfortable situation, Fitzgibbon asks the bishop to put O'Malley in charge, and then, resigned to his fate, he informs O'Malley of his new role. A distressed Fitzgibbon runs away in a rainstorm, returning late that night. O'Malley puts the older priest to bed, and the two begin to bond. They discuss Fitzgibbon's long-put-off desire to go to Ireland and see his mother, now over 90 years old. O'Malley puts Fitzgibbon to sleep with an Irish lullaby, "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral".

O'Malley runs into Jenny Tuffel (Risë Stevens), an old girlfriend whom he left to join the priesthood. Jenny now has a successful career with the Metropolitan Opera, performing under the stage name Genevieve Linden. As she prepares to go onstage as the lead in a performance of Carmen, the two discuss their past, and she learns that her world travels with a previous opera company caused her to miss his letter explaining he had entered the priesthood.

O'Malley next pays a visit to Carol, now suspected of living in sin with Ted Haines Jr. (James Brown), the son of the church's mortgage holder. O'Malley describes to the young couple his calling in life, to follow the joyous side of religion and lead others to do the same, sung as his composition "Going My Way". When the junior Haines is later confronted by his father, the father discovers that he and Carol have married, and he has joined the Air Force.

Jenny visits O'Malley at the church, sees the boys' choir, and reads the sheet music of "Going My Way". She, O'Malley, and O'Dowd devise a plan to rent out the Metropolitan, have the choir perform it with a full orchestra, then sell the rights to the song, saving the church from its financial woes. When Max Dolan (William Frawley), the music executive brought on to hear the song does not believe it will sell, the choir decides to make the most of its opportunity on the grand stage, and sings "Swinging on a Star". The executive overhears and decides to buy it, providing enough money to pay off the church mortgage.

With everything settled, O'Malley is transferred to a new assignment; O'Dowd will be Fitzgibbon's new assistant, with Tony Scaponi in charge of the choir. However, the church is damaged by a massive fire. On Christmas Eve, parishioners gather in a temporary church for a Mass that also serves as O'Malley's farewell. O'Malley sent for Fitzgibbon's mother (Adeline De Walt Reynolds) from Ireland as a parting gesture. As mother and son embrace for the first time in 45 years, the choir sings "Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral", as Father O'Malley quietly slips away into the night.

Cast

 * Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley
 * Barry Fitzgerald as Father Fitzgibbon
 * Frank McHugh as Father Timothy O'Dowd
 * James Brown as Ted Haines Jr.
 * Gene Lockhart as Ted Haines Sr.
 * Jean Heather as Carol James
 * Porter Hall as Mr. Belknap
 * Fortunio Bonanova as Tomaso Bozanni
 * Eily Malyon as Mrs. Carmody
 * Robert Mitchell Boychoir as St. Dominic's Church Choir
 * Risë Stevens as Genevieve Linden/Jenny Tuffel (credited as Famous Contralto of Metropolitan Opera Association)

 * William Frawley as Max Dolan the music publisher (uncredited)
 * Stanley Clements as Tony Scaponi (street tough and choir kid)
 * Carl Switzer as Herman Langerhanke (street tough and choir kid)

Production

Risë Stevens, whose character is seen onscreen performing the lead role in a Metropolitan Opera (the Met) production of Carmen, was an actual performer with the Met when the film was made. A few years later she would earn enormous personal triumph as the Met's Carmen in the famous Tyrone Guthrie production of 1951, becoming the leading Carmen of her generation.

Filming locations included the following:
 * Lakeside Country Club, 4500 W. Lakeside Drive, Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California (golf sequences)
 * Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California (studio)
 * St. Monica Catholic Church, Santa Monica, California (St. Dominic's)
 * Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California (parking lot)

Critical reception
According to Bosley Crowther in The New York Times, Going My Way was "the best" of Crosby's career, which is "saying a lot for a performer who has been one of the steadiest joys of the screen. But, in this Leo McCarey film ... he has definitely found his sturdiest role to date." Crowther, however, criticized the film's length while lauding Crosby, and wrote that "he has been stunningly supported by Barry Fitzgerald, who plays one of the warmest characters the screen has ever known. As a matter of fact, it is a cruel slight to suggest that this is Mr. Crosby's show. It is his and Mr. Fitzgerald's together. And they make it one of the rare delights of the year."

Variety endorsed the film, saying: "Bing Crosby gets a tailor-made role in Going My Way, and with major assistance from Barry Fitzgerald and Risë Stevens, clicks solidly to provide top-notch entertainment for wide audience appeal. Picture will hit hefty biz on all booking ... Intimate scenes between Crosby and Fitzgerald dominate throughout, with both providing slick characterizations ...  Crosby’s song numbers include three new tunes by Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen — 'Going My Way,' 'Would You Like to Swing on a Star' and 'Day After Forever.' Trio are topgrade and due for wide pop appeal due to cinch recording and airings by Bing. He also delivers 'Ave Maria,' 'Adeste Fideles' and 'Silent Night' in addition to a lively Irish-themed song, 'Toora-loora-looral' with boys' choir accompaniment."

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 83% based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 7.0/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald are eminently likable, and film is pleasantly sentimental, but Going My Way suffers from a surplus of sweetness."

Accolades
The film received ten Academy Award nominations at the 1944 ceremony and won seven, including two for Barry Fitzgerald (whose work on the film was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor). Bing Crosby won for Best Actor, while Fitzgerald won for Best Supporting Actor. (Subsequently, the rules were changed to prevent a recurrence).

In 2004, Going My Way was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Soundtrack

 * "The Day After Forever" (Jimmy Van Heusen / Johnny Burke) sung by Bing Crosby and Jean Heather, and again by Jean Heather.
 * "Three Blind Mice" sung by Bing Crosby and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir (credited onscreen as Robert Mitchell Boychoir)
 * "Silent Night" sung by Bing Crosby and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir
 * "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's an Irish Lullaby)" sung by Bing Crosby
 * "Recitative and Habanera from Act 1 of "Carmen" sung by Risë Stevens
 * "Going My Way" (Jimmy Van Heusen / Johnny Burke) sung by Bing Crosby, and again by Risë Stevens and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir
 * "Ave Maria" (Schubert) sung by Bing Crosby, Risë Stevens and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir
 * "Swinging on a Star" (Jimmy Van Heusen / Johnny Burke) sung by Bing Crosby and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir

Bing Crosby recorded six of the songs for Decca Records and some of them were issued on a 3-disc 78rpm set titled Selections from Going My Way. “Swinging on a Star” topped the Billboard charts for nine weeks in a 28-week stay. "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's an Irish Lullaby)" was in the charts for twelve weeks with a peak position of #4. "The Day After Forever" and "Going My Way" also charted briefly. Crosby's songs were also included in the Bing's Hollywood series.

Adaptations and related films

Going My Way was adapted as a radio play for the January 8, 1945, broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater starring Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald and Paul Lukas. It was also adapted for the May 3, 1954, broadcast of Lux Radio Theatre with Barry Fitzgerald.

The film also inspired an hour-long comedy drama of the same name during the 1962–63 television season starring Gene Kelly in the role of Father O'Malley. The series ran on ABC for one season of 30 episodes.

In 1962, McCarey directed Satan Never Sleeps, also featuring an old priest and his younger substitute but set in a Chinese mission during the Communist takeover of the country in 1949.

title: Going My Way


text:
History of Benin

The History of Benin since the 16th century, for the geographical area included in 1960 in what was then called the Republic of Dahomey before becoming the People's Republic of Benin.

Colonial Benin (formerly, Republic of Dahomey)
Dahomey was a French colony of and a part of French West Africa from 1904 to 1959. Under the French, a port was constructed at Cotonou, and railroads were built. School facilities were expanded by Roman Catholic missions. In 1946, Dahomey became an overseas territory with its own parliament and representation in the French national assembly. On December 4, 1958, it became the Republic of Dahomey.

Post-colonial Benin
Between 1960 and 1972, a succession of military coups brought about many changes of government. The last of these brought to power Major Mathieu Kérékou as the head of a regime professing strict Marxist-Leninist principles. By 1975 the Republic of Dahomey changed its name to the People's Republic of Benin. The People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (PRPB) remained in complete power until the beginning of the 1990s. Kérékou, encouraged by France and other democratic powers, convened a national conference that introduced a new democratic constitution and held presidential and legislative elections. Kérékou's principal opponent at the presidential poll, and the ultimate victor, was Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo. Supporters of Soglo also secured a majority in the National Assembly. Benin was thus the first African country to successfully complete the transition from a dictatorship to a pluralistic political system.

In the second round of National Assembly elections held in March 1995, Zoglo's political vehicle, the Parti de la Renaissance du Benin, was the largest single party but lacked an overall majority. The success of a party formed by supporters of ex-president Kérékou, who had officially retired from active politics, allowed him to stand successfully at both the 1996 and 2001 presidential elections.

During the 2001 elections, however, alleged irregularities and dubious practices led to a boycott of the run-off poll by the main opposition candidates. The four top-ranking contenders following the first round presidential elections were Mathieu Kérékou (incumbent) 45.4%, Nicephore Soglo (former president) 27.1%, Adrien Houngbédji (National Assembly Speaker) 12.6%, and Bruno Amoussou (Minister of State) 8.6%. The second round balloting, originally scheduled for March 18, 2001, was postponed for days because both Soglo and Houngbedji withdrew, alleging electoral fraud. This left Kérékou to run against his own Minister of State, Amoussou, in what was termed a "friendly match."

In December 2002, Benin held its first municipal elections since before the institution of Marxism-Leninism. The process was smooth with the significant exception of the 12th district council for Cotonou, the contest that would ultimately determine who would be selected for the mayoralty of the capital city. That vote was marred by irregularities, and the electoral commission was forced to repeat that single election. Nicephore Soglo's Renaissance du Benin (RB) party won the new vote, paving the way for the former president to be elected Mayor of Cotonou by the new city council in February 2002.

National Assembly elections took place in March 2003 and were generally considered to be free and fair. Although there were some irregularities, these were not significant and did not greatly disrupt the proceedings or the results. These elections resulted in a loss of seats by RB—the primary opposition party. The other opposition parties, the Party for Democratic Renewal (PRD) led by the former Prime Minister Adrien Houngbedji and the Alliance Etoile (AE), joined the government coalition.

Former West African Development Bank Director Yayi Boni won the March 2006 election for the presidency in a field of 26 candidates. International observers including the United Nations, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and others called the election free, fair, and transparent. President Kérékou was barred from running under the 1990 constitution due to term and age limitations. President Yayi was inaugurated on April 6, 2006.

Benin held legislative elections on March 31, 2007, for the 83 seats in the National Assembly. The Force Cowrie for an Emerging Benin (FCBE), a coalition of parties, closely linked to President Yayi, won a plurality of the seats in the National Assembly, providing the president with considerable influence over the legislative agenda.

In March 2011, President Boni Yayi was re-elected with 53.13 percent of vote in the first-round of the election. His main rival rejected the results, claiming widespread irregularities.

In October 2015, Benin's former President Mathieu Kerekou, who ruled the country a total of 28 years during his two spells as president (1972-1991 and 1996–2006), died at the age of 82.

After President Boni Yayi had served maximum two five-year terms, businessman Patrice Talon succeeded him. Talon defeated prime minister Lionel Zinsou, the candidate for Boni Yayi's Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (FCBE), in the March 2016 presidential election.

In April 2021, incumbent Patrice Talon won re-election with 86 percent of the votes in the first round of the election. The change in election laws resulted in total control of parliament by president Talon's supporters.

title: History of Benin


text:
Whistle

A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a large multi-piped church organ.

Whistles have been around since early humans first carved out a gourd or branch and found they could make sound with it. In prehistoric Egypt, small shells were used as whistles. Many present day wind instruments are inheritors of these early whistles. With the rise of more mechanical power, other forms of whistles have been developed.

One characteristic of a whistle is that it creates a pure, or nearly pure, tone. The conversion of flow energy to sound comes from an interaction between a solid material and a fluid stream. The forces in some whistles are sufficient to set the solid material in motion. Classic examples are Aeolian tones that result in galloping power lines, or the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (the so-called "Galloping Gertie" of popular media). Other examples are circular disks set into vibration.

Early whistles
Whistles made of bone or wood have been used for thousands of years. Whistles were used by the Ancient Greeks to keep the stroke of galley slaves. Archaeologists have found a terracotta whistle at the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Assos, most probably a child's toy placed in a child's grave as a burial gift. The English used whistles during the Crusades to signal orders to archers. Boatswain pipes were also used in the age of sail aboard naval vessels to issue commands and salute dignitaries.

Joseph Hudson
Joseph Hudson set up J Hudson & Co in Birmingham in 1870. With his younger brother James, he designed the "Acme City" brass whistle. This became the first referee whistle used at association football matches during the 1878–79 Football Association Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield. Prior to the introduction of the whistle, handkerchiefs were used by the umpires to signal to the players.

In 1883, he began experimenting with pea-whistle designs that could produce an intense sound that could grab attention from over a mile away. His invention was discovered by accident when he dropped his violin and it shattered on the floor. Observing how the discordant sound of the breaking strings travelled (trill effect), Hudson had the idea to put a pea in the whistle. Prior to this, whistles were much quieter and were only thought of as musical instruments or toys for children. After observing the problems that local police were having with effectively communicating with rattles, he realised that his whistle designs could be used as an effective aid to their work. Hudson demonstrated his whistle to Scotland Yard and was awarded his first contract in 1884. Both rattles and whistles were used to call for back-up in areas where neighbourhood beats overlapped, and following their success in the Metropolitan Police of London, the whistle was adopted by most police forces in the United Kingdom.

World War I
During World War I, officers of the British Army and United States Army used whistles to communicate with troops, command charges and warn when artillery pieces were going to fire. Most whistles used by the British were manufactured by J & Hudson Co.

title: Whistle