I played around with pipe and tabordrum for a few months before migrating to the penny whistle last year. I prefer the whistle's more immediately available range of notes/octaves. But i do miss being able to accompany myself with the drum.
I so much enjoy the sound of a melody with simple added percussion in some form- drum, rattle, tambourine, bones, feet, etc. I'd like to be able add this on my own without depending on another person being there. When I play banjo I do stomp one heel successfully along with my playing- so far that's my starting skill level.

I'd love to hear various suggestions from anyone who has been adding percussion to their own whistle playing in some creative way. I'm not talking about a recording studio setting- rather in simple real life settings like on a back porch, a sidewalk festival, or a farmer's market ...(and without using electronic means, without any 'plugging in', or track-layering). Hokey or rustic is acceptable as well. Pictures and vids are welcome, but I'm hoping more for serious helpful ideas, as opposed to jokes. Suggest away!

Thanks so much!

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Having FUN playin' my whistles!
http://pennywhistleclub.com/
...a new social network just for whistlers

You'll probably want to look into podorythmie.

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My brain hurts

What he said.

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And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis

Check out "foot tambourine", basically a set of mini-cymbals you strap to your foot ... may or may not suit you, depending on your style of playing.

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"I'm playing all the right notes—but not necessarily in the right order."

Those Morris guys with leg bells might be an option... (but I still think Gumby's got the best recommendation).



Best wishes.

Steve

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"[Some flutists] place the flute between the upper lip and the nose, blowing the instrument from below. This position does not prevent good playing, but it does not look graceful."
~ Antoine Mahaut, 1759 in a tutor for playing the transverse flute ~

That's a slippery slope Steve, start with bells and if you don't go the stick and hankie route, who knws where it could end...






more here

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My brain hurts

There are several foot-based rhythm systems, all good, but the one that's most "music" and least "dance" is the quebecois podorhythm. Seriously. If you wanna play a beat behind your whistle, that's your best option.

And it's cheap. What are you frightened of?

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And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis

I learned how to do this one, I do it while playing whistle.

My inspiration was a fiddler around here years ago, and all the wonderful Quebecois musicians I've seen.

Check this out- she is very good at it. Jump to 5:53 to see her tapping/clogging up to speed, with banjo, and then singing too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cWkV0t5Ljg

Here's the Quebecois style, it's wonderful.

Starts off with just one guy doing it but after a minute or so they're all three doing it- it's in their blood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqN5sfqL9Rs

Here's a "petite lesson" in the Quebecois foot-tapping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRKUgY4H9o8

This shows how effective it can be- a Quebecois song accompanied only by the foot-tapping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMc-6MVEHF8

And it ain't only in Canada, they do it in France too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt5nsYLvq5g

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Richard Cook
1978 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle

Wow - it looks very easy, but I can't do it. Not even very slowly. One foot, but not two.

It's like anything else, it just takes a lot of practice.

I do it backwards, I suppose. I stomp the heel on 1, tap the toe on 3, on the same foot.

That suffices, really, to keep the beat, but to fill it in I put in a toe-tap with the other foot on 4.

So it's the same underlying beat as Irish music, Quebecois music, Appalachian music, for reels, you leave out the 2 and it goes 1 34, 1 34, 1 34, 1 34

Then I had to learn to do it equally rightfooted or leftfooted, because I start to "feel the burn" after a while.

What I still don't have complete fluency in is doing the 3/4 beat, which you have to do very fast for jigs.

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Richard Cook
1978 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle

Foot tambourine:

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

I can recall one late night journey in the Montreal metro (subway) in which a large and well-lubricated group of Quebecois teens got on at one stop. They were clearly on their way from one party to another, and several had brought beer cans with them. Someone started singing and soon they all were. Then the feet got going. Let me tell you, 8 or 10 pairs of feet pounding out a rhythm in the confined space of a subway car be quite memorable.

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And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis

I ordered that foot 'tambourine' several years ago, but it does not work for me. 1) it keeps sliding around and sliding off, and if made too tight it flips over so it lies on its side. 2) I'm basically a heel tapper, not a toe tapper, so that was another issue. 3) the zils and plastic have an unpleasant cheap flat sound to my ears, not like the rich pleasant brass or tin and wood frames sounds like old tambos have.

I wound up making myself an anklet a couple years ago, that I use somewhat successfully. I attached various objects on it that together produce a more pleasing sound, and it fastens quickly around my ankle with velcro. I made up a new term and christened it my "jangklet". This works pretty well, on my right ankle.
At 63 I don't think I'm quite up to the elaborate foot dancing rhythms, but at least I can produce a rudimentary percussion of sorts with my right heel and 'jangklet'. I need to practice to get better at it. I have a hard enough time trying to play the whistle so it's a real challenge.

I'm hoping to also hear more about other people rigging up rattling devices, chimes, or drums etc in creative ways, perhaps not all having to do with feet. Its a fun subject and can get kinda whacky I suspect. Thanks for the responses so far!

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Having FUN playin' my whistles!
http://pennywhistleclub.com/
...a new social network just for whistlers

Several years ago I saw a man busking in Ireland that played with his foot a piece of scrap sheet metal that was bent with a bow and would spring back when he taped it. It made several sounds but what realy impressed me was his rhythm.

And then another fellow I saw in Boston (Eric Royer) one man band. http://guitarmachine.com
Perhaps what seperates those that do something and those that do not is motivation.

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''Whistles of Wood'', cpvc and brass. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=69086

Tommy, that thing about the sheet metal sounds very interesting- can you explain what you mean by "bent with a bow"- do you mean it had a bow attached, or just that it was bent into a shape of a bow? What was the shape it was bent to- a C shape? Was it held or tied in any way to keep it springing back to the same shape again while being tapped?

Here I am using my simple ankle jangle-rattle (on my right ankle) while playing the banjo:
https://youtu.be/Ym4dU9WJA3M
I honestly don't think i could learn that wonderful fancy footwork Quebecois at my age- I am not really a 'multitasker' so it's hard enough working one foot for rhythm while I play an instrument. I'd love to attach a small tabor drum or frame drum to some sort of simple foot pedal, but the only foot pedals i see for drums seem to be way big and geared towards big bass drums used in drummers' sets- way too much for the music my husband and I play. Anyone know of smaller less aggressively large foot pedals that can clamp a drum or tambourine?
Sometimes I lay a tambo on the floor skin side down, and by putting my foot in the frame, my heel rests on the rim and can do some low key tambo jingle percussion when I hit my heel down. But it seems like a lost opportunity for something maybe a little more fun for passersby to watch, not sure.

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Having FUN playin' my whistles!
http://pennywhistleclub.com/
...a new social network just for whistlers