Chiff and Fipple Forums

ytliek wrote:Maybe you were referring to that Baltimore group.

Uh, no, they are not exactly my cuppa ....

Just to add that a lot of OT tunes are 'cross over' tunes, Irish, Scottish, English tunes that are part of the OT repertoire (e.g. The Red Haired Boy). Others (like 'Cold Frosty Morning') were written by immigrants from these countries to the USA, and sound no different than if they had been written abroad. Others, wherever they come from/who ever wrote them, sound just like celtic tunes, e.g. 'Kitchen Girl.' The settings may be Americanized, as it were, but whistle/flute adapts to this just fine. It would be interesting to know when, and how widely, whistles were played in the USA. I believe they were mass produced in England in the 1840s.

The Shamrogues... And, I should clarify... no individual member gets paid while playing as a Shamrogue. The Shamrogue group does hire out for various occasions and any money received goes towards equipment, speakers, mics/stands and such. And money is also used to sponsor visiting musicians coming thru the area. We do a lot of freebies for orgs like veteran's hospital, convalescent homes, schools, etc., where we know there isn't any entertainment budget. There certainly isn't any profit realized as I've been coughing up the cash from my own pockets (everyone does) just to keep the Trad going. Its all about friends and just wanting to play the music.

We've been... I have been extremely fortunate to have met up with this group of friends The Shamrogues and they have brought in the biggest names in the Trad world, Kevin Burke, Mary Bergin, and Joanie Cherish. So it is fun, and I can actually play a tune or two on the whistle, maybe not perfect, but, at least to my own enjoyment.

BTW, we had the Doocey brothers, David (fiddle) and Patrick (guitar) play a house concert last night. They both were born in Worcester, MA and moved back to Ireland as children, grew up in Co. Mayo, and now in their twenties David at least has moved back to Worcester. They had their own style playing and were funny as well. See them if they play near you. They are the real Trad.

Thanks for all the information, but we are drifting a bit off-topic...

So does anyone have any idea about the origin of these two recordings?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lk3pjzeglw612 ... e.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ng1bi0sb7pd21 ... n.mp3?dl=0

I've been following this thread with interest.

Coincidentally, over the weekend, I got an email from one of the organizers of the New England Folk Festival (April 24-26, Mansfield, MA), asking if I would like to fill the last open position at the vendors' craft pavilion.

She wrote, "You didn't have to convince us that the penny whistle is a fine and honorable folk instrument." The deadline for application was January 15, so it's fortuitous indeed that I'll be able to attend on such short notice (not to mention being invited in the first place).

If any of you will be there, please come by and play a tune or two. I'm not a gifted player by any means, and it always helps when a competent musician comes along and plays my instruments for people to hear.

I'm optimistic about this. The events where my whistles fare best are those with a lot of teaching and session play, which the New England Folk Festival has in a big way.

I've been doing this long enough now to have seen an actual long range effect in a music community (e.g., the first person to play a Freeman whistle at the All Ireland championships began with a Mellow Dog his mother bought him when he was seven, at another music event eight years ago). By now, I've done around 20,000 Freeman tweaked whistles.

This festival will be attended by several thousand folk music enthusiasts. I'm hoping enough bring my whistles home and play them in their sessions and performances, it will help sow some more seeds for the whistle in the American folk music community.

The whistle certainly is a fine and honorable folk instrument. May its sweet voice be heard far and wide.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Here you go ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EcZjHL7_wE

Thanks, great playing here.

There was an interesting thread about flutes/fifes in old time music on the Fiddle-l list some time back:

https://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi ... D=0&P=4551

I enjoyed the clip that Jerry posted (and I very much enjoy my Blackbird, Jerry); the northeast sessions that I mostly go are pretty much in the contra tradition and welcome a wide range of instruments, just as they welcome tunes from a variety of places. (We had a trumpet player show up a couple of times, and he did a great job of fitting in.) But adding the whistle to an old-time ensemble does change things in a way that I don't think some of the old-time fans I know would enjoy since they have a particular sound in mind.

Here's another. Would this be considered bluegrass? Tim O'Brien's certainly a bluegrass musician, clearly doesn't have any objection to whistle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=50&v=XtE05cN_u-Q

Interesting, he's from West Virginia. Kirsten Erwin, the whistler in the old time jam session I posted above, told me, "Where I come from in West Virginia, you just bring whatever instrument you got and everybody who can play the music is welcome. People bring whistles. It wasn't 'til I got to the city that people started telling me what instruments were and weren't acceptable for old time music."

Nice one Jerry. I'm just waiting for my hair to turn grey so I can dance too.

[quote="Jerry Freeman"]Tim O'Brien's certainly a bluegrass musician, clearly doesn't have any objection to whistle:quote]

Especially if it's that whistle player.

[Thread revival. - Mod]

I'm a newbie to playing whistles. I just found this thread. I've played bluegrass mando, no Maestro here but I could survive at an intermediate jam and take breaks on fiddle tunes I know. Am also not at all into purity of genre (but I'd never play anything in wanted at a jam). Curiousity question maybe someone can provide info on. If you were playing whistle in an American situation, when you arent taking a break, i.e., playing the melody, what would you play? On mandolin, you chop the back beat but I surmise that would sound awful on a whistle and you'd want to play something legato instead.

Well you are making references to typical bluegrass playing situations (taking a 'break', not playing melody, mando 'chopping'...bluegrass standard approaches). That is quite different from playing in 'oldtime music' sessions, and this thread is about playing whistle in old time music settings. In oldtime sessions, people seldom take breaks or do solo turns. People can play melody all throughout, or play harmony, or play a combination of alternating parts... whatever they feel enhances the overall 'groove'. Thus, if you are actually thinking of playing in oldtime sessions (not bluegrass), then there's no need to worry too much about whether you are playing melody or harmony... you won't be taking 'breaks' so you weave about and play what you think will sound good and what you might be able to play well.
FWIW, I particularly enjoy the challenge in exploring harmony lines to play on my whistle when I play oldtime tunes at home with my fiddler.

Mark O'Connor's CD "Liberty - the American Revolution" has at least 2 tracks that use whistle: "Johnny's Gone for a Soldier" and "Soldiers Joy". Of course this is not a jam situation but a sound track.