At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whistle?

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lemccullough
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by lemccullough »

At what age did you start playing/learning the tin whistle ? AGE 20 years, 11 months, 354 days

Did you have any previous musical background? YES ... classical piano, pop/jazz alto sax, clarinet, recorder, harmonica

Did you learn to read music first or learn mostly by ear? BOTH

Starting tales ...

https://lemcculloughswhistleblog.wordpr ... le-moment/

https://lemcculloughswhistleblog.wordpr ... -iversary/
BigBpiper
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Tell us something.: I have grown up surrounded by Irish music and culture and have played the whistle since first grade. I love playing the various instruments I have aquired over the years and would love to help others with their instruments in any way I can.

Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by BigBpiper »

I started in first grade. While I didn't at that time have a musical backround, I come from a very musical family. I remember playing my first whistle ALL the time: in the car, during school, etc, and simply never getting tired of it. Since I grew up with traditional Irish music all around me, I learned both by sight and by ear. After playing the whistle for a while, I added the fife to the mix (where I am you are literally raised trying to play as many instruments as possible). I found the fife easy since the fingering is similar although I had trouble with embouchure. As a preteen, I added the GHP and the Bodhran to the mix as well and eventually the piano accordian. Though I am also a classically trained baritone, I much prefer Irish music to classical, I just can't HELP it :lol: I grew up with it and playing Irish music always makes me happy :) . The whistle, hands down, is my favorite instrument though.
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whistle1000
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by whistle1000 »

Age zero. I was reborn when I started playing the whistle!
BigBpiper
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Tell us something.: I have grown up surrounded by Irish music and culture and have played the whistle since first grade. I love playing the various instruments I have aquired over the years and would love to help others with their instruments in any way I can.

Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by BigBpiper »

whistle1000 wrote:Age zero. I was reborn when I started playing the whistle!
:lol: Your comment made my day!
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AuLoS303
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by AuLoS303 »

I remember I had a tin whistle many years ago, I had no idea how to play it, there was no internet back then and I didnt know anyone else who played one. And when I bought it they were called flageolets in the shop. If i remember correctly it was brass with a green head, but I can't remember that well. Anyway I didn't really play it and I'm not sure what happened to it. Fast forward a hundred years and I got another, when I was 50, and started to teach myself. And its a surprisingly easy and fun instrument to play!
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by PlanxtyPipes »

When I was in my late 20s or early 30s I bought my first whistle but I never really took to it. I would pick it up for a day or two here and there over the next 6 years but never really gave it a real go. Irish Trad was just one of many styles of music I was interested in and listening to, and I never really "got it" beyond just thinking it sounded nice. Around the age of 38 that all changed and I got obsessed with Irish Trad/Folk and I stopped listening to pretty much anything else with any regularity. At 39 I figured I'd give the whistle a go. I'm currently 40 and have been playing around 8 months. I've had to take a few short breaks to move and for my wife to have our 3rd child. But as soon as things settled down and I was able, I picked it right up again. I'll be playing the whistle for life now. Just put money down on a keyless flute order as well.
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by benhall.1 »

AuLoS303 wrote:I remember I had a tin whistle many years ago, I had no idea how to play it, there was no internet back then and I didnt know anyone else who played one. And when I bought it they were called flageolets in the shop. If i remember correctly it was brass with a green head, but I can't remember that well. Anyway I didn't really play it and I'm not sure what happened to it. Fast forward a hundred years and I got another, when I was 50, and started to teach myself. And its a surprisingly easy and fun instrument to play!
It's a surprising thing but, for such a simple instrument, I find the whistle a surprisingly difficult instrument to play.
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by nicx66 »

I started at 31 years old (I am 35). I was in a band with my brother and 2 others. During instrumental breaks and tunes, I got sick of contemplating my navel, so I tried the whistle. I was sure that I had no talent for instruments having taken piano lessons for a year as a child and trying electric bass as a teenager to no avail. The moral of this story is to keep trying until you find something that you love. As luck would have it, my love affair is with a lightweight, portable, and inexpensive instrument. I have also found a great deal of joy making whistles, my first attempts being the DIY/PVC variety, moving on to the more traditional type, made from tin-plate with a wooden fipple.
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AuLoS303
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by AuLoS303 »

benhall.1 wrote:
AuLoS303 wrote:I remember I had a tin whistle many years ago, I had no idea how to play it, there was no internet back then and I didnt know anyone else who played one. And when I bought it they were called flageolets in the shop. If i remember correctly it was brass with a green head, but I can't remember that well. Anyway I didn't really play it and I'm not sure what happened to it. Fast forward a hundred years and I got another, when I was 50, and started to teach myself. And its a surprisingly easy and fun instrument to play!
It's a surprising thing but, for such a simple instrument, I find the whistle a surprisingly difficult instrument to play.
Try flute :o
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Peter Duggan
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by Peter Duggan »

AuLoS303 wrote:Try flute :o
Oh aye, good idea... try flute, Ben! :wink:

@AuLoS303, :boggle:
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benhall.1
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Tell us something.: I'm a fiddler and, latterly, a fluter. I love the flute. I wish I'd always played it. I love the whistle as well. I'm blessed in having really lovely instruments for all of my musical interests.
Location: Unimportant island off the great mainland of Europe

Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by benhall.1 »

Peter Duggan wrote:
AuLoS303 wrote:Try flute :o
Oh aye, good idea... try flute, Ben! :wink:

@AuLoS303, :boggle:
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Tell us something.: I've been trying to learn the recorder for about 5 years now and want to add a new instrument (tin whistle) to my repertoire. I hope with only 6 holes life will be a bit easier... (John Sheahan's Marino Casino in the Gaiety theatre has something to do with it - whereas my head knows that 40 years of practice is the reason why it sounds so good, I'm still hoping...)
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by Kade1301 »

I picked up my first whistle last Friday, at age 53. As a teen I had had violin lessons, gave that up after a few years, then tried the guitar where I gave up lessons after a few months (never wanted to learn classical guitar in the first place - I wanted to play chords to songs which my "teacher" knew nothing about) and 5 years ago I started with recorders (the usual quartet, though I avoid soprano/descant as much as possible), which I am still playing with weekly lessons in the "local" music school. (And the person who started the rumour that the recorder was easy to play had better hope they never meet me...)

So I read sheet music (but not abc notation) but I try to play tin whistle by ear because when I see the dots I'm much more likely to slip into recorder fingering :(
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by PB+J »

I'm 58 and I just started last week. I'm working at the low whistle, keeping expectations low as well as pitches. We'll see where it leads. I'm a reasonably accomplished musician on bass and guitar. I'm working on about half a dozen tunes: The Rolling Wave Jig, and the The Swallow Tail Jig, and then for a family Easter party I'm working on The Rakes of Mallow and The Kerry Dances, which my aged parents will recognize and appreciate. The Minstrel Boy is being learned for my father in law, a retired marine.

Also working on Roland Kirk's Serenade to a Cuckoo, because I'm a jazzbo, and the Kila songs Cardinal Knowledge and Saoirse's Song, both from Tomm Moore films my daughter loves
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by sfmans »

I started whstle when I was about 13 or 14. My sister was learning clarinet and was advised to play whistle in between clarinet practice for learning breath control; I’d learnt recorder at school, picked up one of her cast-off whistles, and was away.

That was over 40 years ago and I’ve just kept playing ever since; I’ve added other instruments since (low whistle, fife, rauschpfeife, cornemuse, concertina, bagpipes) but I still play whistle regularly, and have also recently returned to playing in a recorder consort too.

That initial decision to learn whistle (although it more sort of happened than a conscious decision) has brought me innumerable friends and acquaintances, travel across Europe with various Morris sides, and altogether more fun and great times than I could begin to calculate. And although I’m not playing out over the weekend due to work, I’ll be at it on Tuesday in the pub, then Wednesday at Morris practice, and much much more to come for as long as I can possibly keep going!
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Tell us something.: I play flute and stringed instruments and enjoy playing in sessions and for step dancers and teach music part-time. My flutes are a new Gilles Lehart blackwood keyless in D, a c.1820 Clementi 'Nicholson improved' English boxwood single key in F and a simple-system 8-key English blackwood flute made by Richard Weekes of Plymouth, Devon c.1840 both in beautiful, pristine condition. I also have a wooden c.1880 English keyed flageolet. My home is in North Somerset a short distance from where my family come from at Blackford in the Mendip Hills and my repertoire are the tunes that are local to my area. That is the rural vernacular English music from when ordinary working people simply played and danced to their own rhythm with little concern for that which lay beyond a day's walk.
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Re: At what age did you start playing/ learning the tin whis

Post by mendipman »

We had recorder class at primary school which was pretty much standard here. That would be age 7 - 10. I had a tin whistle then too. But like some others have said as a teenager I was diverted into learning clarinet and saxophone
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