Good, Better, Best!!!!

ThorntonRose · Post by **ThorntonRose** » Wed Sep 05, 2001 6:04 am

I think practice is definitely an important factor. E. J. Jones, from Clandestine, is a world champion piper, yet he still practices 2 to 3 hours per day.

ThorntonRose · Post by **ThorntonRose** » Wed Sep 05, 2001 6:04 am

(Oops. Double post.)

[ This Message was edited by: ThorntonRose on 2001-09-05 08:05 ]

Mark_J · Post by **Mark_J** » Wed Sep 05, 2001 6:12 am

On 2001-09-05 08:04, ThorntonRose wrote:
I think practice is definitely an important factor. E. J. Jones, from Clandestine, is a world champion piper, yet he still practices 2 to 3 hours per day.

How does he get away with so little time at that level? I would have expected 6 hours or more. The must be a really high level of natural tallent there.

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Wed Sep 05, 2001 9:48 am

Gerry,

Lots of good advice so far, but in addition to talent and practice, there is one more important factor ...

FUN..

The 10 year old plays well because his practice isn't work, its play, its fun, it makes his heart happy.

The kid that walks around playing the same tune over and over and over and over again is not "practicing" - he's enchanted with the tune. (Of course he may also be enjoying driving his parents batty by playing the same tune 58 time in a row, but if so, he's still playing for fun.)

Sessions are the university of celtic music, partly because you get to learn all sorts of new tunes, techniques, tones, timings. But equally important is that sessions are where a bunch of folks sit around playing to just enjoy the music. Its not a performance, its not drills, its just fun.

So how can I enjoy the music more? One way I've found is to learn more about it. Learn to hear more in each tune. A good book and CD combination for this is Chris Smith's book, Celtic Back-up for the Instrumentalist . (If you search the posts you'll find a short review of this book). Learning Modes, harmonies, drones, counter melodies, rhythms lets you hear and enjoy more in the music. The CD's 99 tracks demonstrate most of the lessons in the book, which actually includes listening exercises. All so you can hear more in the music.

So my 2 cents is:
Play for yourself for fun.
Play with others for fun.
Learn more about how much fun this music is.

In the end its all to help you ...

AnnaDMartinez · Post by **AnnaDMartinez** » Wed Sep 05, 2001 11:34 am

On 2001-09-02 22:14, WhistlingGypsy wrote:
What does it take to be a Mary Bergin, Paddy Moloney, Joannie Madden etc???

What do you guys think that it takes? Is it practice, practice, practice.....or is it just talent - or a combination of both?

Can anyone be that good? I'd really love to know. I've been playing for many years and , while I am a mediocure whistle player - I can't hold a candle to these guys.

It can be frustrating at times!!

Cheers
Gerry

Gee whiz! And I only wanted to borrow Mick Woodruff for a few hours just to kneel at the feet of a master, then shake all his secrets out of him! I think, no matter how much we practice, we tend to compare our own playing and end up feeling inadequate as whistlers. I know that by listening to their playing, I'm inspired to practice more, and to learn as much as I can. The more I play, the more I practice, the more facinating and the more sophisticated the whistle becomes. Because of my asthma, I never know how well I'll be able to play from day to day, because I never know how well I can breathe. I'm basically just happy being the only whistler in my area. Then again, for all my practicing, I'll still plug people into Mick's website so tehy can hear a real whistler! I'd like to think I have a feel for music, and I think trying to master an instrument I hate is basically self-sabatoge! I'm whistle nuts, truly whistle nuts, and that helps, along with practicing six hours a day! There are times when I wish I could have been born a whistle idiot savant, but that's fruitless, so I just practice!

<

[ This Message was edited by: Anna Martinez on 2001-09-06 14:21 ]

WhistlingGypsy · Post by **WhistlingGypsy** » Wed Sep 05, 2001 11:59 am

Thanks for all the responses.

One of the reasons that I posted this question is that I tend to always push myself to be better, no matter what it is that I do, and so I do compare myself to these great musicians.

A little background. I run marathons - well I have run A marathon - and plan on running many more. Several people told me to just be happy running 10K etc. but I wanted to do better so I trained for and ran the full marathon in May. I guess I get bored staying at the same level all the time and need a challenge.

It seems that it's the same with the whistle. I got to a level of competence and got bored so for a while I thought that I would just learn another instrument. I have fooled around with the mandolin and tenor banjo, but when I play in sessions I always play the whistle. So I made the concious decision to get better at the instrument that I was best at and have been attending sessions for about 10 months now (1/week). I feel that I have plateaued, and while I am still enjoying playing very much, I want to get better. It's just the way I am. It doesn't mean that I am not having fun - but it could come to that if I don't have a challenge.

Anyhow - there have been some great suggestions on this thread, and it seems that there are others out there who have the same problem (if you could call it that). Also, there are obviously a lot of people who are just happy to stay at the level they are at - no problems with that either - to each his/her own.

Thanks again for all the help.

Cheers

Gerry

[ This Message was edited by: WhistlingGypsy on 2001-09-05 14:01 ]