meanderings of the mind....

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jiminos
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meanderings of the mind....

Post by jiminos »

... i'm not sure of exactly when i started playing the whistle or the flute... and the harder i think on it, the more elusive the date seems... i'm thinking it was about six or so years ago... but, i remember the first was a Clarke with a book.... it was enough to get me thoroughly hooked on the whistle... and enough to drive my children and neighbor's cat crazy... now that i think about it, the dog wasn't too crazy about it, either... anyway...

the Clarke and i never did get on well... but i picked up a feadog. absolutely loved it. squeaks, squawks and all. i went through the usual period of thinking that a better whistle might improve my playing... so i bought a few nice whistles... a C/D O'Brien Rover set in Blackwood... an Oz Vambrace in Delrin... Parks C/D set... a Burke narrow brass... C/D/Bb Susatos... and my playing still sucked.... hmmmmmm....

most of those whistles are gone now.. including the Clarke's... most of the time i find myself playing my feadog or a Dixon Trad... occasionally, i pick up one of the Susato's... even more rarely, i reach for the Vambrace or the Parks... and if the Vambrace or the Parks were to go away and i was left only with feadog, dixon or susato... i think i'd be okay... i'd still grab one of them and try to play a tune without too many errors... someday i may even get a handle on ornaments...or not.

not sure why i wrote or posted this, but... there it is. have a nice day, all.

be well,

jim
Jim

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Nomi
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by Nomi »

Howdy neighbor ( I'm up in he San Juans). Can't honestly say I can sympathize much, I learned to play as a little kid but never really took is seriously. My dad played fiddle- actually he learned it when I was a kid and it drove me absolutely nuts just as your whistling did your kids- and my mom played whistle and later he harp, so I played as necesity to fit in with the family rather than for pleasre. It's just recently I picked it up again and now I'm obsessed. But I was such a sloppy player after putting it down for 15 years, even though I knew a few tunes I kind of had to re-learn from he beginning. You should go on YouTube and check out a guy named Ryan Duns that has a set of short lessons on there. He teaches whistle at his seminary school and, while a little goofy, really knows his stuff. My playing improved hugely after going through the 9 or so lessons. http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri= ... 0Xf1Ume0zA
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jiminos
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by jiminos »

thank you for the response, Nomi.... i have gone through everything that Ryan has done, and i enjoy his stuff tremendously. i should probably add that i am not completely incompetent on the whistle... i can get through about 60 tunes without too much fuss and error, but nobody will ever mistake me for a lifelong whistle player from ireland. i play like an american, rather than like an irishman.

i've been playing music for well over 40 years now... a good chunk of that on stage... but the whistles haven't made it to the stage yet.... they may never.... but i still take a toot on them each day....

be well,

jim
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by mutepointe »

Jim, what are you playing on stage that a whistle hasn't made it yet?

Nomi, I can understand how you felt about the whistle being an obligation. I would have loved to have been from a musical family. When we go on vacation with our maid of honor and the godchildren, they're all musical. We don't live by each other and we're not into the same music so we mostly take turns playing for each other. The rest of the extended family that goes on vacation with us are way too shy to be a part. They're more than welcome.
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by jiminos »

Mutepointe,
Most of what i've been doing for the last 40 years is contemporary american folk and acoustic rock-oriented stuff from primarily the u.s. and british music scenes from the 1960's through the 1990's... there is some newer stuff in there, but not much....

from around 1999 to 2005 i was the front man... vocalist and guitar... for an Irish band playing here in the northwest united states. the group had two guitars, a bass and a fiddle. no winds.

after i left that group, i went back to the stuff i love and grew up on... only recently have i begun bringing some of the Irish stuff back into my act. occasionally, i play a few aires on one of my flutes... but... i really don't do ITM... or, better stated, i don't do justice to ITM.... and my act had been a solo thing from 2005 up to a little over a year ago... now my wife sings with me... but she plays no instruments....

so... that is why or how the whistle has not managed to make it on stage with me as yet... there is only one session in the area that i am aware of and my schedule doesn't accommodate attendance... i enjoy ITM, but.... it seems that my whistling opportunities are thus far limited to the porch.

hopefully, that answers your question....

be well,

jim
Jim

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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by The_walrus0 »

Well I'll chime in a bit since I'm a recently obsessed whistler.

I started on guitar as a teenager. About 13 I saved some money and bought a $60 electric off the internet. It wasn't a bad guitar but I had no idea what I was doing with it.

I learned how to tune it and I played with tabs for a few years but never got very good. I still can't change a pair of strings.

Anyways, I later got a much nicer electric but still didn't learn to read music or play very well. Eventually I fell out of love with the guitar.

I was missing music in my life though and I had, at one point, played alright on a keyboard so I own a flute from elementary school band, which I didn't continue with, and I pulled it out of the closet to see if I could find tabs to try and play Flogging Molly's Devil's Dance Floor because I just assumed that the whistling was done on a flute.

I found out, through google, that it was played on a penny whistle!

And it was all downhill from there. :)

I have absolutely no rythm but I am learning and having a great time. I have no real intentions of playing on stage. If I do anything on stage it would be an act with my hula hoop, which is the only thing I do that I feel I could ever be good enough to perform.

Of course, the future is always changing. I can feel the whistle being in my life for a long long time but who knows what I'll be doing with it in ten, twenty or thirty years? I don't play any other instrument so it gets all the attention, when I'm not hooping or crocheting.

I have to say that the whistle community has been really welcoming and I hope to someday do this under rated little instrument some justice.
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mutepointe
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by mutepointe »

Boy am I nosey. Yep, that answered my question. Without all the facts, somehow, I had it in my head that the rest of the people in your group weren't accepting of a whistle, like it was going to cross music boundaries and upset the rotation of the earth. All it was is that you don't get the opportunity.
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jiminos
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by jiminos »

mutepointe wrote:Boy am I nosey. Yep, that answered my question. Without all the facts, somehow, I had it in my head that the rest of the people in your group weren't accepting of a whistle, like it was going to cross music boundaries and upset the rotation of the earth. All it was is that you don't get the opportunity.
pretty much.... yup. interesting what you had in your head..... interesting.

be well,

jim
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by killthemessenger »

interesting.... interesting what you said there...... anyway I'm sure I....... would have something to add... but I just can't keep away from....... the dots.... the..... dots.........
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jiminos
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by jiminos »

killthemessenger wrote:interesting.... interesting what you said there...... anyway I'm sure I....... would have something to add... but I just can't keep away from....... the dots.... the..... dots.........
then, go away. frankly, you're not one of my favorite posters around here, and i've rarely seen you contribute anything positive to a thread. so, it won't hurt my feelings if you leave without a trace behind.

be well,

jim
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do not search for it.
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killthemessenger
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Re: meanderings of the mind....

Post by killthemessenger »

BTW, walrus - I just spent half an hour watching hula hoop dance routines on youtube. Amazing. I had no idea.
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