Skye Boat Song-Feadóg D

[AuLoS303]

I downloaded the sheet from ABCNotation and read through it a few times. I did play it on my recorder but I find the tin whistle has a certain charm about it. I just need time to practice, and a sound proofed room

https://youtu.be/nCxbM4RdTho

[Peter Duggan]

Why did you post this to 'Irish Traditional Music'? It's not Irish.

Not charming either, but that's a different matter. You're blowing much too hard in places and have a number of wrong notes in the middle section.

I'd like to be nice and encouraging because you're a beginner, but nobody needs to hear your first attempts at everything. And your current avatar (with one instrument at each nostril) comes over as plain lack of respect for the instruments and their traditions if you want to be taken seriously here...

[Mr.Gumby]

I have taught myself during my time on this forum not to listen to clips or pay attention to other vanity projects. Once you listen, you will inevitably come up with comments you will want to make. It's perhaps an odd compulsion but there you have it. Mind you, I have taken my share of hassle, hate mail and the odd threat of violence and death during the time I did shoot off the odd comment and said what I thought. Eventually I reached the conclusion some things are irreparable and not worth the attention or aggravation that making any sort of comment will trigger. Things best ignored, in other words.

Perhaps it's time for a separate vanity/validation forum to segregate compulsive clip posters? If that nomer is deemed unsuitable for a forum, we can always call it a safe area and not allow honest comments.

Disclaimer: That last bit was obviously tongue in cheek. If and when you post clips etc, you implicitly invite comment. You accept the comment, even if it's not what you hoped for

[AuLoS303]

What?? Tough crowd you lot. I'm a beginner. Just wanted to share my efforts but whatever

[AuLoS303]

Please delete this thread and possibly my account!

[Peter Duggan]

What?? Tough crowd you lot.

No. Patient (so far). But honest (because it's ultimately not helpful to be anything else).

I'm a beginner.

'I'd like to be nice and encouraging because you're a beginner,'

Just wanted to share my efforts but whatever

'but nobody needs to hear your first attempts at everything.'

Please delete this thread and possibly my account!

Perhaps you could think about what people (yes, including me) have actually said, and whether there's anything to be learned from that as a beginner? But please also understand that whatever you upload and link to is out there inviting whatever comment folk choose to make whether to your liking or not. So you might hate what I've said and you might hate me for saying it, but what good would it do you for everyone just to say 'this is all great'?

Strange as it may seem, I spend my life trying to be as helpful and encouraging as possible to beginner and developing musicians while being self-critical and protective enough of my own work to be incredibly guarded about accepting performing or recording gigs. I'm never critical of anyone or their work for the sake of it, but only as far as I need to be to help steer them in the right direction. Now you can think I'm both full of myself and cruel, or consider what I've actually said and why it's upsetting you. It's not the first time we've seen the enthusiastic beginner flooding the place with clips and won't be the last. Perhaps you might even look at the next one day and smile?

[AuLoS303]

What?? Tough crowd you lot.

No. Patient (so far). But honest (because it's ultimately not helpful to be anything else).

I'm a beginner.

'I'd like to be nice and encouraging because you're a beginner,'

Just wanted to share my efforts but whatever

'but nobody needs to hear your first attempts at everything.'

Please delete this thread and possibly my account!

Perhaps you could think about what people (yes, including me) have actually said, and whether there's anything to be learned from that as a beginner? But please also understand that whatever you upload and link to is out there inviting whatever comment folk choose to make whether to your liking or not. So you might hate what I've said and you might hate me for saying it, but what good would it do you for everyone just to say 'this is all great'?

Strange as it may seem, I spend my life trying to be as helpful and encouraging as possible to beginner and developing musicians while being self-critical and protective enough of my own work to be incredibly guarded about accepting performing or recording gigs. I'm never critical of anyone or their work for the sake of it, but only as far as I need to be to help steer them in the right direction. Now you can think I'm both full of myself and cruel, or consider what I've actually said and why it's upsetting you. It's not the first time we've seen the enthusiastic beginner flooding the place with clips and won't be the last. Perhaps you might even look at the next one day and smile?

I'm hardly 'flooding the place with clips'. Ive posted 2 so far!

[Peter Duggan]

I'm hardly 'flooding the place with clips'. Ive posted 2 so far!

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104768
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=104755
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104714
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=104689
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=104661
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=104652

I've commented on two of them so far.

[AuLoS303]

Oh well, 6 posts.
I must be careful not to break the forum...

[cboody]

Oh well, 6 posts.
I must be careful not to break the forum...

Let me try. What Peter is saying is you really don't play very well yet. Time will doubtless improve things. Until you can get pitches, rhythms, and/or fingerlings correct people are likely to be unforgiving. The problem with whistle, and to some degree recorder is that they are easy to play....badly. My suggestion is that you spend a bit more time getting pitches and rhythms secure and then post. I suspect you'll find folks more supportive.

[AuLoS303]

I cant help noticing that a lot of people post their videos and recordings quite freely in the Flute forum.

[Mr.Gumby]

Do you really want to go on stirring the pot?

Look at the title of the thread the fluteplayers post to. The forum agreed to concentrate clip postings in one thread on that particular forum. Other forums decided against that, or had that decided for them by the mods, I would guess to avoid situations like the current one).

[AuLoS303]

Just curious is all.

[Peter Duggan]

People post links to their videos/recordings for different reasons. When I finally get round to making a video (which I'm still planning to do) to illustrate the fantastic 'flute for nine fingers' Dave Copley built me, I'll resurrect the thread for that project to post the link because that's where it belongs. But that's different to posting flute clips and starting diverse threads to announce them just to draw attention to my playing (which, fortunately, I don't want to do)...

Likewise I recorded the Atholl Highlanders as a proper 6/8 march (not jig) in response to a discussion on that and was recently tempted to record Leaving Lerwick Harbour by comments in a thread on slow airs for whistle, so posted the links to the relevant threads. But I'm seriously thinking of taking Leaving Lerwick Harbour down because I'm not that happy with it... it might be accomplished playing in many ways but it's also highlighted mannerisms (like little volume/intonation bulges) I hadn't noticed before recording and uploading it even after multiple listens to the video before posting. Take that down and I'd currently be left with exactly two YouTube videos (the Atholl Highlanders and the Holifield Low D review, which I'd agreed to do as part of the tour for that whistle), but know what? I'm OK with that because that's enough for both me and the world till I've got something else I consider of sufficient merit/comparative lack of cringeworthiness to join them.

I've had other stuff (subsequently taken down) on YouTube that I've come to wonder how I ever thought passable enough to put there in the first place. Likewise clips on my personal site, many (but not all) of which have later been removed. Your mileage may vary, but I'd generally prefer my available performances to sit comfortably with the quality of commentary/discussion I feel able to provide as a musician of long experience and at least some skill, so simply don't want to share all my less satisfactory efforts with the world. To which I might just add that, no matter how well I play for me, I see no point in sharing the routine (or less) for the sake of it because there's always someone else doing it (in many cases much) better!