Beware YouTube "Tutorials"

[chas]

Chas, you may be familiar with a possibly apocryphal tale of some psychologists putting an ape in a room with a a chair, a table, a stick, and some rope and an open window high up on a wall. Supposedly there were four different ways to arrange these artifacts to effect an escape. The ape found a fifth way. . . .
When I related this story to a classmate who went on to an advanced degree in psychology, he observed that such a situation pointed up the need for grad students to be ´smarter´ than their subjects. . .

A graduate student smarter than an ape? Now you're just being silly.

[pancelticpiper]

psychologists putting an ape in a room with a a chair, a table, a stick, and some rope and an open window high up on a wall. Supposedly there were four different ways to arrange these artifacts to effect an escape. The ape found a fifth way. . .

As a sidelight to that, the building at Central Washington University that contains psychology grad students, used to contain apes.

Now about the quote

The Expert's Mind has few possibilities.
The Beginner's mind has endless possibilities.

there was a documentary with interviews with the top researchers in various fields- astronomy, physics, the human brain, the ocean floor, and they all said that it was only when they reached the highest level of knowledge in their field did they fully understand how little is known.

[Lozq]

The ape found a fifth way. . .

Without wanting to appear as mentally handicapped as the average grad student, what WAS the fifth way?

[benhall.1]

The ape found a fifth way. . .

Without wanting to appear as mentally handicapped as the average grad student, what WAS the fifth way?

Hang on! I haven't got the first four yet!

[LenC]

I am totally new to tin whistles but have played brass instruments in band from 4th grade through college. It does seem to me that some sort of YouTube tutorial might be helpful to start out. With that in mind is there any specific YouTube tutorial that might be useful to watch?

[Sedi]

Here are some channels that I think are pretty good:
https://www.youtube.com/user/whistletutor
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCydT2k ... B0_ypHqvhg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPl7oI ... -TM7F5LL_A
(Franck Medrano plays multiple instruments but has a large section on whistle playing -- the channel is in French but many videos are self-explanatory)
He made a few videos in English:
https://youtu.be/EwbK6zubnu0
Many (almost all) of the things that Shannon Heaton teaches on the flute can be transferred to the whistle:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ShannonHeatonMusic

[LenC]

Thanks, Sedi.

[fish_and_whistle]

That's a great point. I'm just starting out and when I find something on YouTube (or elsewhere), it's hard to know the quality of the playing I'm listening to... I just go off the vibe I get from the video, if it seems like a person I'd like to emulate. But there are a lot of nuances!

[Bel]

I'm in the same position, fish_and_whistle. I had just gone on youtube and sort of stumbled into a few videos, mostly. The youtube algorithm wants to recommend one particular channel to me, and I liked watching her videos, but after finding a few links to other instructions on these forums I can see what people mean about being careful where you learn from. I may still watch some more 'suspect' content, especially for non traditional songs just to play around with, but I plan to try and focus on learning via other means.

I found the video some people were talking about earlier in the thread, The Rocky Road to Dublin video, and I see exactly what you guys meant. Compared to the other tin whistle players I've found and listened to, that video's playing seemed really haphazard and messy. I know my playing is far worse than that since I just started a day or two ago, but if I'm going to try and emulate someone, it should be someone who really knows what they're about.

Now if only I could find a youtube channel that had the fingering up on the screen as they play! Some videos it's hard to always see what their fingers are doing, but I'm still a raw beginner, so I imagine I'll get better at picking that up as I go.

[ytliek]

Now if only I could find a youtube channel that had the fingering up on the screen as they play! Some videos it's hard to always see what their fingers are doing, but I'm still a raw beginner, so I imagine I'll get better at picking that up as I go.

Spend some time browsing thru the Whistle Instruction thread (top of forum) and you'll find instructions showing the fingering.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=108161

[Bel]

Thanks! I went through it a bit but I should definitely check more of them.

[Whistletutor]

Here are some channels that I think are pretty good:
https://www.youtube.com/user/whistletutor

Cheers Sedi, it's appreciated!

[Garick]

As a raw beginner who spent a lot of time on YouTube when I got my pandemic whistle, I'd like to second that "Whistle Tutor" is an outstanding resource. It is heavily weighted towards Irish Trad, and particularly trad as it is played in sessions, but if that's not what you plan to do, it's not like hearing that portion will hurt your ability to play "My Heart Will Go On."

Cheers Sean, and thanks for the videos.

If you watch that channel, though, YouTube will recommend another channel heavily, from which I would stay away. There seems to be a strong aversion to actually naming sub-standard resources here? I won't break that norm, though I'm tempted to. I'll just say that the presenter is quite cute, and offers instruction that seems like an easy way to get a jump start on making music that sounds like music, if not complex music. But her understanding of music is so shallow that even I as a raw beginner could tell that she really wasn't ready to be teaching. For me, the last straw was when I watched a video that claimed to explain the concept of keys in a simple way that a non-music theory educated beginner could understand, but really never explained keys at all. Instead it took ten minutes to tell you "you can play any tune on any whistle, but you might be playing it in a different key than others. If you want to play along with other people, you'll need to use a whistle that matches the key that they are playing in." Um... thanks?

[Whistletutor]

Glad to hear the videos are helpful! I wouldn't throw stones at anyone who plays, I would just say that it's best to find out what sort of music a teacher is an expert at and if that style matches what you're interested in then they'll probably be a good fit for you. If not, then there are probably better options out there.

[Nanohedron]

There seems to be a strong aversion to actually naming sub-standard resources here? I won't break that norm, though I'm tempted to.

The sticky part is that such "resources" might actually be Chiffers unbeknownst to us, and how awkward that would be, especially if you'd already made friends with them here! In the name of Board harmony and mutual goodwill, it's probably best to resort to PMs when pointing out individuals who shouldn't be relied on as exemplars or teachers.