Often, on this board, we hear new players asking for advice, as I myself have done. And now, with my impressive two and a half year’s playing experiencen (no applause, please)! I thought I would reverse this process and OFFER advice, drawing from my rich well of knowledge and give those just emerging into whistledom a helping hand. So here are a few things that you, newbies, simply must do:
Listen to Joannie Madden’s “Song of the Irish Whistle” I and II --get both CDs if you can–to show you how beautiful airs and laments can be.
(Buying Joanie Madden’s tunebook is also a good move).
Experiement with different whistles. My famly absolutely HATED my first wihstle–they loved the second. Both were inexpensive.
Buy a Clarke Original. This is our heritage. Everybody should have one. Then do the “thumbnail tweak” (do a search on this board) to sharpen and clarify the sound. You can say, “This is what they used to look like.” Everybody should have one tinwhistle that is actually made of tin. You dont’ have to play it all the time, but you should have it.
Start with something slower than jigs and reels. Get the feel of the whistle, and breath control. Enjoy its beauty and relax. I started with praise choruses. Simple, and beautiful. Also “Be Thou My Vision” and the Hobbit’s theme.
Don’t be discouraged by jigs and reels. Listening to a Mary Bergin CD can plunge you toward a nervous breakdown. You don’t have to play that fast. Listen to lots of Irish traditional music but don’t be discouraged by it. These are professionals.
Practice rolls. I avoided them for way over a year–I always got five notes. But now I can often do them and regret the lost time. They’re beautiful.
Learn to read music. Any music student can teach you. There are differences of opinion on whether traditional Irish players should do this, but I am encouraged by knowing that I’m not leaving out minor notes.
Learn independence from written music. The brain is a wonderful thing. We can learn, I believe, thousands of tunes when we want to. This is your independence from “luggage” --packing music around. I was in Guatemala on a mission trip and this simply awesome pianist in our group sat down at the hotel piano and played a simple song. I said, “Play some more!” She said, “That’s the only song I can play without music.” It made me sad.
Buy Grey Larson’s “The Tin Whistle Toolbox.” This book has exercises, tunes, a CD to listen to, instructions on ornaments and notations on where to put them to sound Irish. Very valuable.
Learn humility. People will always see your instrument as a toy. Laugh with them, and relax. Say, “I like to play around with it.” Then let your improving skill, not your words, convince them.
Perhaps others will disagree with these tips–or perhaps have tips of their own to offer??
THIS is that little kernel of truth that all too seldom appears
when “experts” begin lecturing on their vast experience. [I’m not talking about you, riverman, btw.] There have always been people who talk a good game and if they do it with conviction then others tend to believe they have the knowledge and skill to back it up. The internet seems to have increased these so called experts by ten fold. ANYONE can now claim to be something they aren’t; all they need do is put the word “musician” or “whistle player” next to their name in their profile and suddenly that is what they are. If you take the time to look for recordings that display their talent or skill [because they obviously can’t play for you live - this is the intenet], you may be surprized to hear a quality that doesn’t quite live up to the hype they pedal around here about their expertise. They are quick however to give advice on what’s good or bad about a whistle they played with on a whistle tour or whether one technique is better than another. One reason they can pull this off here is because they have lived on the forum for so long that people naturally presume with all of that “experience” they MUST know what they are doing. The sadly ironic thing is that if they spent all of that time practicing
and learning rather than talking they might play as good as they talk. I learned the hard way by seeking the advice [and mistakenly following it] of one of c and f’s old hens only to find that she played worse than I did/do! Sorry for the rant, but this is a caveat to all newcomers reading the advice freely given by some of our “sages” -------- listen to 'em play before you swallow what they say.
I disagree that everybody needs a Clarke–or even that “it’s our heritage.” I’d say start out with a couple of cheapies, learn how to play, then start collecting if you feel the need.
Pretty cool Riverman. I wholeheartedly agree with the whimsical Clarke advice, both because it was my first whistle and I happen to like the way mine (several) sound; and yes, there is something kind of special about a good old fashioned Clarke tin whistle.
As a rusty old Boehem player who’s just converted to the whistle (newbie) it’s always good to get recommendations on what to listen to.
I’ve started to add to my whistle collection, but I did start with the Clarke Sweetone.
Good advice, although in real life, on other instruments, I have come across great players how could not teach and great teachers who were not great players. It’s really good if you can get both.
Opps… got to go, I’ve just realised I’m late for work.
I just ran a search for “thumbnail tweak” and couldn’t find the thread in question. Can anybody point me in the right direction?
Also (I’m not sure who needs to know this), any time I “use the forums’ built in search” and get more than one page of results, attempting to go to the second page of results always gives me a “no results matched your search criteria error”, even when page 1 tells me there are 80 pages of results.
How do are you living with yourself?? I have 9 whistles, but the only reason I don’t have more is I have no money. I have a list 20 whistles long of stuff I want to get, and that doesn’t even include expensive whistles (I won’t have enough for those for a long time.)
Actually, otbers are much better describing this than me. I have always simply squashed the top arch of the windway down with my thumb, trying to take the portion at the front (by the sound window) down more than at the back where your lips go. Others recommend also adjusting the sound blade, but whenever I have done this, I always ended up putting it back in the original position.
Dear Iwantotoot,
Congrats on the neener, neener, neener! You are showing exceptional strength!
I learned the Hobbit’s Theme just by listening to the movie soundtrack. The official name of the tune is “Concerning Hobbits,” my favorite tune to play. I bought my daughter a book for flute, “The Lord of the Rings; Instrumental Solos,” but it is notated so high on paper that you would have to transpose it. Maybe others know where to find it.
The fundamental issue is “free advice” and implicit to that is, “you get what you pay for”. Unquestionably, there’s a big demand for free advice (and free information), and for me at least, that’s one of the primary reasons for using the Internet. Getting bad advice (or good advice at the wrong time) about whistles and whistle playing is largely inconsequential. The worst you could do is pay a week’s salary for a whistle on eBay that everybody said was great or learn the Irish Washerwoman. Visit other forums where they discuss unconventional medical treatments or investment choices…
Another freebie: Listen. Practice. Get feedback. Repeat.
In my opinion, most of the above advice is not essential (nothing “wrong” with it though I suppose). I most agree with numbers 4 (both of them), 5, 7 and 9 - although I would certainly have phrased them differently.
For instance… the trouble with reels and jigs, reels in particularly, is that they are not that difficult to play fast - what is difficult is playing them well. For that, you have to listen to lots of music and have the technical ability to reproduce it. (This is kind of like learning to speak a foreign language - getting the accent right is really difficult. Most people don’t succeed). Some good advice I was given was to not attempt reels for about a year.
And another… sheetmusic. Useful stuff, but not if you’re going to use it to make sure you haven’t got any notes “wrong”. And the hindrance of sheetmusic is not only when you depend on it for memory, but mostly when you depend on it for learning.
What bubbie says is certainly very true. I have been playing for two and a bit years. I still can’t play jigs or reels up to speed. My playing can be heard on youtube - username tirn0 (with a zero at the end).
If possible it is a good idea to record yourself. I’ve been recording myself every 3 months. It demonstrates to me that I am improving.
Resist the urge to play fast. Speed will come automatically as your skills improve. You need to have the skills and the rhythm first or else the speed will interfere.
Give yourself a break. Give yourself permission to be a beginner. Avoid letting smarty-pants people who throw around big words like Mixolydian and say things like “you just don’t understand the music” get to you.
I’m pretty satisfied that while I may never sound like a professional, my music-making will bring joy to myself and others. Already this old hen in all her glory as a rank amateur beginner has achieved this much.
Heh - you know, I used to play guitar professionally. Nothing flash, but proficient enough to get work.
Here’s a thing that constantly uplifts me about whistlers:
In the old guitar world, there was always someone sayng about someone-else’s performance “Hell, I can play better than that!”
The difference in the whistle world is that players are more likely to say “Hell, there’s a better way to play that - let me show you!”. They might be right or they might be wrong, but at least they are not driven by envy.
It’s refreshing.
The only advice I can add - is to study performances that catch your attention. That is where your motivation will be. When you approach new heights of your aspiration, there will be old masters who will say stuff that you will understand. Throughout it all is practice, practice, practice.
Sorry for going off topic, but just following up on the ‘Lord of the Rings’ theme music question. The main theme is titled ‘In Dreams’. I bought a book of the music from the movie for my son to play on keyboard, I found by listening to the music while watching the movie I could play the main theme on a D whistle quite easily. The book I bought for my son is this one here http://www.music44.com/X/product/659B-D1.
Now, back on course…very good advice there Riverman, I would also add that remembering the three P’s is vital, that is, practice, practice, practice!!
Definitly experiment with different whistles. No one likes my first whistle either but my new whistles just arrived and I adore them! they’re so much better than my ‘old’ untweaked generation (I can’t tweak )
Just thought I’d mention that it’s possible to learn to master slow airs without ever once listening to Joanie Madden play one. Why not send folks to Cathal McConnell, or Micho Russell? That’s the stuff. Cheers,
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