So, some of you may remember my thread from about a week ago asking about a Feadog set. I got talked into the Bill Ochs book, and I ended up getting a Sweetone D to go along with it. It came in yesterday and I’m already hooked! I was very pleased to discover how similar the fingerings are to the saxophone, which I played for 6 years throughout middle and high school.
Anyway, just wanted to let you guys and gals know you have a new addict in your midst now. Matter of fact, I already recording a short duet of myself on whistle and clawhammer banjo. If anyone wants to hear it, it’s on my myspace page at www.myspace.com/thomaston
Thanks to everyone for pointing me in the right direction! I’m already spying out tweaked whistles, wondering what I should try out next!
Casey, that’s very good for a beginning player! Many long-timers around here play similarly.
You didn’t ask for advice, but I am going to offer some, because you are obviously capable of playing well, and if you get this sooner than later, it’ll be easier to incorporate. I notice that most of your playing is staccato. You play each not individually, for the most part. Try playing a stretch of notes without breaking them up, a melodic line that flows, and play staccato sparingly, for special effect, to break it up occasionally, rather than as a rule.
I think the Swwetone was an excellent choice. I hope you continue to have fun with it.
Jessie
Congrats! For only one day’s playing that is SUPERB. By all means keep at it. Go through the Ochs book lesson by lesson, even if some of them seem too elementary for you-- you’ll learn things each step of the way.
Thanks for the replies! And I’ll take all the free advice I can get. I’ll definately work on the staccato stuff. I did notice that a little when I was listening back at myself.
Now it’s only a matter of time before you you start to get curious about those uilleann pipe things. Bwaa ha ha!! The dark side bekons!
I think people who’ve played Sax, Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, etc. in school
have a tremendous advantage when taking up the whistle, as far as
fingering and breath support are concerned. The problem is, we’re
too used to tonguing everything unless specifically told not to. I had to
train myself to leave out the tonguing, and then find places in ITM
where you do want to use the tongue. It’s an ongoing process for me.
Thomaston, very well done! I, too, am a clawhammer banjoist moving into flute/whistle territory. I have loved the way they sound together since first hearing Taj Mahal play decades ago. Lately, I’ve been making multitracked recordings like yours, (Colored Aristocracy, Sugar Hill, June Apple, etc…).
Also, like you, I’ve got a “tonguing issue” to deal with when taking on Irish music. What you do sounds great, IMO, for old-time American stuff. It’s a fife-like style. I wouldn’t encourage you to abandon it, but to use it in its proper place, particularly with Americanized fiddle tunes. For Irish music, I’m learning to do away with it and go for a more flowing style using ornamentation at the finger-level. There are some great web-based tutorials that can help you with this.
Good luck!
Same here…I played sax in middle and high school and the transition to the whistle (after about 7 years of not playing any instruments) was really easy.
Glad you like it!
-Brett
I think your playing is coming along just great, especially since you’ve just started so recently. Love the clawhammer banjo too and think the whistle & banjo sounded very good together.
I’m a beginner on whistle and clawhammer banjo too, so I love hearing what you’ve done with the combination. Keep playing, you’re well on your way. Good job!!
Kathy
I study recorder and at the same time learn whistle by myself. I hear that my tongueing is too much. How do I not tongue?
Every new whistle player has the the problem of too much tongue. Basically, you close your airway by moving your tongue onto your pallete each note. This accents the note nicely, but when used too much, well it doesn’t sound right in ITM.
Try breathing out one long G note…I mean long..like 15-20 seconds of G. Now, try it again, but while you are still blowing (never stop that airflow) play G, F, G…hold the G one more beat, A, B
This is called a slur and is the way you SHOULD be playing. Now, I’d drop an accent on the two G notes there (even a..god forbid, tongue). Listen to it now and you have the beginning of the Kesh Jig.
Hope this helps.
Thomaston,
That’s a great combination of whistle and clawhammer. I play both also, but haven’t tried putting them together. I really like the last tune on banjo… one of my favorites.
War Eagle
War Eagle back at you, Howard.
Well, I’ve had the whistle for exactly a week now. I still really love practicing. I’ve practiced at least 30 minutes every day so far, sometimes an hour. I’ve been trying my hardest to avoid tongueing, and I’ve started trying to throw in a little ornamentation also. The roll dumbfounds me still, but I’m starting to get used to cuts. I just put up a new one with a little ornamentation called Tralee Gaol, if anyone wants to give it a listen.
It’s funny to think that I just picked this up to learn a few Irish tunes while waiting to afford a tenor banjo, and now I feel like it’s quickly becoming my preferred instrument.
I play the saxophone and find the similarity of the whistle fingerings beneficial, because it makes it easier to go back and forth. The one problem I have is that an F sharp on a D whistle is 1-2-3-1 while on the sax it’s 1-2-3-2, so I find myself playing F naturals on tunes I origionally learned on whistle and then try to play on sax. Also, trying to play an A cut sounds really bad on the sax.
Ironically, according to my sax teacher, my improv can sound a bit ITM-ish at times.
You’re doing better and better! Pretty amazing for a one week player, really.
Rolls will take time, but you’ll get them. Practice the cuts and taps separately until you can do them nice and cleanly (like you’re doing in Tralee Goal). Then you can start to put them together. The extra little “grace notes” ornamenting the main note shouldn’t sound like totally separate notes on their own: they’re just little blips above and below that main note. Most importantly LISTEN to a lot of players to get a feel for how the ornaments fit into the tune.
Ok, so I’m at about the one month mark with my playing now. I’ve been doing a lot of work on ornamentation lately. I think the cut is the only one I’m feeling really comfortable with, so I probably tend to over-use it.
Anyway, I put up a reel medley (The Boys of 25 and Kitty’s Gone A-Milking) on my myspace page, and would like some feedback. Mainly some advice on what’s good, what could be better, and what’s not good at all. Constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Oh yeah, I hate that I waited so long to get into whistle playing. For the last 2 years, the banjo has been my main instrument, but I think the whistle has replaced it. I haven’t even played the banjo in over a week now.
p.s. I may not get a chance to respond to any comments until tomorrow morning. I gotta get some sleep since I work night shift.