I took the free trial with OAIM this week to check out their massive reservoir of
whistle technique and tune tutorials. I delved into the beginner stuff and found myself playing along with
the tutor lady easily as the tunes where chosen for ease of play. Within the first 6 lesson she has
the student playing their first set, cool or what?
I continued on with practice and visited some of the early tunes in Bill Ochs Tutorial and found a tune that didn’t
really grab me the in the early months of learning whistle a beautiful tune when played by Mr Ochs and many a
great version has been sung and played by others. The tune is “The Parting Glass” after listening to Mr Ochs
play it a few times I picked up on some of his nuances and attempted to replicate him~
~I played the tune a few more times and listened to Ochs again and played more…sometimes when playing
I get moments of being able to listen to myself and kinda forget that I’m actually playing the whistle
and that’s when it happened the ghosts blew on the back of my neck and the hair stood right
up all over me head and arms. At that moment I really liked what I was hearing and them few old
friends enjoyed it too seeing as they came and sat with me for a while as I played but only for
a moment and then they were gone.
You said that there was a moment when you were able to stand aside and listen to your own playing. I’ve tried to describe to friends a feeling I occasionally get when playing a dance tune where it feels like I’m running around and around a merry-go-round, spinning it, until finally it’s going fast enough and I hop on, and its momentum takes me effortlessly the rest of the way through the tune. Like I said, it doesn’t happen often!
I wonder if you and I are describing the same thing.
I know the feeling exactly. It’s why I play. For me it’s certain whistles on certain tunes. I have a Goldie alto A that is extraordinary. Someone on C&F uses as their signature the Michael Flatley quote about flute being the only instrument where one can feel their breath through their fingers (I’m paraphrasing because I’m too lazy to look it up). I’ll argue that whistles alto and below fit the same way. That is what I experience when playing airs (aires?)and waltzes on this instrument. Particularly tunes such as Amhran na Leabhar or Mna na Heirann or Ashokan Farewell and the like.
It is hypnotic to say the least. Sometimes I can forget the world around me and just play. I notice this sensation profoundly when two situations converge; it is a tune that I know well enough to improvise upon and; I’m in a place in nature where there are rhythmic but not too loud organic sounds, like a beach with waves or a park with birds singing and wind in the trees.
The last two times of playing have been similar for me. There have been a few breakthroughs and the tunes are now becoming even more fun to play!
…sometimes when playing
I get moments of being able to listen to myself and kinda forget that I’m actually playing the whistle…
Maybe all those drills of cuts, strikes, etc., learning breath control, and all that good stuff made us a little more comfortable with the whistle.
I’ve also slowed down on learning new tunes, which really put the “old” ones in my head more and I think helped me hear in my head how I want them to sound. There still needs to be time spent doing those boring drills to get the fingers doing what my mind wants for the music, but now at least there’s a little payoff to keep me going.
I reckon that’s it Ed, the drilling of the basics into the fingers eventuality allows little gaps in time for extra thought to leak through.
I’d say similar in that you go somewhere else for a moment though it could also be a semi trance state when you use the merry go round to describe the event.
It can be hard to remember some of these stages in learning. With the bass it was a year or so of the boring stuff before things started to get familiar and the fingers would do what the brain wanted them to. Then there’s the ongoing maintenance to keep the rust off. Between the two instruments there should be enough to keep me busy as long as the brain and fingers can do it.
I’m not familiar with the “One I lost” I’ll have to check it out on the topic of “The Parting Glass” recordings, here’s my favourite version that I enjoy very much The Parting Glass by Wailin’ Jennys
and here’s an unrelated gem I happened on such a beautiful marriage between Flute and Whistle and overall compositional greatnessJust Amazin’
The strings of my wife’s harp vibrate in accord with the whistle and the whole room appears to be one with what is happening. If only this would happen during a session.
This happens in my music room when certain tones are spoken my guitars will resonate in sympathy. What about purposely placed objects used to create extra harmonics…here’s and interesting article on resonance
