Am I in the right place for the type of music I want to play

[Faber0611]

Is this forum strictly for playing Irish or Celtic music? While I wouldn't mind being able to play a jig, or something fun like that, I am learning the whistle to play Christian music and hymns. I feel the whistle really adds something moving to a hymn or piece of worship music. I'd like to learn from this forum and the expertise here, but want to make sure I am in the right place to do that. Thanks

[Nanohedron]

This forum is first about playing in general, and no one pursuit is considered the right one. But, it has to be said that the main topic trend here is toward Irish music and related. People do bring up church-related playing on occasion, but you don't see a lot of it in depth. Mainly we'd be here to help with playing issues, if nothing else.

But try it and see. Maybe you'll pull a few more out of the woodwork.

[pancelticpiper]

I am learning the whistle to play Christian music and hymns.

There are a number of people here (including myself) who have experience using whistles in Church music.

The main difference (it seems to me) between being an Irish traditional session player and a Church musician is the number of different keys you may need to cover.

Many whistle players who regularly play at Irish sessions show up only with a D whistle.

In traditional hymnody, that is, choir and organ (which is the Church music I'm most familiar with) keys from three flats to three sharps are common (Eb, Bb, F, C, G, D, and A) and you might see four flats and/or four sharps (Ab and E).

Yes each whistle can cover two Major keys (one based on the whistle's tonic, the other based on the whistle's fourth) yet oftentimes I prefer to use a whistle due to its range as much as its key. So D Major can be played on a D whistle and on an A whistle, and which I use to play a D Major hymn depends on the range of the tune.

I find, for traditional hymnal-based music, that at minimum I need whistles in Eb, Bb, C, D, and E.

As far as guitar-based Praise music goes, on the one hand many guitarists stick to basic guitar keys like G, C, D, E etc but on the other hand all bets are off if the guitarist uses a capo. You might play a song in D one day and in D# the next, another song in C one day and in C# the next.

Due to such things I ended up with whistles in every key, chromatic.

Modulating up one or more keys is common in Praise music. It's simple on whistle: when they modulate you just grab another whistle, and play the tune just as you did before.

[Mr.Gumby]

Doesn't the praisewhistlers site cater for that?

[Chifmunk]

Doesn't the praisewhistlers site cater for that?

There isn't much there of use it seems. The link to their 'message boards' doesn't work.

I don't really play much trad Irish music either. I like to play old European, French, English etc country/folk dances, and also Renaissance and medieval music on my whistles.

[pancelticpiper]

Doesn't the praisewhistlers site cater for that?

Yep I looked and it's not much of a site.

This site (C&F) doesn't seem terribly ITM-session-scene specific. For that I visit The Session.

[Mr.Gumby]

There isn't much there of use it seems. The link to their 'message boards' doesn't work.

I didn't look. Their plans for world domination failed then? A lot of people from this forum went there at some point and there was a bit of to and fro-ing but perhaps the interest just wasn't there in the end. This forum and theirs were always a bit like parallel universes.

[pancelticpiper]

Their plans for world domination failed then?

Maybe it's just me, but from reading their home page I gather that their aims were much less ambitious than you propose.

[Mr.Gumby]

Never mind, it's all ancient history. One member here used to monitor the site and she reported they were actively discussing how to to 'infiltrate' this forum to 'spread the word'. There was some push back but I don't know the details of it. It's a long time ago. It struck me as a little weird.

Perhaps they took their forums down because of the usual spam bots. We had an off the grid Irish Music forum for some years and had to clean hundreds of bot accounts every week. It's hard work, especially if your forum isn't very active.

[Chifmunk]

Is this forum strictly for playing Irish or Celtic music? While I wouldn't mind being able to play a jig, or something fun like that, I am learning the whistle to play Christian music and hymns. I feel the whistle really adds something moving to a hymn or piece of worship music. I'd like to learn from this forum and the expertise here, but want to make sure I am in the right place to do that. Thanks

To answer your question, YES you can learn a whole lot about how to play the whistle here! Though the majority of folks here tend to play Irish traditional music on the whistle, there is no requirement that you post only about playing any particular genre of music.

[Peter Duggan]

I'd like to learn from this forum and the expertise here, but want to make sure I am in the right place to do that.

Let's just start by saying you're not in the wrong place! Whether there's anywhere more geared to your precise needs, I don't know, but this is simply 'The Ultimate On-Line Whistle Community' (no 'Irish' or even 'Celtic' specified)...

[pancelticpiper]

infiltrate this forum

I for one rejoice in infiltration! It's the infiltration of this forum by so many disparate folks (Christians, Jews, Buddists, Pagans, rock musicians, Baroque musicans, even Highland pipers) that makes it so cool.

So yes, Faber, this site is for you too.

[awildman]

Never mind, it's all ancient history. One member here used to monitor the site and she reported they were actively discussing how to to 'infiltrate' this forum to 'spread the word'. There was some push back but I don't know the details of it. It's a long time ago. It struck me as a little weird.

Perhaps they took their forums down because of the usual spam bots. We had an off the grid Irish Music forum for some years and had to clean hundreds of bot accounts every week. It's hard work, especially if your forum isn't very active.

I think it had more to do with lack of partipation and IRL priorities. I tried to get in there a couple years ago and never got posting permissions from the admin. I believe the niche-ness just doesn't allow for enough activity to really justify existence.

I did however, receive some nice Russian spam/scam PMs via their forum.

[Mack.Hoover]

"Doesn't the praisewhistlers site cater for that?"

I can attest for that. I cant really use the word CATER though. When I first joined C&F in about 1999 it was a smaller more user friendly community and I discovered a few other praise whistlers and started a sort of news letter. One suggested a forum and that's how PWA got started.
It never has been intended to replace anything, but just to provide a place to share a common bond.

They call me founder but I have no hand in how it works or why it is down. The home page belongs to a friend who kindly links to the forum (which the moderators are working on). He also links to my webpage which only he can make changes on. I am not much of a techie. I make whistles.

Mack

[DrPhill]

Anything with whistles?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkM71JPHfjk