5 days into playing: first impressions

[Inner Light]

Dee,
I will send it forward to you a bit later. I got a bit ahead of myself with posts. Sorry.

Cayden

Received and replied!
Thank you, Cayden!

[hoopy mike]

Crumbs, is it the whistles or the playing you like?

Just in case this was meant to be addressed to me (calling a 47 year old adult "crumbs" would be considered pretty rude and respectless in Germany, so I guess it's a matter of language barrier on my side?)

I think you're misunderstanging. "Crumbs" is an expression of surprise, a bit like "Wow!" I think the surprise is that you're buying lots of different whistles all at once, rather than getting used to one whistle at a time. Some people dive in and buy every whistle available, others take it slowly - there's no rule book.

Oh, and welcome....

[Mr Ed]

Whistles, potato chips, the Corr sisters....the more the merrier!

[Inner Light]

I think you're misunderstanging. "Crumbs" is an expression of surprise, a bit like "Wow!" I think the surprise is that you're buying lots of different whistles all at once, rather than getting used to one whistle at a time. Some people dive in and buy every whistle available, others take it slowly - there's no rule book.

Oh, and welcome....

Hi Mike and thanx!
Yeah, I figured I must have misunderstood something, thanx a lot for making this expression clear to me.
Even though I consider my English being pretty good, I still stumble across proverbs or colloquially used terms I don't know.
I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Yes, you're right, I'm one of the guys who tends to check out several instruments to choose the one I like most. In spite of lots of help from experienced Whistlers online, there's always a lot of personal taste involved.

Even though I'm a beginner in flutes and whistles, I can at least try to find the one(s) which I like most and which are feeling comfortable to me. Since Penny Whistles are named like that for a purpose, it's not a ruining investment. Regarding the more expensive instruments, I simply picked a flute of the medium to high price sector with a good reputation.
That's the one I will use and get my experience on before I look for "better" ones.

Since I'm very serious with the transvers flute (Irish flute) and the NA flutes, I bought higher quality instruments right from the beginning because in my opinion that's the way to go.
Except for children who change their minds every two weeks, a beginner should get a decent instrument right away, otherwise he might be turned off by inferior quality and lose interest.
Even with children I always give the advice to get at least a medium range instrument used, rather than the 100 dollar super market crap (I'm referring to guitars right now, since I'm an experienced guitarist).
I figured that this was also the best approach for flutes and also followed advice I was lucky to find here.

The Irish Flute was the main reason to start with this hobby but I also liked the tin whistle stuff I saw online. So I decided to get those, too because you'll get success much faster, which means having fun. The Irish flute - being a transverse flute - would be much more difficult and time consuming.

The NAFs weren't actually planned but I fell in love with them during my internet search about flutes and whistles in general. Since they're considered very easy to play, I just went for it

[Inner Light]

Whistles, potato chips, the Corr sisters....the more the merrier!

Actually, I just stumbled across the Corrs and I liked their whistle/violin stuff very much. Really awesome.

I mainly got in touch with whistles (as a listener) in the past due to my now laying dorment medieval hobby. I also knew some guys who played in an Irish folk band 15 years ago.

And I love potato chips (onion & cream!).

[Inner Light]

Took me a couple of minutes to even get a tone out of it and it needs an aweful lot of air (unless I'm doing something wrong?)! That one's gonna be a challenge to learn and I'm eager to start.

I guess you've already read several emobouchure how-tos on the net... IMHO there's no better one than Jem's embouchure instruction. I'm quite new to the sideblown universe as well, and this dramatically improved my playing immediately.

Thank you for the link, I'll check it out.
Yes, I watched some videos alrwady but none of them covered "how to produce tone" yet. They were all beginner lessons with easy songs (slow fingering, step by step) but you have to know the technique already.

I cheched it out and it's very helpful.
It cleared some misunderstandings and helped me with body/hand/head positions.
Lots of useful tips for embouchure and I'll excercise that today.

I already manage to get very nice tones out of the flute in the lower octave, even playing scales already but I'm still fighting with flute balance and mouth/lip positioning. Even the slightest move (including fingering during scales) and there's silence again. Sometimes I find right back to the proper position and most of the time I start searching again, ha ha ha.
After all, I'm very satisfied with the first hour or so. I'm having fun and will keep practicing.

[Infernaltootler]

I had no idea 'Crumbs' was rude in Germany. Every day is a school day.

I was being a bit cheeky though, because I do sometimes find it surprising how many whistles people buy. There are lots of threads here comparing whistles and fewer on how to play them.

I'm lucky because I collected a few but soon managed to settle on two very decent whistles and haven't bought a new one for perhaps three years.

Incidentally the two whistles I have are a high d brass Burke and a low d non tuneable Overton. I was given the latter as a gift and initially I couldn't play it but I kept trying until I could, because the gifter giver would have been offended had I bought my way out of the problem.

[Inner Light]

Well, I received my Clarke Sweetone Hi D today (in black).
What a difference!!

Yes, I know I said I don't like those plastic mouthpieces but to hell with the look, this whistle sounds awesome!
After watching some videos, I decided to order two mor Ds and the Sweetone is one of them.

- Well, the look places it on position 3, behind Shaw and Clarke original.
- The sound made it jump into pole position! A really sweet tone with little airflow noise. Much clearer, louder, more defined than the Clarke Original. The shaw has a similar loud and similar colored sound but it is more "airy" or "smokey", which I start to like.
- playability is the same as described for the Clarke Original.
- the Sweetone needs the least amount of air out of these three whistles, which also leads to the next statement:
- the upper registers are easier to play than on the Shaw and Clarke Original.

All these criteria are described from a beginner's point of view. It is of course possible that - with increasing experience - I will prefer another one of these but right now the Sweetone is an inch in front of the Shaw regarding Sound and air requirement. Since I start to like the smokey sound and the Shaw is better to play (hole size) and is looking much nicer, it's an almost head to head "battle" with the Clarke Original falling way back on position 3.

[Inner Light]

I had no idea 'Crumbs' was rude in Germany. Every day is a school day.

I was being a bit cheeky though, because I do sometimes find it surprising how many whistles people buy. There are lots of threads here comparing whistles and fewer on how to play them.

Ha ha, it's always funny in international forums, how easy sometimes misunderstandings can appear.
Well, crumbs for itself is not rude but if you call sombody "crumbs", it means you haven't much respect for him/her. Crumbs is sometimes used to talk about cute children, in that case it's mostly dearly meant. If you call an adult "Crumbs" (or better: crumb, as singular) you literally place him/her on the level of a very small child.
No worries, I already know that you didn't mean it that way and I once again apologize for the initial misunderstanding.

I know the kind of "collector's fever" (or GAS = gear aquiring syndrome) from the guitarist's world. It took me a couple of years to realize that you simply cannot "have them all".
I had reached 22 guitars when I realized it and I'm down to the necessary 8 I actually really need plus 2 others which are very difficult to decide about (melancholy).

I didn't buy these whistles and flutes because I want to have them all, I bought them to have a couple to choose from, as a kind of replacement for checking several out at a store.
First of all I'm not delighted about the idea of playing whistles in a store which might have been tested by several others already (talk about SALIVA ) and second: I need silence and retreatment to check them out. I certainly will keep them for a while longer to get another, more experienced look on them later but I also don't see the need for having more than 1 or 2, unless I want to play together with others in different keys. That's pretty unlikely with the whistles and the flutes. I intend to use them as distraction and additional challenge besides my main instrument (guitar) and will most likely use them for "solo events", like personal recordings or just for the fun of it.

I guess I won't end up with more than 5 or 6 in total (1 or 2 Ds, 1 low D, my Irish Flute and two NAFs).

[megapop]

Just received my Sweetheart Irish Flute Low D today.

After all, I'm very satisfied with the first hour or so. I'm having fun and will keep practicing.

I'm really not expert regarding wooden flutes (sticking to poly for the sake of insouciance), but pay attention to play in your flute properly, or this might end in disaster and tears...

[Inner Light]

Just received my Sweetheart Irish Flute Low D today.

After all, I'm very satisfied with the first hour or so. I'm having fun and will keep practicing.

I'm really not expert regarding wooden flutes (sticking to poly for the sake of insouciance), but pay attention to play in your flute properly, or this might end in disaster and tears...

I already contacted Ralph and am waiting for a reply regarding taking care of my flute and breaking it in.
I guess it wasn't evena full hour in total and it was spread all over the day. Just a couple of minutes every now and then.
I guess that was already the right start?

[megapop]

Just a couple of minutes every now and then.
I guess that was already the right start?

I think that's ideal - but like I said, I'm not an expert... this post just in case, and I saw your other thread at the flute board in the meanwhile.

[hoopy mike]

Even with children I always give the advice to get at least a medium range instrument used, rather than the 100 dollar super market crap (I'm referring to guitars right now, since I'm an experienced guitarist).
I figured that this was also the best approach for flutes and also followed advice I was lucky to find here.

The thing is, with whistles, it's a lot harder to find a "100 dollar super market crap" equivalent. If you try really hard, you could find a whistle that might impair your learning, but they're rarer than hens' teeth. Many experienced players will turn their noses up at a Sweetone and would recommend a different whistle, but a Sweetone was where I started too. Mostly I play a Dixon trad now, but the Sweetone was good enough to play in public.

It's no crime to buy a few whistles to start with, but I'm sure you realise that there is no magic whistle and no substitute for practice and patience. Constantly switching instruments probably won't help, so find one you like and stick with it for a while is my advice.

[ytliek]

Geez, I'm late to the party.

Welcome to the whistle forum IL

[Inner Light]

It's no crime to buy a few whistles to start with, but I'm sure you realise that there is no magic whistle and no substitute for practice and patience. Constantly switching instruments probably won't help, so find one you like and stick with it for a while is my advice.

Yes, I will do so!
After receiving my Walton's Mellow D, I'll decide for one to stick with for the first period of learning.
I'll certainly keep the Shaw because I like it and my problems on 2nd octave might be just being unexperienced. With more excercise I might decide different in a few months.

It's the same as with guitars, with one difference: you can "test" guitars at a shop. So, before deciding for the ONE guitar I wanted to play as a beginner, I tested maybe 10 to 15 different ones. After decision was made, I stayed with the one I chose until much, much later when I started to look for high class guitars.

That's what I'm gonna do as soon as all of them have arrived and I've tested them. There will be just ONE to learn on.

You know, even being a beginner on Whistles, I've been a musician for 30 years and my personal opinion is: test many at first to find the one which "feels right to you" from the first moment on, for whatever reason that might be and based on your beginner feeling compared with advice from experienced players while being aware that suggestions about WHAT to buy are highly influenced by the personal taste of the individual player.

If many people say "XY whistle" is crap, then stay away from it. Then test the ones with good reputation and choose the one you personally like best.
Play it for a long period of time and after reaching a certain level of experience, you either stay with what you have or you might wanna go "professional level" if your beginner instrument can't do it, which is very likely since you chose it as a beginner, without knowing what you're looking for in that particular type of instrument or your demand has changed over time due to increasing professionality/experience.

I am convinced that this is true for the vast majority of instruments.

So your advice is very well taken, thank you Mike. I will do so after I have made my final decision.