2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

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Maddie
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Maddie »

stiofan wrote:2. What are your whistle-related goals for 2020?
Learn more Scottish and Spanish (Galician & Asturian) tunes (as well as Irish) and improve ornamentation, especially Scottish ornaments. And just play a whole lot more.
Something else for me to look into, Galician and Asturian folk music. There are so many varied musical styles that adapt well to whistle.
stiofan wrote:4. What whistles are on your 2020 Wish List?
Currently awaiting a new tenor D from Colin Goldie! ...
Oooh, lucky you!
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Maddie
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Maddie »

KarenE wrote:So far I haven't used any books. I'm classically trained (on other instruments) and have always been very much glued to the score. So when I started whistle and got interested in trad music I decided to force myself to learn tunes by ear, although I'll occasionally check a score as backup. The advantage, I've discovered, is that once I can even play the tune, it is already memorized. :) Great time saver!
That's the traditional way to learn whistle, so you are doing everything right. I depend on sheet music, and it's not easy to set it aside.
KarenE wrote:But now that I've gotten used to learning tunes by ear and it comes more naturally, I think it would be good to work through some books, especially for things like explanations of phrasing etc, and to fill any gaps in my learning. ...
I am just getting into ornaments and plan to use four references: Bill Ochs, Grey Larsen, Ryan Duns, and Brother Steve. Each author explains things differently, and it should help to have those different perspectives. The point would be to pick and choose between them, on the way to developing a personal style. At least, that's my current plan.
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Mr.Gumby »

At least, that's my current plan.
You may want to consider throwing Mary Bergin's tutor in the mix. And perhaps consider building a style from influences you take from hearing music that speaks to you, rather than what you find in books. Ofcourse what you read in books may help you understand and make sense of what you're hearing.
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Maddie
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Maddie »

pancelticpiper wrote:... I knew a guy many years ago who got the Feadoga Stain album and learned all the tunes... on a D whistle! He was half-holing notes all over the place to play along with the tunes Mary Bergin plays on Eb, F, and Bb whistles.
Yikes! :o
I can just imagine his chagrin when someone kindly pointed that out to him.
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Maddie »

Mr.Gumby wrote:You may want to consider throwing Mary Bergin's tutor in the mix. And perhaps consider building a style from influences you take from hearing music that speaks to you, rather than what you find in books. Ofcourse what you read in books may help you understand and make sense of what you're hearing.
You're right about listening. And Mary Bergin's books come highly recommended. I've searched the archives here for reviews. There were a couple of comments that have me delaying that purchase for now, although I will probably reconsider it later.
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by stiofan »

What do you mean by "Scottish ornaments"? On the Highland pipes?
Richard: Scottish music is relatively new territory for me (other than the ol' standards like Arran Boat Song, Skye Boat Song, Tarbolton, etc), so I'm just delving into it. It seems to me (I'm guessing, here) that some GHB players who also play whistle use ornaments from the piping tradition, which causes me to believe that style of ornamenting would be more traditionally Scottish on the whistle as well, but of course, you (as such an experienced piper) would certainly know much more than I. Look for my query on thesession.org.
Super. After buying and selling dozens of Low Ds from dozens of makers I've settled on a Goldie.
This'll be my third Goldie tenor D over the past 12 years, and Colin so I have been talking about some design modifications I'm interested in for that perfect low D (yes, I know it doesn't exist, but still...)
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Alaskamike »

1. What did you accomplish on whistle in 2019?

I just started in November!

2. What are your whistle-related goals for 2020?

I want to learn to reliably play the low notes on a a low D.

3. What tunes are you learning this month, and which is your current favorite?

I'm working on Inisheer and Captain Picard's Air (the STNG episode "Inner Light" was one of the reasons I started with the whistle).

4. What whistles are on your 2020 Wish List?

None (right now). I already bout a Dixon, a Parks Walkabout, a Susato and a Becker's low D, so I need to learn how to use them before I go looking for more!

5. What do you enjoy most about playing tin whistle?

I'm just learning for personal enjoyment (my family would agree). I am happy to feel like I'm making slow progress, even though I only get about 5 minutes a day to play.
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by pancelticpiper »

stiofan wrote: Scottish music is relatively new territory for me...I'm guessing that some GHB players who also play whistle use ornaments from the piping tradition, which causes me to believe that style of ornamenting would be more traditionally Scottish on the whistle as well...
Thing is, the physics of how whistles work are so different from how Scottish pipe chanters work that few Highland pipe ornaments work on whistle.

Being that I have the vocabulary of Highland pipe ornaments already under my fingers, I've tried them on whistle, and there are a couple that do work and I do play.

One is the piobaireachd ornament called botri or dare according to which canntaireachd you're using. I throw it in when playing ceol beag on the Highland pipes, and I use it on whistle also, due to it being whistle-friendly.

On whistle it's a fancy way of going from A to B:

xxo ooo
xoo ooo
xxo ooo
oxo ooo
xxo ooo
xoo ooo

or in other words a sequence of two cuts (B and C) played on A, followed by a B melody note.

The other GHB ornament I use on whistle is a modified leumluath or "grip" which I play on C natural on whistle. It has the effect of a roll on C natural, and IMHO sounds very nice on whistle.

Basically I play a "grip" with the lower hand while the upper hand continues to play C natural:

oxx xoo
oxx xxx
oxx oxx
oxx xxx
oxx xoo

Yes I could play "grips" practically anywhere on the whistle but I don't, rather I play the ordinary traditional cuts, pats, and rolls from ITM. I use the "grip" on C natural because it, for me, fills a technique-gap, an easy-to-play roll-like ornament on C natural.
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by stiofan »

pancelticpiper wrote:the physics of how whistles work are so different from how Scottish pipe chanters work that few Highland pipe ornaments work on whistle
Thanks Richard. Knowing very little about GHB technique (but having long-admired the instrument and the tradition), I figured it would be true that the ornaments are different, as you've said on several discussions on The Session, including this one: https://thesession.org/discussions/19128:
"The bottom line is that each traditional instrument has had developed on it, by generations of players, a system of ornamentation that is best suited to the peculiarities of that particular instrument."

Still, I'm curious what ornamentation techniques on whistle would be considered authentically Scottish versus Irish ornaments that found their way across the sea. Maybe there's been so much cross-pollination that it's impossible to know, but when I play something like, say, The Mist On The Mountains, I wonder how it might be played from deep within the Scottish tradition, perhaps somewhat influenced by piping technique (or not). In the meantime, I'll give the botri/botridare and the leumluath a go.
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by pancelticpiper »

Well the main thing on my 2020 wish list, a great-playing mezzo F whistle, has been sorted.

I had a nice chat with Colin Goldie yesterday, he in Germany, I in California. He played over the phone six different F whistles he had to hand, we discussed my preferences and how they applied to the various whistles, and a whistle was chosen. It will soon be on its way.

At some point I will get Goldies in Low Eb and Low Enat too, to fill the gap between the Low C and Low D already in my roll and the F that's coming.
Richard Cook
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by pancelticpiper »

stiofan wrote: The Mist On The Mountains, I wonder how it might be played from deep within the Scottish tradition, perhaps somewhat influenced by piping technique (or not).
If you mean Chi Mi na Mor Bheanna (I See the Big Mountains) or The Mist-Covered Mountains, I think it's a fairly recent composition, so there wouldn't be a deep tradition about how to play it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFPetiv-3oM

Seems to me that the Scottish whistle players and flute players I've heard don't use techniques any different from Irish players. In other words the technique appears to follow the instrument rather than change when you cross the border.

In like manner the pipers in the Saint Laurence O Toole Pipe Band in Dublin play with full Highland technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrzp05siXnk
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Maddie »

pancelticpiper wrote:Well the main thing on my 2020 wish list, a great-playing mezzo F whistle, has been sorted. ...
Awesome! I hope you'll report back when that new Goldie arrives and share your first impressions.
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by pancelticpiper »

Maddie wrote: Awesome! I hope you'll report back when that new Goldie arrives and share your first impressions.
I'm very interested to find out just how it plays, because it will be the highest-pitch Goldie or Overton whistle I've owned.

I have Goldies in Low C and Low D and I used to have an Overton in Low Enat (which I wish I'd held on to).
Richard Cook
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1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by psoutowood »

pancelticpiper wrote:
stiofan wrote: The Mist On The Mountains, I wonder how it might be played from deep within the Scottish tradition, perhaps somewhat influenced by piping technique (or not).
If you mean Chi Mi na Mor Bheanna (I See the Big Mountains) or The Mist-Covered Mountains, I think it's a fairly recent composition, so there wouldn't be a deep tradition about how to play it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFPetiv-3oM

Seems to me that the Scottish whistle players and flute players I've heard don't use techniques any different from Irish players. In other words the technique appears to follow the instrument rather than change when you cross the border.

In like manner the pipers in the Saint Laurence O Toole Pipe Band in Dublin play with full Highland technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrzp05siXnk
Having come from Highland piping to Scottish smallpipes to Irish whistles I have to agree that the ornamentation sticks with the instrument. When I pick up my smallpipes my brain can't even remember tunes I play on my whistles and my fingers seem to revert to Highland ornamentation. On the whistles I don't even think of playing grips, birls, or taorluaths. That said I do use more jazz ornamentation on whistles because they can handle them. This is why I love hearing from musicians like Brian Finnegan who utilize ornamentation and style from all over the world. I'll have to listen more to pick those up!

-Peter
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Re: 2020 Tin Whistle Enthusiasts Q & A

Post by Squeeky Elf »

Maddie wrote: 1. What did you accomplish on whistle in 2019?
I suppose I got a little better and added a few tunes.
Maddie wrote: 2. What are your whistle-related goals for 2020?
I would like to play it more at the session (I am primarily a fiddler) maybe even start a few sets with it. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year that I get the cran down.
Maddie wrote: 3. What tunes are you learning this month, and which is your current favorite?
The last tune I learned was Sporting Paddy, but I haven’t put it on the whistle yet. My latest tune for the whistle is McCloud’s Farewell. I’ve known it for years on the fiddle so it’s not really new. I’ve discovered that it goes great before Earl’s Chair and I already have that one on the whistle, so I’m working it out. My current favorite on the whistle is probably The New Mown Meadow or An Phis Fhliuch.
Maddie wrote: 4. What whistles are on your 2020 Wish List?
I would like to pick up a wooden whistle, but I need to do more research.
Maddie wrote: 5. What do you enjoy most about playing tin whistle?
I think it’s the simplicity. It is an unassuming little thing that many would dismiss as a toy, and yet there is so much fantastic music to be made with it. Plus you can play it laying down in bed. Try that with a fiddle. :lol:
Maddie wrote:Question #6: What musical styles or genres do you typically play on tin whistle?
Strictly Irish until I’ve Learned ALL the tunes. :lol:
“Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.”
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