Whistling on the USS Enterprise!

Mark Fahey · Post by **Mark Fahey** » Sun Apr 07, 2002 6:47 pm

I came across this interview with Actor Patrick Stewart (Captian Jon Luc Picard) from Star Trek TNG Fame. It was interesting to learn that he actually does play... A Starship Captian who is a Whistle player! What will they think of next...

"Interview with Patrick Stewart"

Recently, Patrick Stewart was in Los Angeles filming a new movie, Conspiracy Theory, with Mel Gibson. During a break in filming Mr.
Stewart agreed to meet with STAR TREK: CONTINUUM Producer, Guy Vardaman
for the purpose of an interview...

Guy Vardaman:
Patrick, on behalf of STAR TREK: CONTINUUM I'd like to thank you for
taking time out of your extremely busy schedule to meet with me and
answer some of our users' questions.

John Hoare
JohnHoare:
Patrick, in one of my favorite episodes "The Inner Light" you played a
variation of "The Sky Boat Song" on a penny whistle disguised as a
Ressikan flute. My question is, were you acquainted with the instrument
before this episode?

Patrick Stewart:
John Hoare is in Dublin. I'm glad you enjoyed "Inner Light". It remains
for me one of my two or three most favorite episodes. I think it was
entirely accidental that the tune I played on the penny whistle so
closely resembled the "Sky Boat Song" and you're absolutely right, the
first couple of bars are note for note, almost identical. I've had to
learn snatches of music on various instruments throughout my career. I'd
never played the penny whistle or the flute before and I'm happy to
reassure you and everybody else that I really did play that tune. I
learnt it and what you hear is what I learned to play.

- There was more to the interview but this little tid-bit was the only Whistle related item.

_________________
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller

[ This Message was edited by: Mark Fahey on 2002-04-07 21:15 ]

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Sun Apr 07, 2002 7:07 pm

Dale can add that to his Mysteries page =)

Here's the rest of the interview for the many trekkies on this board: http://www.geocities.com/trekguide/tran ... tewart.txt

If someone finds the music for the Sky Boat Song, let me know!

Edit: I thought I found it ( http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/tablature/folkbeg.htm ) but now I'm not sure. What is a ".gtp" file?

Edit again: Nevermind, I should have known to check Greg's site first! Anyone else who is looking for it, here ya go: http://www.tinwhistler.com/music/songname.asp?sort=S

[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-04-07 21:12 ]

thomlarson · Post by **thomlarson** » Sun Apr 07, 2002 7:32 pm

On 2002-04-07 20:47, Mark Fahey wrote:

'I'm happy to reassure you and everybody else that I really did play that tune. I learnt it and what you hear is what I learned to play.'

As much as I like Star Trek (and Patrick Stewart in particular), I hate to be the one to question this - this possibly reads like he "learned to play" the tune, but he doesn't say that he actually played on the soundtrack to the episode. I could say the same thing myself - "I learnt it and what you hear is what I learned to play".

The mystery continues...???

[ This Message was edited by: thomlarson on 2002-04-07 21:36 ]

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Sun Apr 07, 2002 7:42 pm

I think the last two lines were meant to be read as "I learned it and I played it on the show" therefore what we hear is how he learned to play it. But just like the tootsie roll pop, the world may never know...

raindog1970 · Post by **raindog1970** » Sun Apr 07, 2002 7:43 pm

Well now I really question the authenticity of the $2000 prop for sale at ds9promenade.com!
Looking at it tells me that it's not a playable instrument, and my e-mail enquiry to the address provided on the website came back marked undeliverable.
Of course that prop could have been used just for visual effect, and Stewart's playing of a real whistle overdubbed during editing.
After all, the Ressikan Flute did magically change from an Eb to a D from one episode to the next.
Overdubbing Stewart playing a real whistle into a scene of him going through the motions with a prop would explain that strange phenomenon!

thomlarson · Post by **thomlarson** » Sun Apr 07, 2002 7:51 pm

I had sent an email inquiry about the $2,000.00 Ressikan Flute also and it came back undeliverable.

My main questions were "Is this a unique item?" and "Is it the same Flute that was actually shown in the episodes of TNG?". They don't address either of these questions in the description. There could be an unlimited supply of them for sale there for all we know.

[ This Message was edited by: thomlarson on 2002-04-07 21:54 ]

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Mon Apr 08, 2002 3:54 am

Ah, yes, the Skye Boat Song.

When I was a tot of 5 and visited the Isle of Skye (off the west coast of Scotland) on a family holiday, I first heard this song. I always sang the third line as "Larry the Lamb was born to be king", which I still think is more poetic.

This was also my first experience of peat fires, bagpipes (played in a laundry), men wearing skirts (kilts) and haggis.

For the uninitiated, a Haggis is a small piglike animal that roams free on the remoter Scottish mountains. It has legs slightly longer on one side than the other, to enable it to caper across the slopes with carefree ease. Unfortunately, being rather stupid, if it turns the wrong way it tips itself up and rolls helpless down into the valley, where the ghillies collect them, skin them, and turn them into the delicacy of the same name.

The numbers of free roaming Haggis have declined dramatically in the last 30 years, and the species is now on the official endangered list. Most shop bought haggis are now battery haggis, kept in cramped and ill lit conditions, but the flavour of a free range haggis sets it apart from this inferior strain.

_________________
MCM Transatlantic Whistle Detective Agency - No Case Too Small.
Branches in London & Saltlake City
Generations aren't bad - just misunderstood

[ This Message was edited by: Martin Milner on 2002-04-08 06:05 ]

ChristianRo · Post by **ChristianRo** » Mon Apr 08, 2002 5:16 am

Buhahahaaa... Another explanation for haggis can be found in "Monty Python's Papperbook": It starts with the lines
"Much to his mum's and dad's dismay, Horace ate himself one day". You can think up the rest by yourself...
Christian

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Mon Apr 08, 2002 5:16 am

If you would like to learn more about the dangers of haggis, you can read a long and meandering story at http://www.clockworkcat.com/Doomducks.htm . I've been reading it on my PDA for months and I think I'm at chapter 46. I still have no idea what's going on but it's very funny.