What's the best/worst thing to happen 2 you WHILE whistling?

[mutepointe]

Did you get a girl to kiss you? Did you injure yourself? Were you attacked by Zombies?

Just being nosey.

[German Whistler]

i have a nice story to tell

well i have been a long time in hospital (over 8 weeks) and i had to take my whistles with me, couldnt be without music so long (missed my guitars so much)
i did ask and was told that its ok to play there, from time to time in my room

but always when i did play, i noticed that i played kind of "held back" because i didnt want to disturb anyone
practising was nearly unpossible for me, i thought that would anoye even more, so i tried only to play the few tunes i alredy do know to play ...
long story - short - i didnt play much and mostly held back wich made my playing not better

one evening, i did play again, for a few minutes only, maybe just 2 tunes ...
and the next day i found a nice postcard pushed trough under the door of my room
it did show a painted violinist and on the back someone wrote
"thank you for your beautifull playing last night. it did touch the heart"
that touched me and made me feel good also about my whistling because i dont have much experiance in whistling in front of an audiance but to know that the music i made did touch someones heart, that gave me something

[slowair]

After a Boys of the Lough concert in Pittsfield, MA, I was sitting in the corner of a pub playing a tune and the Boys came in and Cathal McConnell came over and joined me in a duet. Great experience!

[jadphoto]

I guess this was semi-disasterous, but only semi.

I piped a wedding on the beach in Cayucos, a beach town just north of Morro Bay, and our group (The Moody Druids) was hired to play the reception at a hall about three blocks from the beach location.

The couple had asked if I could play the whistle to "march" the wedding party to the reception. No problem, or so I thought.

If you know that part of the California Coast, it gets windy in the afternoon, and the reception hall was dead upwind from the wedding site. I'm sure you already see it coming, I couldn't play as I was facing directly into the wind. Well, now I know I could have turned the fipple around, but at the time all I could think to do was walk backward, which is exactly what I did, for three bloody blocks.

When we got to the hall the bride and groom said it was great but that they could probably have heard me if I faced forward. My bandmates had a great giggle!

JD

[Feadoggie]

I couldn't play as I was facing directly into the wind.

Tidy Cat, Tidy Cat! That's the solution on days like that.

[maki]

My whistling caused the Z-Poc!

[jadphoto]

I couldn't play as I was facing directly into the wind.

Tidy Cat, Tidy Cat! That's the solution on days like that.

Not too sure how that would have helped...

JD

[Feadoggie]

Not too sure how that would have helped...

It's a traditional method of keeping the voicing window out of the wind. Not unlike...

[Byll]

Last August, my band played a concert in a small Pennsylvania town. There was a 30' tent set up, in the middle of a field - with a good sized audience. Our sound gear and engineer were 50 feet away at the back of the audience, under a small, solid pavilion. The weather had been risky all day, and I tried twice to get the attention of the venue, and possibly reschedule. However, my contact said that storms always go 'around' the small town.

During the 4th selection in the first set, I turned around from facing the audience to pick up a whistle from my whistle roll. I was staring out the back of the tent. There was a huge white water tower, and it seemed to be surrounded by inky blackness. Almost surreal... I turned around front again, and continued playing. It got bad, very quickly.

Later, we found out from the news, that the straight line winds had been clocked between 60 and 70 mph, and we were hit hard. White metal connectors holding pipes together, to create long tent poles, exploded, throwing shards of metal in all directions, as the huge tent came down on us, and then acted like sails on a ship. Many of the audience ran the other way, but a few brave, hardy souls ran directly toward us. We got a chance to thank them later, but they probably literally saved us from injury, and our gear from total destruction. They attempted to hold up the tent, while we tried to rescue twin hammer dulcimers, violin, viola, flute, whistles, guitars, Irish percussion instruments, cello, monitors, mics, stands, etc. Much musical gear was damaged. In the pavilion, the wind picked up the sound board and threw it onto the concrete. The winds were accompanied by torrential downpour, which lasted about a half hour.

And the beat, it did not go on... We learned later that some miles away, there was a death attributed to the storm.

Many years before, on a hot August night, the band had a bout with horizontal ground lightening, which our sound gear lost, in front of many hundreds of people. Very bad situation. This storm was so much worse...

And yes, we have had many more wonderful experiences, than mishaps...

Best to all.
Byll

[pancelticpiper]

Wow those are amazing stories!

I don't remember anything very interesting, just having gigs spoiled by wind as was mentioned above.

I was hired to play at a beach wedding- everyone right in the sand with water lapping over their bare feet- and the Bride wanted a certain tune to be played on Low Whistle.

I was doing most of the music on the pipes, which aren't affected by the wind much, and I explained to her that whistles, especially low whistles, won't make any sound if you're trying to play them in the wind. But she insisted and the inevitable happened: no sound! Even turning my back to the wind didn't help much. I also did the trick where you turn the headjoint backwards and that didn't help either.

[jadphoto]

The Moody Druids were playing the Irish Festival in Santa Barbara, lovely day, lovely crowd, lovely craic, but we failed to notice that there was a second stage almost directly behind us.

I'm playing a solo version of Lament for Owen Roe O'Neil, really into it, eyes closed, bending notes, my Casey Burns keyed flute is singing...and the Wicked Tinkers start up on the stage that is 50' away. I was so startled I damn near swallowed the flute.

I love the Tinkers, but really, their timing can really suck...

JD

[ytliek]

No worst thing yet... while the best thing to happen while whistling was getting thru a tune for the first time... with no flubs!

No ornaments but no flubs either. That's a good feeling.

[Infernaltootler]

German Whistler, that story about the hospital was very touching. I have played for my sister in hospital where she has spent a lot of time after a spine injury and it always gets everyone very excited and happy, not jigging so much though, in the Spinal Injury Ward.

I like playing in unexpected places where I can be overheard. I'm more comfortable with this than playing for an audience.

The story of the storm in a tent sounds terrifying. At least metal whistles don't mind the wet too much.

[MadmanWithaWhistle]

I once sneezed while playing my Busman, and my ears rang for three days afterward.

After a Boys of the Lough concert in Pittsfield, MA, I was sitting in the corner of a pub playing a tune and the Boys came in and Cathal McConnell came over and joined me in a duet. Great experience!

I want Cathal McConnell to be my grandfather. He's adorable and such a great musician.

[German Whistler]

German Whistler, that story about the hospital was very touching. ...

thanks for the feedback, specialy because it touched myself that way