Talbert St Claire posts Low whistle videos to Youtube

[Claus von Weiss]

Now come on, Nano, there would never have been a really deep thread like this without good old palming Talbert!

Hasn't the palming man touched us all in a way? (Not literally speaking of course! )

Claus ... swinging in the wind like some cactus

[Mack.Hoover]

I lost touch with what this was about, but thought it had something to do with a song and someone's rendering of it and something about being faithful to the traditional version.
Personally I prefer this presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQNa52SBos

Am I being picky or wasn't that the meat of it?
Mack

[pancelticpiper]

Wow this thread has been floundering about forever!

I found out about it from a reference in another thread, and thought I'd have a gander.

Back to the original video, I've never heard of that person before today, but he seems to know his way around a whistle. I wouldn't have recognized The May Morning Dew or any other tune I know, but the playing sounds nice to me. If he can sightread and play in tune he's just the sort of person needed for Hollywood studio work! I've heard worse whistleplaying on soundtracks, for sure.

What I was thinking, when I read various criticisms of his playing, was that if Davy Spillane or Paddy Keenan had played exactly the same thing, everyone would think it grand.

And most of all I like the way he uses his car as his YouTube recording studio. Did he get kicked out of the house or summat?

[MTGuru]

if Davy Spillane or Paddy Keenan had played exactly the same thing, everyone would think it grand.

Did you miss the entire point that Talbert claimed to be covering Spillane's setting of the tune? Have you even listened to Spillane's recording? If you're asserting that Talbert's execution is of equal artistic merit, then you're either winding us up, or insulting both Spillane and the rest of us who "would think it grand."

In another thread you yourself just wrote:

What DOES annoy me is when people PURPORT to play iTrad but do it badly, or wrongly.

It's the falseness that's annoying, not the fact that somebody is playing something other than authentic Irish traditional music.

So a wind-up.

[greenspiderweb]

I lost touch with what this was about, but thought it had something to do with a song and someone's rendering of it and something about being faithful to the traditional version.
Personally I prefer this presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQNa52SBos

Am I being picky or wasn't that the meat of it?
Mack

Nice Mack, thanks for that! Different style than Seane Keane's, but nice production.

Some might like to hear this version of MMD by John McSherry on the low whistle (maybe an F?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYGfujInoJs

[crookedtune]

Yup, played in C on a low F. I've no bone to pick with that one.

[retired]

The youtube video has this info written in the 'about '' space right under the video.

" Published on Feb 9, 2014

First, I dedicate the video to Mr. Barry otherwise known as "green spider" on the chiff and fipple whistle forum. I am happy that you enjoyed my 2001 version and hopefully this here video is satisfactory.

Note: Please be advised, "The May Morning Drew" here is only an "interpretation" of the air and improvisation and was not intended to represent the well know Trad version usually sung by great Irish singers. Remember, the music is open to "interpretation" and there are no limitations to "creativity". I played it a bit up to speed because that's how I was feeling at the time. It comes out different each time. Slow airs do not have to be played very slowly all the time. The key is to play how you feel. Express yourself and not what others would like for you to do. That's not expression. Yet, I do believe it's important to listen to others when they give advice on music theory Trad or not. Absolutely! However, music was designed for the creative mind.

Secondly, there is also a "tutorial" for this air. See Part 2.

Recorded 02/08/2014

Davy Spillane popularized this air without question. This I have to say is one of my favorite airs of all time! It has so many different emotions attached to it. I improvised it without knowing exactly how I would approach it again after so many years being away from it. See Part 2 if one is seeking to learn this (Part 2 is a bit closer to Spillane's version). Feel free to subscribe to my channel. There will be lots of tutorials coming soon. Every piece I play will feature a video tutorial that will follow. There will be very few Davy Spillane pieces however. On the other hand, Spillane is very addictive:)). "

You have to click on 'see more ' to view it. So I'm wondering if a lot of the comments posted here wouldn't be, if the above had been viewed by all beforehand.

[narrowdog]

I vaguely remember reading the second bit of text, it's the bit about more tutorials.
So I think they were there from the start.

[Peter Duggan]

So I'm wondering if a lot of the comments posted here wouldn't be, if the above had been viewed by all beforehand.

Or whether some of it got added as a response to the comments here?

Might add that his tutorial's not what I'd call a tutorial at all when, apart from that brief speech at the start (some guff about second-octave control), he's largely left his audience to figure it out for themselves.

[Mr.Gumby]

So he's filming himself in his car??!! A bit of a come down from his previous tutorial plans that were to culminate in a DVD planned for release in 2005.

My new-age sound is very personal & strickly for live performances or cd work (it's who I am as a musician). You mentioned perhaps I could demonstrate how to develop your "own" sound on the tutorial. This is a good idea but that can be learned by lots of listening to other players & see what they are doing with the whistle & the music & change it to suit yourself (find what you like). To put this on the tutorial is really very difficult & takes loads of time to show someone on film. I do appreciate the fact that you enjoy the sound that I bring to the low whistle on my cd. But, its hard to put on film as a teaching aid because it's improvisational stuff. (Some footage of Davy Spillane will also be on the film & he does address some aspects that are very worthwhile hearing. In terms of learning to find your own way).


So, in doing the dvd I'v decided to "try" to keep my own style away from the film just so as not to confuse those who are watching for learning purposes. It has to be approached differently & not at all similiar to a performance. Otherwise, it would distract from the viewers who are trying to learn something from it. Ofcourse, my own sound will come out but I will minimize this for teaching purposes. The dvd opens with a pensive slow air the way that I normally would play as an introduction only. The rest is teaching & at the very end I am blasting away on some reels to conclude. This is a motivator to beginners. They need to see it played at full speed so that they can now put it all together & absorb it all. But, not until the end. It's like telling a story. It has to flow well.

P.S. My photographer is an Emmy award winner! He works with CBS on certain projects. He is amazing to watch. I have developed camera angles that I have "never" seen in any tutorial. It's being filmed as if you are watching a movie with lots of scenery to add color to the film (It gets a little hard seeing anyone sitting there teaching for an hour. So, we are making it really cool. It's being filmed mostly in a cave. Great acoustics.)!

[pancelticpiper]

Did you miss the entire point that Talbert claimed to be covering Spillane's setting of the tune?

Have you even listened to Spillane's recording?

(Are you) asserting that Talbert's execution is of equal artistic merit?

Yes, no, and no.

I don't know who this Talbert is and didn't know that he was 'covering' anything.

I just heard a guy sitting in a car playing nicely on a whistle, doing exactly the same sorts of stylistic devices that Spillane uses in Riverdance etc.

I didn't recognize any tune whatever.

[Nanohedron]

So I'm wondering if a lot of the comments posted here wouldn't be, if the above had been viewed by all beforehand.

Or whether some of it got added as a response to the comments here?

IIRC, the "Note: Please be advised," part is indeed an addition after this thread's inception. But if not, either way, fair enough. It's his right to call it an "interpretation" (quotemarks his), no less than it's my right to reject that categorisation.

I didn't recognize any tune whatever.

Therein lies my whole point. I regard it as a new composition, and as composer TSC should be proud of it enough to claim it lock, stock, and barrel, and give it its own good name.

Just one more quibble: The assertion that Spillane did more than any to popularise The May Morning Dew is a questionable proposition. I learned it from other sources and am confident I am in good company in that regard. This thread is the first time I ever knew that Spillane played it (admittedly I haven't listened much to his formidable oeuvre, having looked to other directions). Not that I'm surprised at the news; I should think it would be a standard tune in the available repertory of any well-steeped ITM performer.

[whistle1000]

Wow, this guy TSC or Mr. Palmtree or whoever, is getting some "press" here! I wonder if he is drumming up any business for his tutorials Like I said on page one, I just don't get it and it leave me with a very strange feeling. So he's doing the same tune 13 years apart and still in his car. I just don't get how he thinks that any of this is instructional. Personally, I think he's a hack! He may get the odd good tone out of a whistle but I think he's just a native american flute player who decided to try his own approach on the low D. IMHO, I think he fails miserably! He seems to have, at least 14 years on the instrument and that's what he tries to pass off as something someone wants to learn. Especially on this forum. He says he can "blast away on a reel", I would LOVE to see that! I don't mean to be harsh and everyone is entitled to enjoy their whistles and play whatever they want. But coming on this forum, with those videos offering to "teach" us this whatever it is, is just plain ridiculous! IMHO....come on, someone had to say it!

[Mr.Gumby]

It's probably best to let things lie.

But if you want some entertainment, and understanding of this thread, pull up his posting record and read his old posts.

[Loren]

It's probably best to let things lie.

But if you want some entertainment, and understanding of this thread, pull up his posting record and read his old posts.

Yeah, I've been biting my tongue for 6 pages now, in order keep peace with the mods, but anyone who wants some insight into all of this should really have a look back at what's gone before with Talbert.