Irish Whistle Tunebook

Guthrum · Post by **Guthrum** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 5:37 pm

Well, I finally got my Irish whistle tunebook and I must say that I'm intimidated. Up until now, I was mostly playing military or marching songs on my whistle with the exception of Roisin the Beau.

Now that I have a book full of Irish songs I don't really know where to begin. I put in the CD that came with it to hear one of the practice tracks which are followed by a performance track. The practice track is slower than the performance track and I don't know if I'll ever be able to keep up with the former much less the latter. I started out trying to play Boys of the Town and then the Ashplant with very little success.

I'm going to take Tyghresses advice and try Drumshambo and Otter's Holt and play them very slowly at first.

Anyone have any other advice for someone who can generally play decent on his whistle but is having trouble adjusting to the style of Irish tunes?

thanks

jd

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 5:57 pm

Lots and lots and lots of listening...that's what it ultimately comes down to. Get to where you can really feel the style.

Redwolf

Guthrum · Post by **Guthrum** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 6:04 pm

Thanks redwolf. I was reading the introduction to the book. It talks about how Irish music is a very social music and how hermits rarely play Irish music. Well, I'm not a hermit, but I do live in an area where (best I can tell) there is not very much Irish music being played. The closest pub I know of with sessions is over 100 miles away. I do enjoy playing my millitary songs though so whistle playing is not lost to me. I'm just not sure I'll ever be much of an Irish whistler.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 6:20 pm

Well, you don't have to hear it live...there are lots of recordings to listen to. When I started playing the whistle (I was 15 or thereabouts), I was the only person I knew of in my hometown that played the whistle (I'm sure there must have been some others somewhere, but I had no way of finding them), and I was most certainly the only kid in my high school that was into Irish music, so "community" was out of the question. Heck, I couldn't even find a tunebook or tutor until I'd been playing for a year or so. I started playing familiar tunes...camp songs and hymns, mostly...then tried picking up the tunes from my Irish Rovers albums. Even now, I don't really have anyone to play with (sessions hereabouts are few and far between, and I'm too shy to try to get involved in the few there are, as they mostly take place in private homes, and I've always been fairly insecure about my musical ability). Fortunately, there's a wealth of recorded music out there these days, both on CD and on-line, and that can give you a really good base to go on with, if you like it (if you don't, there's no reason you can't continue on with the music you already enjoy playing. You don't HAVE to play Irish music if you're a whistler...the instrument works well for a variety of genres).

For now, don't try to learn to play the tunes in your tunebooks from the CDs (or even from the notation)...instead, listen to the tunes in "performance" mode until you have a really good feel for them. Once you've found one (or several) you really like, use the notation and the slowed-down "practice" version to get it into your fingers...then try to play along with the "performance" version. If you like what you're hearing on the "performance" segments of the CDs that came with the book, consider picking up some other Irish CDs and listening to them in the car or at home, or wherever you most enjoy listening to music. If you enjoy the music, eventually you will develop a feel for it.

Redwolf

P.S. I should mention that, when I was young, I WAS practically a hermit...I'm very introverted, and preferred the company of my whistle and my Irish Rovers & Clancy Brothers albums to just about any other kind of company. Got in a lot of practice that way

NicoMoreno · Post by **NicoMoreno** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 6:23 pm

I don't get it... I never really listened to "lots and lots" or irish music. In fact I have one GL compilation. That's it. It isn't even mostly traditional.
I play at a session, but there is all kinds of styles (Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Breton, New England, East Coast (canada) etc.) but I would say I can play "in the style" reasonably well. It is just a matter or being able to read the music, and occasionaly the things between the music. (like 3 times through, hornpipes being swung, but not reels!)

Oh well
Nico

E = Fb · Post by **E = Fb** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:17 pm

Don't worry about speed. It comes with time and practice. Here's a list of relatively easy tunes that you can download from

http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/findtune.html

My Darling Asleep
Mug of Brown Ale
Lilting Banshee

Also, try slow airs like

Spancil Hill
Bold Fenian Men
Buachaill on Eirne
Lament for Limerick
Carrickfergus

Tom

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:27 pm

NicoMoreno wrote:I don't get it... I never really listened to "lots and lots" or irish music. In fact I have one GL compilation. That's it. It isn't even mostly traditional.
I play at a session, but there is all kinds of styles (Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Breton, New England, East Coast (canada) etc.) but I would say I can play "in the style" reasonably well. It is just a matter or being able to read the music, and occasionaly the things between the music. (like 3 times through, hornpipes being swung, but not reels!)

Oh well
Nico

It would be interesting to know whether those who listen to "lots and lots" Irish music and play lots and lots of it would agree that you play reasonably well. I know that it took me a very long time of listening to even hear things I didn't realize were there before. And I think I've just scratched the surface. When I listen to CDs today that I listened to five years ago, I hear them very very differently. And I play differently from how I played two years ago. What I am saying is this, the more I learn about this Irish music, the harder it gets. I keep discovering new levels of subtlety and expression in the style. Those who have been kind enough to bother teaching me have all said that listening, listening, listening is the most important thing. I don't pretend to understand it all, but I trust them.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 3:42 am

Guthrum wrote:Well, I finally got my Irish whistle tunebook and I must say that I'm intimidated. Up until now, I was mostly playing military or marching songs on my whistle with the exception of Roisin the Beau.

Is that the same tune as Rosin the Bow?

When practising a slow tune with a CD, I break the tune down into small bits I can manage. This may start off as just a couple of notes, maybe half a bar, or a distictive phrase. I set the CD going to repeat the track, and everytime the bit I can play comes up I join in. Gradually I find other bits I can play, and add them in. Tricky passages may take special practise without the CD going (like practising rolls, cuts etc). Slowly the tune pieces itself together until I'm playing the whole thing.

For faster tunes, the same is basically true, but I'll usually start by just trying to get the first bar right, then the first two, etc until, I've got the whole A part down. This can take over a hundred listenings before I'm happy I got the notes right. Then I tackle the B part in the same way.

I don't expect to be able to play the whole tune through along with the CD the first time, or even the twentieth time, or maybe even the fiftieth time.

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 3:58 am

do a search here for threads on learning by ear. Even if you use the black dots, you'll get some advice on how Irish tunes are put together and can be more easily learned.

I'd regard the otter's holt as a bit difficult. Start with song tunes, then some of the simpler jigs and reels in G.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 4:54 am

Pick a tune you really like and listen to the slow version a lot until you can sing/hum/whistle the tune from memory. Once you have the tune in your head, learning it along with the musical notation will be a LOT easier.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 12:11 pm

I honestly can't think of any musical tradition where developing a feel for the music, either through extensive listening, instruction, or both, isn't absolutely vital to performing it well. For example, we do a lot of plainchant in church. Ostensibly, this kind of chant is very simple music, and anyone who can read notation can reproduce the notes with ease. Doing it correctly, however, is another matter...there are nuances that must be learned, either through instruction or through lots of dynamic listening. Walk into our church and listen to the clergy chanting and then listen to the choir, and the difference is obvious. The clergy members are reproducing the notes, but most of them lack the training and experience with this kind of music to chant well. The same is true with classical music. Several of our hymns are based on classical or baroque pieces, but there's a huge difference in how the congregation sings them and how the choir (most of whom are steeped in the classical tradition, and have sung these pieces in their original form) sings them.

The ability to read the music and keep up with other musicians is only part of learning to play Irish music. Understanding the nuances of the music (not only ornamentation, but how the music often varies rythmically from the written notation) is really important to being able to play it well...and that understanding is going to come most easily from extensive listening.

As most of you know, I'm a big believer in learning and using written notation...it's a useful skill no matter what kind of music you play...but UNDERSTANDING the music and how it works is vital. Most Irish musicians, just like most classical or church musicians, can quickly determine if someone truly has a feel for the music or if they're only reading the notation correctly.

Redwolf

Celtoid · Post by **Celtoid** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 12:34 pm

Brewerpaul said: "Pick a tune you really like and listen to the slow version a lot until you can sing/hum/whistle the tune from memory. Once you have the tune in your head, learning it along with the musical notation will be a LOT easier."

I strongly agree with this advice. Drumshambo in the first few pages of your book is a great one to begin with because the song sticks in your head like glue. At the end of the book you will find some slower music that is good for starters too. I am also new at ITM but am very slowly making some progress and learning my first tunes, and the more i do it, the more hooked I get. The folks on this site have taught me so much about whistling (and fluting) that I might not have stuck with the whistle were it not for the people here.

RonKiley · Post by **RonKiley** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 12:40 pm

I had a great pessimism about my abilility to learn anything by ear. A number of people here have said listen, listen, listen, and then play it by ear. I didn't think I could do it. However, I gave it a try. I was amazed to find that I not only could I play by ear but the tunes I learned by ear were more firmly embedded in my memory. I still have some that I use the silly little dots to get me in the right ball park. In keeping with what Bloom said, there are things that I hear that I don't know what they are doing. It is not on the sheet music either. I hope as I continue to listen I will have an aha! moment and suddenly figure it out. I am not sure my playing has improved much but the sounds of my whistles have greatly improved.
Ron

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