Advice for a newcomer!!

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 11:41 am

I started at 61 - no problem. My best advice is get a dog that can walk without a lead. Then you have two practice sessions a day guaranteed come rain or shine. Metal whistles not so good in the winter. I was lucky to start on a sweetone that was playable. I have since bought many cheap whistles which are frankly crap - no names here. I would buy a more upmarket whistle asap - easier to play and in tune. I went for a silkstone and love it still.

Brian

Duffy · Post by **Duffy** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 11:43 am

Risseard, I wish I could claim that title of "Best in the Neighborhood. I think last week I finally beat out my snoring great Pyr for the title of "Best in the House", but that only applys if I've forgotten to fill the bird feeder. Now I have to go practice some more!

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 11:47 am

Ridseard wrote:50 is certainly not too old to start. I was over 60 when I started, and in a short time I have progressed to the point where I am the best whistle player in my neighborhood.

I wish I could make the same claim. I was about to anyway - but then I remembered that Blackhawk works in my neighborhood.

OK, I started playing whistle at 43 and I'm the *second* best whistle player in my neighborhood.

NancyMae, though I've got Sax, Oboe, and a little Clarinet in my distant past, whistle is a LOT easier to pick up than any of them. Easy fingering, and though it requires breath control you don't have to work to develop an embouchure.

For me, the biggest handicap was that I've been playing recorder since I was eight and I had to train myself NOT to use recorder fingerings, especially since B, A, G, E, and low D are the same - it's F#, C, C#, and second-octave D that are (or can be) different. On the plus side, it's MUCH easier to get above second-octave G on the whistle. For me, the recorder has a useful range of about 1.5 octaves, fully chromatic - the whistle is diatonic, but gives you over two octaves of useful range. (Playable, at any rate - I find notes above 2nd octave C too piercing to play indoors, but I can get up to about 3rd octave G easily enough).

Though it may be a lot of work to become a *really* good player (I'm still working on that!), it's about the easiest instrument I know to quickly get you to the "sounds decent" level. And it's *fun* to play, and cheap. What's not to like?

nancymae · Post by **nancymae** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 12:27 pm

Thank you everyone for all the well wishes!! I am a totally committed beginning whistler...I think that music is the sounds of the soul....and I enjoy making music as much as listening to it!!

Brian....what is a silkstone? Who makes it??? I think I will be having the WHOA syndrome soon!!!!

Thanks again!!

Happy Whistleing!!

Nancy

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 2:23 pm

TonyHiggins wrote:Hi Nancymae,
If all the notes are flat, warm up the plastic head under hot water to loosen it and push it farther on to the tube. That will make the entire scale slightly higher in pitch.
Tony

I would caution you to do this carefully. Mark the place on the tube where the fipple (blown end) now rests. Mark it for length on the tube and where it is on the circumference. On the length so you can get back to where you started if need be and the other so you can align the fipple with the tone holes once you make the adjustment. Make this line long enough so it will extend beyond any adjustment you make. Move it in fairly small increments (1/8") until it sounds right to you.

Helps to have a tuner but not required. There was a link to a program listed that gives you one for your computer where you play into a microphone and it displays the note and frequency on the screen. I will look for it when I get home.

cj · Post by cj » Fri Aug 22, 2003 2:45 pm

NancyMae wrote:

I think I will be having the WHOA syndrome soon!!!!

It has begun . . . MWAAAAHAAHAAAHAHAA! :-7 (Dr. Evil pinky-upside-mouth emoticon)

trisha · Post by **trisha** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 3:59 pm

Hi Nancy from wildest Wales...Silkstones are made in Yorkshire, England but are available from outlets in the US. Very nice whistles made by a really talented whistlesmith. I have three and a half - two alloy and a PVC set and play them a lot.

www.silkstone-whistles.com should take you to his site.

Trisha

Cees · Post by **Cees** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 4:11 pm

Hi Nancy,

I don't have any advice to add but I just wanted to say "Welcome!" to a fellow Wisconsinite! I'm from Wisconsin originally and miss the lovely green trees and all the lakes. (I'm from northern Wisconsin.) Welcome and happy whistling! I hope you enjoy your whistle for many years to come!

skh · Post by **skh** » Sat Aug 23, 2003 3:48 am

nancymae wrote: I think I will be having the WHOA syndrome soon!!!!

Just for the record: collecting whistles is fine, but it is possible and just as fine to only have a few cheap whistles (or even *gasp* only one), and still be both a whistler and a member of this board.

Just as you please and your money allows.

Sonja

spittin_in_the_wind · Sat Aug 23, 2003 12:27 pm

nancymae wrote:Thanks Steven for the quick reply!!! I have been playing the whistle for about an hour..and boy...are you RIGHT about those muscles!!! It's been decades since I played the clarinet...so my mouth muscles need some tuning themselves!!! I will cut down on my playing a bit until my mouth gets used to the whistle.

Welcome, Nancy!

As a former saxophone player, this comment of yours caught my eye. I just wanted to note that the embouchere for the whistle requires no where near the firmness that a clarinet requires! So, you should not be tiring out your mouth too much on the whistle; if you are, you are working waaayyy too hard. Basically, you just blow into it; I've found most of the embouchere issues deal more with the tongue and palate for me, and not with the lips/chin, etc. So, don't kill yourself with playing. Just pretend it's a slide whistle, and you'll get the idea!

(ducks to avoid the flying objects that will be hurled regarding my last sentence....)

Robin

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 3:56 am

Welcome, Nancy-pie.

Since you've already admitted to liking the One True Music for whistle, try to link up with anybody within reach of you who plays Irish music. Even if you're not up to session-playing standard yet, having someone to relate to, share the enjoyment with and possibly help you on the path of learning to play makes it so much more enjoyable, and enjoyment is what it's all about. Stick to the one whistle for the moment - as long as it's fairly OK, it's best to focus on the playing rather than the instruments, WhOA can come later.

Good luck, and don't give up during those periods when you feel as if you're not making any progress.

nancymae · Post by **nancymae** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:48 am

Thank you all for your encouragement!!

I agree with you Roger...sticking with one whistle for now. I live in a EXTREMELY rural area....I am going to try and find other whistlers out there...but I don't think there are many. My resources will have to be here and buying cd's. I am through most of my beginner book now...just starting the ornamentation part...which I am excited about. Looking for a "second" book to continue my whistle studies..

Anyone have any good recommendations on a secondary book?????

Thanks!
Nancy

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 3:06 pm

The tuner at
http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~tuner/tuner_e.html
is well worth downloading and it is free.

Brian

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 4:12 pm

Put that whistle down and back away slowly!

Haven't you heard that pennywhistles are the gateway drug for flutes and <gasp> uilleann bagpipes?

I fell prey to that "harmless tin whistle", became addicted and within 14 years, I was into the hard stuff (my uilleann bagpipes practice set showed up on my doorstep 5 months after I turned 54).

They are addictive at any age. You have been warned!

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 4:21 pm

nancymae wrote:Anyone have any good recommendations on a secondary book?????

The "bible" for me is the L.E. McCullough "Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor" that comes with a CD and book. A google search should turn it up for you.

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