Enough messing around..

[antstastegood]

The long lonely walk back from the cafeteria to my cave is a place where I do some of my best thinking. So, after lunch today, I'm strolling along thinking about whistles, music, etc. The early conclusion was that I am getting nowhere. I don't play any better than I did a month ago. This isn't going to do it for me, so I looked at what might be the problem.

Perceived problem: I can't play anything fast.
Real problem: I don't ATTEMPT anything fast.
Solution: Quit skipping over the dance tunes.

Perceived problem: I can't play a roll. Not even close.
Real problem: None of the tunes I play call for rolls.
Solution: Find some more tunes, and practice rolls.

Excuse: I can't just go blasting away in the dorm room.
But... There are places within a quarter mile where I won't bother anyone.

SO THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT IS...

I could use some reccommendations for dance tunes (jigs, reels, etc) for someone who has never even attempted a dance tune.

thanks a lot,

ants

[FJohnSharp]

Off to California is a hornpipe that is fairly easy and which has a couple of easy rolls in it.

[chas]

Morrison's jig. Has obvious E and G rolls, sounds good played at just about any pace.

[Easily_Deluded_Fool]

snip
Perceived problem: I can't play anything fast.
Real problem: I don't ATTEMPT anything fast.
Solution: Quit skipping over the dance tunes.

Perceived problem: I can't play a roll. Not even close.
Real problem: None of the tunes I play call for rolls.
Solution: Find some more tunes, and practice rolls.

Excuse: I can't just go blasting away in the dorm room.
But... There are places within a quarter mile where I won't bother anyone.

SO THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT IS...

I could use some reccommendations for dance tunes (jigs, reels, etc) for someone who has never even attempted a dance tune.

thanks a lot,

ants

Donnybrook fair Double jig. Tune finder will get you a midi or abc etc.

Practice slooowly until you have the notes in yer fingers.
Then speed up a little at a time. It's like running! If you dont try to run fast, you never will be able to. BUT! .....
... don't try too hard! Trying too hard - for me - is usually counter productive. Foolish as it seems, what works for me is to try to play a tune before the computer connects to the internet, or practice whilst 'listening' to e.g. the news, or listening to the kids arguing etc. A little bit of me isn't
playing the whistle, but enough of me is!

Nobody I know* can keep up with me when I really let rip on a sop' D with Donnybrook fair. OK, it's not how it's meant to be played, but it got me faster, and that opened the door to faster playing anything. It might be called confidence or believing that 'you can'!

HTH

* Disclaimer - I admit I don't know most of you guys

[glauber]

Ants, go to http://www.scoiltrad.com and buy one of the beginner whistle lessons, take it from there. The good thing about Scoiltrad is that you get a really detailed evaluation from the instructor (Conal O'Grada, great guy and mighty player).

[elendil]

I'm with Fool. Donnybrook Fair just somehow seems to lend itself to ornamentation.

[Jack]

I think The Ten Penny Bit is rather easy to learn.

Then again, it's the only "real" jig that I play.

[whistlegal]

If memory serves, I think the first dance tunes that I worked on were Haste to the Wedding and Drowsy Maggie. Drowsy Maggie is certainly not an easy beginner tune, but it does present a challenge. If you can learn to wade through it, even at a medium tempo, you'll have gained ground in terms of technique. Other tunes will then seem a bit easier.

[FJohnSharp]

Donnybrook will work the three upper rolls--G, A, B plus the E roll. . I think if you want to gain confidence in rolls, learn them on one note first. So do Donnybrook and do the opening G roll then play the rest straight until you get the rhythm of the roll down. I found it took me longer to get the A and B rolls on Donnybrook than the G.

[Ridseard]

Pick an easy polka, like Mrs. Ryans. Start at a comfortable initial speed v(0), and increase the speed in small increments v(k+1) = v(k) + delta v. Practice the tune at each speed v(k) until you are comfortable with it before moving up to v(k+1). A metronome is helpful for this. In a pinch you can use a freeware metronome. I like the Sabine Zipbeat because I can plug in an earphone so that only I can hear the beat. Makes it great for recording.

Once you have developed confidence with a polka, you can move on to harder tunes like jigs and reels.

[MarkB]

You might trying the Tune Clips and Snips and cruise the listings to see what other members have posted. Some of the tunes that have been played are listed on The Chiff and Fipple main website under Tune of the Month and Archives with the dots and a sound file.

MarkB

[Nanohedron]

All good recommendations.

Just my humble input: there's practice and playing. Practice to improve (ex: rolls), but play for pleasure. I think the distinction is important on a personal level. If all you're doing is "practicing", making music risks becoming a grind, and you may drop it altogether. Pick dance tunes that grab you, and play them as well as you can at that time with your own happiness as the only goal. Then set aside practice moments or sessions, but always get back to the playing, and allow yourself appreciation for what you CAN do. What you practice will eventually show itself in your playing, and practice is essential for improvement, but playing (= your happiness) is the best goal in the end, I think. This is true even if you're getting paid to play, and your pleasure stands to be your audience's pleasure in turn. Just remember to play your instrument. It would be sad for it to become a ball and chain to you, and if the only paradigm you approach your instrument from is the realm of drudgery, this is what may happen. And don't forget: speed is best left as a tool, not a be-all and end-all. Speed will come. It's actually more difficult to play slowly and well. Now that's a goal.

Best of luck to you.

[trisha]

Nobody I know* can keep up with me when I really let rip on a sop' D with Donnybrook fair. OK, it's not how it's meant to be played, but it got me faster, and that opened the door to faster playing anything. It might be called confidence or believing that 'you can'!

HTH

* Disclaimer - I admit I don't know most of you guys

EDF, we shall look forward to your party piece at the eventual get together of the Welsh-and-all-Comers get together. Then we shall have rendition 2 on the Bass A whistle....same speed naturally

Trisha

[blackhawk]

Blackthorn Stick is so easy to learn, it almost plays itself.

[DCrom]

Blackthorn Stick is so easy to learn, it almost plays itself.

I'll second that - blackhawk recommended it to me a while back. One of the easiest jigs I've encountered, and one of the nicest sounding.

Doesn't go too high - most of the time you're in the upper half of the first octave or lower half of the second. I tend to avoid the upper part of the second octave for late night practice, but Blackthorn Stick is pretty mellow.

(If you want a lot of good tunes that spend most of their time in the lower range, you might also look at _A Dossan of Heather_. Most of the tunes have suggested ornamentation, too - a help for those of us who are still working on that.)