playing out of the side of the mouth

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Tue Feb 26, 2002 8:12 am

Question is, can you play out of BOTH sides of your mouth?

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Tue Feb 26, 2002 10:42 am

How central is the middle? Take a look at the picture of the venerable gentleman on the main page of this site. Would you say he is playing out of the middle of his mouth or a little to the side?

NancyF · Post by **NancyF** » Tue Feb 26, 2002 8:52 pm

Anna, he has tons of whistles

Plays them a a lot more than his saxophone...

tomandceil · Post by **tomandceil** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 12:03 pm

Interesting responses. Thank you all. No, I don't smoke, but I did start out playing the saxophone, oddly enough. Maybe I've got his mental image of Lester Young . . . (And I'm not gay, either!) Maybe it *is* easier to hear playing out of the side of the mouth, now that you mention it.
Tom

tomandceil · Post by **tomandceil** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 12:05 pm

I should proofread better. "Maybe I've got this mental image of Lester Young" is what I meant.
Tom

paulsdad · Post by **paulsdad** » Thu Mar 07, 2002 3:29 pm

I think flutists who play the whistle might be more inclined to play out the side of the mouth. My whistle teacher does anyway.

What do you flute-to-whistle converts think?

WhistlerWannaBe · Post by **WhistlerWannaBe** » Thu Mar 07, 2002 5:54 pm

I am most definitely a flute to whistle convert and when I picked up my first whistle I did NOT play from the side of my mouth...

BUT..... I tried this on Sunday as the group I play with has drums, bass, electric acoustic as well as two electric guitars and lo and behold, I could actually hear what I was playing...I was amazed at what a difference there was!

(Can't help but think I mustof looked just a little odd though!) ;-P

Deb

selkie · Post by **selkie** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 6:40 am

Hmm. That's an excellent answer. I have RSI and ganglions in right wrist and use a lump of blue tack to stick my right thumb to my Shaw Low D. I also use an excellent wrist and thumb support I bought in France. I tried moving the whistle more to the righ and it lowers my pain factor so will persevere. I also always play sitting down due to disability slightly resting the whistle against my right leg.

)

Rab · Post by **Rab** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 7:10 am

I played flute first and have always played the whistle out of the side of my mouth. When I try and play out of the middle, it just feels so unnatural.

DanD · Post by **DanD** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 9:28 am

Saw Dervish this weekend, and Liam Kelly (flute & whistles) plays whistle out of the side of his mouth. He also rests the headjoint of his flute on his left shoulder, so he may not be a good role model!

OTH, I'd love to be able to get that kind of tone out of my flute!
I picked up the whistle to make learning flute easier, and tried playing out of the side of my mouth at first. When I got my flute, I found that the hand positions were different enough that they didn't translate real well for me, and went back to playing the whistle straight out.
Slightly OT, but check the archives for a photo JessieK posted of a flute that could be played straight out in front.

TonyaD · Post by **TonyaD** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 2:33 pm

Ever see the movie "Waking Ned Devine"? Very funny Irish movie.

Anyway, in the funeral march scene, the whistle player plays out one side of his mouth (left, I believe).

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 2:35 pm

Yeah, I noticed that kelly plays even a high D out the side of his mouth, too. I just assumed that that's because he's promarily a flautist.