Why I play whistles more than other instruments

happyturkeyman · Post by **happyturkeyman** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 1:07 am

I know the rudiments of playing many instruments. However, since this summer started I have spent 90% of my musical time on the whistle. Here is a broken down list of why I play the whistle more than certain instruments.

Boehm flute: Having been exposed to fluting since birth, I have grown rather bored with it. Mine is on loan, and I really don't favor any of the other three we have around the house.

Piano: Long gone are the days when I could read more than one note at once...

Accordian: Having it constantly on loan from Kenny is a pain. Putting it on is a pain. It reminds me of cartoons where the superheroes "suit up." I like the sound of piano more.

Trumpet: Well, I really never had that much learning material to begin with. I printed out a fingering chart and found a book called "easy solos for trumpet or clarinet." It takes higher levels of motivation than I have to go very far using just the two.

Violin: The horrible noises I can produce with it are very frightening.

Sax: I worked my way through elementary and intermediate books and tunes, then ran out of material. The octave key and a couple pads on this one (it's more than 90 years old) are fubar.

Harmonica: I could never bend notes. What can I say - one key just isn't enough for me.

If I had a good amount of money I could fix many of these problems by paying for music, instruction, repairs, new instruments, etc. At the moment, though, I suspect I would spend that hypothetical money on whistles.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 4:55 am

I love the simplicity of the whistle. Easy to learn the basics, but you'll never completely master it-- there's always something new to discover. Another big plus is the portability of the thing. Especially with a two piece whistle, you can slip it into your pocket and play anywhere.

BTW Turkey-- that IS a nice eyelash..

Hiro Ringo · Post by **Hiro Ringo** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:27 am

I love whistles because I dont need to maintain it seriously. In viloin realm,there are cases that something except me is the cause of my reluctant playing, no matter however good my bowarm is(although good bowarm is quite rewarding and compensating! very more attractive part of violins than whistles heh). But I never liked to blame anything except me whether its fact or not.

When I play my whistle and the playing comes down to reluctant result,thats easily because of myself. Needless to say,its my fault if I dont know my taste for the sound I need to accomplish. It cant be because I cannot afford to buy the whistle I need yeah.Theres no escape!!

I love these parts of the whistles. And Mr.Reyburn made these parts much more certain. Thanks.

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:40 am

Life was much simpler with a tinwhistle.

The only problem is, it leads to the desire to posses and play wooden flutes and uilleann bagpipes, so you need to work out to be able to carry all that stuff around..

echthroi · Post by **echthroi** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:55 am

Yeah, I like the whistle because it's easy to play, whenever you want. I also play the oboe, and to even start playing you have to soak your reeds, asemble the instrument, and it takes like five minutes. This may not seem like a long time, but I play the whistle whenever I have a spare moment, so I end up playing it a whole lot more.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:59 am

echthroi wrote: I also play the oboe, and to even start playing you have to soak your reeds, and it takes like five minutes. .

And that's nothing compared to if you MAKE your own reeds! That's a whole second career...

echthroi · Post by **echthroi** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 7:14 am

brewerpaul wrote:
echthroi wrote: I also play the oboe, and to even start playing you have to soak your reeds, and it takes like five minutes. .
And that's nothing compared to if you MAKE your own reeds! That's a whole second career...

Yeah, tell me about it...

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 7:20 am

my problems with my other instruments are;

Fiddle: Resin gets everywhere and is stronger than superglue.
replacing strings is a hassle.
Bows are expensive and tempremental.
Getting enough elbow space in a session.
Lugging the case around and keeping it in sight at all times.

Guitar: Amount of money spent replacing lost or mislaid plecs,finger/thumb picks, capos.
Breaking strings.
Buzzy frets.
Wannabe Bob Dylans-"Borrow your guitar,mate?"
Lugging the case.....

Mandoline: More bloody replacement plecs.
Restringing a mando is hell.
Where do i put the fiddle.
The eternal question-"Is that a ukelele."
Another damm case ...

Now with a whistle,sit down,take out of pocket and play.

Heaven.

Slan,
D.

JamesF · Post by **JamesF** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 7:29 am

Harmonica: I could never bend notes.

Me too. Bending is a b*tch and overblowing is a myth.

TinwhistleJulian · Post by **TinwhistleJulian** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:38 am

I love it to play whistle ,its making me happy.
In times of troubles and beeing down (and twas often and very long times )this was the thing to get me up again .
I love this mystic sound of whistles , evry time I play it.
I like to play the whistle with fluters ,fiddlers and guitars by my side ,playing in my band was important for me until it crashed down at all.

I play a lot of whistles and flutes ,and its the best instrument what i can play .

I like to play old traditionals (honpipes , old songs ) and even modern songs (Yesterday,Atlantis,the rose and so on),the combination what it makes interesting for me.
i can nearly play evry thing I like if I try it.

at moment i play with a melody rock metal group , and dont think thats impossible,its not impossible it works if you like it and if you can do it without problems .

Evrything you want ,you got it (roy orbison)

Julian

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 10:06 am

fancypiper wrote:Life was much simpler with a tinwhistle.

The only problem is, it leads to the desire to posses and play wooden flutes and uilleann bagpipes, so you need to work out to be able to carry all that stuff around..

I like the whistle because it's simple.

I play the flute much more because it's more versatile. It's a helluvalot more challenging, but that's some of the attraction, too.