Expanding the realms of whistle possibility!

[Jennie]

Being sensitive to the group and to the music is important. Sounds like your group isn't ready for whistle yet, nor may they ever be... but you might try working up one of their tunes that sounds good on whistle, to try at another session sometime. I usually hold back with whistle at bluegrass sessions, and either play another instrument or sing harmony. Some of the old-time tunes seem to lend themselves more to whistle, and I come in occasionally. Whistles do tend to cut through and dominate.

At least you have your mandolin!
Jennie

[Tommy]

MANDO go to www.therogues.com and click on thier tune
''Hollerin for Haggis"" now there is a whistle that has boldly gone where others have not.

[brewerpaul]

I go to a sort of mixed jam around here from time to time, and it's a lot of fun. Tunes are selected "round robin" with each player in the circle starting a tune. They do everything from Celtic to bluegrass, old timey, folk, whatever. Nice variety, and nice folks. There's a Comhaltas session in Albany once a month and I go there occasionally, but the sessions often feel like reel after reel after reel played at high speed. After a while, they all sound the same.

By myself, I play all sorts of tunes on the whistle. I'm a major Bach fan (JS) and several of his compositions translate remarkably well to the whistle.

[Mandolin Miscreant]

Wow! I've only been away from the computer for a few hours and hasn't this thing grown! Hey thanks for the input people, much appreciated. Seems to me there are two issues - the obvious one is the music itself. Personally if at a session and somebody plays an unusual instrument well, that's fine by me but I've noticed those of a more purist ilk scorn the offender in all their non-verbal vehemence!

The other issue i suppose is session ettiquete. I mean as soon as I guaged the reaction, I quickly put down the whistle and back to the mandolin only this time wearing an invisible stetson and trying to look convincingly as bluegrass as possible. and decided never to darken their session again with a whistle. They even speak to me now in words of more than one syllable!

But I kind of suspect that the geographical location (i.e. not in America) possibly makes them more purist about their chosen bluegrass love. Had I continued to turn up and play a whistle that would have been impolite possibly and they would have completely alienated me. But then we have extremely bad musicians who don't really give a stuff. I remember an irish session in Preston I used to attend and a guy with spoons (yes, those kitchen implements for stuffing your face, only of the large catering variety) turned up every week and literally drowned everyone out with a particularly badly timed clatter. I think eventually he was assassinated! M

[peeplj]

There is a Saturday morning bluegrass session at Pickle's Gap, just down the road. I've been invited by a couple of the musicians to come and sit in (flute or whistle) but I've never made it yet...sleeping in on Saturday is a hard thing to give up!!!

On the other hand, I do play flute and whistle in a rock band, and though I was hesitant at first, everyone assures me it works quite well, so I got over my initial hesitation and finally just started jumping right on in. Flute gets played on more things than whistle, but the whistle does get played in a few songs.

Maybe tomorrow I'll make my way to the Pickin' Porch at Pickle's Gap, and just listen a bit and see what happens.

--James

[BrassBlower]

There is a Saturday morning bluegrass session at Pickle's Gap, just down the road. I've been invited by a couple of the musicians to come and sit in (flute or whistle) but I've never made it yet...sleeping in on Saturday is a hard thing to give up!!!

On the other hand, I do play flute and whistle in a rock band, and though I was hesitant at first, everyone assures me it works quite well, so I got over my initial hesitation and finally just started jumping right on in. Flute gets played on more things than whistle, but the whistle does get played in a few songs.

Maybe tomorrow I'll make my way to the Pickin' Porch at Pickle's Gap, and just listen a bit and see what happens.

--James

Hehe, I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in the Grand Duchy of Sasnakra, it's all about jamming, and the "rules" are seldom if ever adhered to (e.g. six fiddles in a Bluegrass jam are perfectly OK).

By the way, anyone heard Los Straitjackets' surfed-up take on "My Heart Will Go On"? Brilliant!

[Cynth]

I deny that I have made any claim to be open minded.

[Duffy]

I'm not that far from WI, so watch out. I bark a lot harder than I slap though.

That's OK, I come to Iowa often and am overdue for my next trip. Just waiting for the weather to get a little friendlier.

[The Weekenders]

Hey there mando---I take my bluegrass very seriously too, as any bluegrass lover ought. I could tolerate hearing a whistle play bluegrass music just fine, I might even really like it. But it wouldn't be bluegrass music. .

If its orthodox bluegrass music, there are no women players allowed either. Some change can be good.

[Cynth]

uh oh

[Cynth]

Tommy---The Rogues sound good. But I think I would go hear them no matter what they were playing. It's the kilts.

[Kingfisher]

I have to agree with The Weekenders. I have been living in Appalachian hill country my entire life. Around here , you bring what you can play , chime in where it fits , wait for the next one ... if it don't , and just get together and have fun making good music !! Elitist snobs (like your session mates) would be the ones more likely get the boot !!

Have a Great Day and Fun Whistling !!

[Darwin]

Well, first off, I have several Bill Monroe recordings that include electric guitar, electric organ, and/or accordian. Since the Big Mon invented Bluegrass, then those surely can be considered part of Bluegrass instrumentation (even though he didn't keep them around--and I can see why he dropped them).

Flatt and Scruggs dropped mandolin for Dobro, and the Stanley Brothers dropped it for lead guitar, which was pretty new to Bluegrass at the time. Then traveling bands, like Jim and Jesse, started using the electric bass (and went through a period where they used steel guitar, drums, and even piano). Earl Taylor used a harmonica on "Fox Chase". I even have a Doug Dillard LP somewhere that includes harmonica and cello.

Although they put them on as the last set, and lots of folks walked away from them, I've seen a band with drums on stage at a Camp Springs, NC festival. (Put on by Carlton Haney, the guy who did the first Bluegrass festivals ever, on a day that included the likes of Jimmy Martin, the Osborne Brothers, and Charlie Monroe.) This was in the mid-70s.

Last Friday night, I went to a Bluegrass festival in Argyle, TX, and saw Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver use electric piano on one of their gospel numbers, and it went over very well with the audience.

During one of the Saturday jam sessions, a young lady pulled out a Dixon high D whistle, and we played at a few tunes, with me on guitar and her sister on fiddle. Several of the jammers were interested, the only real problem being that there wasn't much overlap in material, although "Amazing Grace" worked out pretty well. (Have you ever tried yelling out the changes to "Swalllowtail Jig" for a bass player?) There was a mandolin player there who had a harmonica on a neck rack, too. No one even hinted that they should be driven out of the jam. I've also seen an accordian player well accepted at a jam at one of the festivals at Grass Valley, CA. Of course, she could really whip through a bunch of the standard fiddle tunes in a way that I never heard on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Now, having said all that, I'll admit that when I go to hear Bluegrass, I want to hear fairly traditional stuff. I hated seeing Hot Rize go into their Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers (Western swing) personas. I wasn't too keen on Peter Rowan doing a whole set of his Free Mexican Air Force material in a concert with the Nashville Bluegrass Band, either. And, I'll admit that I never really liked any of the stuff Earl Scruggs did with his sons after he and Lester broke up. Even too many non-Bluegrass gospel numbers (ala Nashville Bluegrass Band) in a row will wear on me.

I do think that it's more a question of expectations and mind-set than of whether it's possible to make good music with "non-traditional" combinations of instruments. And, as Weeks said, sometimes it depends on who you are. The Chieftains' "Down the Old Plank Road" mixes Bluegrass, Old-Timey, and American Folk with their own instrumentation--and just to screw up the categories even further, there's some piano. Still most of it works pretty well--as long as you aren't expecting "real" Bluegrass.

[BrassBlower]

Apparently, the "all about jamming" mentality is common in the Republic of Texas, too!

\__/ (Hook 'em Horns!)
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