Whistlin in the dark

[Turtle]

Hello all:

Just thought I would introduce myself. The name is Turtle (not really, but I'm a bit slow today), and I am from a small town in Idaho. Several months ago I found myself taking a unexpected and rather lengthy vacation to a foreign land, which is the flowery version of "Deployed to Iraq". Anyhow, along the way we stopped in a place called Ireland and lo and behold, in the airport gift shop was an item called a tinwhistle. Now having always had an interest in celtic music, I thought to myself "hey! This is a golden opportunity"! It's not everyday that a man gets the chance to learn an entirely new squeeky instrument far away from the
insidious heckling and cajoling of irate family members, which kind of takes the fun out of it, but is probably better for my health in the long run. This being the case, I purchased said whistle and continued on my journey to the birthplace of civilization. At first, I attempted to learn some tunes from memory. Unfortunately my memory is not what it once was (OK, it never was to start with, but its my story). After dredging my mind for usefull tunes, and playing them relentlessly, I came to the realization that some of my compatriots were giving me very odd looks, and one in particular had developed a very bad tic. Now normally, this would not phase me, but in my current situation I realized that it might not be in my best interests to overly annoy someone carrying an automatic weapon. I decided immediately that I must increase my playlist. Thus began my search of the internet which has led me to this fine site. I have found a plethora of music and information, and I greatly appreciate people such as yourselves who have made this site and others like it possible. I have spent countless hours sitting in the dark watching the moon and stars over Iraq, and whistling my woes away.

Ya'll take care
Turtle

[Butterfly]

Hi Turtle, welcome to this forum!

[nancymae]

Welcome Turltle! You are in the right place for finding great tunes and company! You will probably also acquire the disease...WHOA...which you will never recover!

Check out the Clips & Snips section for tunes, tunes, and more tunes to add to your repetoire. Also...if you do some searches in this forum, you will find many sources for free sheet music of Irish Trad on the web as well as tutorials.

Good luck to you and again, welcome!

Nancy

[jmccain]

Hi Turtle!

You take care - and deep thanks for your service.

Best, John

[Craig Stuntz]

I'll welcome you to the forum with another story of celtic music in the military I recently read:

It is amazing how many pipers are actually asked if they can play "ower the hills and faur awa’", but it is even more amazing how many of them take it as a request for the melody and not the more obvious request for them to take a hike.

It reminds us of the old story about the regimental piper going over the top with his colleagues at the Battle of the Somme. It has for many years been the tradition that Scottish regiments are piped into battle; a tradition that is still honoured. Picture the scene, there he is blowing away furiously, right there in the thick of the battle. Bullets and shells are flashing past him and his fellow soldiers, bombs are exploding all around him, things are whizzing and whooshing all over the place. Suddenly out of the confusion of the battle the unmistakable loud voice of his sergeant major rings out. "For @#%$+* sake Angus, play something they like!"

Welcome!

[Feadin]

Hi turtle!

Maybe you already know them, but anyway, here are a couple of tune archives:

http://www.sessioneer.org/

http://www.thesession.org/

http://www.tinwhistler.com/music/

Take care!

[Tony McGinley]

Welcome to the loners club. Whistle player are often ALONE when whistling. LONERS are often whistling when alone.

Whistling is a great stress reliever and a meditative exercise if done in the right frame of mind. Just dont ever fight the whistle or the tune.

Get on to a low whistle ASAP and you will not be ejected from the living quarters so often.


Here is a site with some nicely recorded tunes well played on a variety of whistles.

http://fingertrip.net/whistle/index.html

[peteinmn]

Hi Turtle,

Welcome aboard! Keep your head (and your butt) down. The world needs every whistler we have. Proud to have you with us.

[dow]

Welcome, Turtle. There is much to learn here, and almost as much to disregard (but not about whistles, ). Another site that you might find of use is http://www.gaeliccrossings.com/forums/index.php. There are others, as well, that I'm sure you'll run across.

Thanks so much for your service and sacrifice.

God Bless and De Colores.

[brewerpaul]

Welcome! We wish you a speedy and healthy return home.
Hey, while you're there keep an eye out for interesting local musical instruments and try to learn some Iraqui tunes!

[piperdoc]

paul, they generally don't let you shop among the locals- a we bit dangerous.

[IDAwHOa]

What town in Idaho are you from? We are in South Central Idaho near the Twin Falls area. There is one other Spud that lives a couple of miles from us and several others in and near the state.

Here is praying you make it home safe so we can do a session together some time.

[thurlowe]

I found myself taking a unexpected and rather lengthy vacation to a foreign land, which is the flowery version of "Deployed to Iraq".

I realized that it might not be in my best interests to overly annoy someone carrying an automatic weapon.

Funny and insightful. Great to have you here.

Cara

[Turtle]

Howdy all:

Thanks for the warm welcome! It's always a pleasure to meet people who share my musical interests. Thanks also for the web links, I am sure they will prove highly usefull. IDAwHOa, I would be happy to play a few tunes with a fellow statesman. I live in Pocatello, so it shouldn't be too
difficult to get together.

Ya'll take care
Turtle

[anniemcu]

Hello all:

Just thought I would introduce myself. The name is Turtle (not really, but I'm a bit slow today), and I am from a small town in Idaho. Several months ago I found myself taking a unexpected and rather lengthy vacation to a foreign land, which is the flowery version of "Deployed to Iraq". Anyhow, along the way we stopped in a place called Ireland and lo and behold, in the airport gift shop was an item called a tinwhistle. Now having always had an interest in celtic music, I thought to myself "hey! This is a golden opportunity"! It's not everyday that a man gets the chance to learn an entirely new squeeky instrument far away from the
insidious heckling and cajoling of irate family members, which kind of takes the fun out of it, but is probably better for my health in the long run. This being the case, I purchased said whistle and continued on my journey to the birthplace of civilization. At first, I attempted to learn some tunes from memory. Unfortunately my memory is not what it once was (OK, it never was to start with, but its my story). After dredging my mind for usefull tunes, and playing them relentlessly, I came to the realization that some of my compatriots were giving me very odd looks, and one in particular had developed a very bad tic. Now normally, this would not phase me, but in my current situation I realized that it might not be in my best interests to overly annoy someone carrying an automatic weapon. I decided immediately that I must increase my playlist. Thus began my search of the internet which has led me to this fine site. I have found a plethora of music and information, and I greatly appreciate people such as yourselves who have made this site and others like it possible. I have spent countless hours sitting in the dark watching the moon and stars over Iraq, and whistling my woes away.

Ya'll take care
Turtle

Bless you! and Welcome! May your compatriots come to appreciate the divertion your playing affords... as opposed to resorting to using your whistle as a prybar for roadside repairs.

P.S. A little trick for practicing or playing when you need to not be heard... put the end of the fipple against your chin, just below your lips, and blow down into the sound hole. You can still hear the notes, but it isn't loud enough to bother anybody. It does kind of limit you to the lower octave, but it beats the heck out of not being able to whistle when you want to. (Thanks Joanie!)