On 2002-07-01 21:18, ChrisLaughlin wrote:
That's a really, really good question and one that merits a good answer. Really, one can not expect a new whistler to know all these things. However, one would think that they'd want to learn them. My experience here, a source of frustration, is that many new players, and a lot of the people who have been playing for a long time but are still not any good do not want to hear any sound advice about improving their playing.
Thanks very much for your response, Chris.
The frustration I can well understand. The discipline of fifing is different from that of whistling, but I've found myself in parallel situations. I was, and am, very much interested in fifing, in learning all that I could about it, and in improving my skills with daily practice. Then when I go to a reenactment there are sometimes both "fifers" and "drummers" who want to fall in with the group but do none of the above, or are being led by parents who entertain the notion that the Field Music is cheap daycare. When I make suggestions for improvement, they aren't taken up, by parents, by "musicians," by officers, by enlisted men. It can be <i><b>very</b></i> frustrating.
But that still doesn't give me leave to be rude. A sense of humility is a very worthwhile thing to develop.
Rather, they reject advice and knowledge that could help them a lot, even going so far as to verbally attack those who offer the advice.
I looked back over the thread, and found nothing at all from lollycross which answers this description, and might have justified the later responses.
I edited out your stories about whistle and flute lessons to reduce space. I can only say that I am all too well aware of my own shortcomings and work daily to improve my skills, as do you. I am able to listen to myself play, and generally know when my rhythm, or whatever, is off, but it can take a while for the fingers to learn to follow the mind. I have also been around accomplished players, of both Celtic and fife music, who maintained an absurdly inflated notion of their own worth, and who very carefully eliminated the possibility that I might be able to learn anything from them. Why would we want that to happen here?
I love that so many people here play out of shear enjoyment without a care about every becoming good players. That's wonderful. However, I get really frustrated when people ask for advice on how to become good whistle players and then reject good advice when it's given, favoring instead the lazy path to poor musicianship.
Advice is a funny thing. The giving of it doesn't confer control over what the recipient does with it. It's an issue of long standing -- read up on "Pearls Before Swine" in the Bible.
It seems to me that in giving advice, one has to be unselfish. Give it, and then let the others make of it what they will. If it appears that some don't respect what you've given them, then perhaps it isn't worthwhile to give them more. So ... don't. Quietly.
Remember, though, that people trying to grasp an elusive concept may approach it with questions from different directions. It is well to be patient with that, because it is an extremely useful method. That means that Joe Blow may ask you <i>this</i> today, <i>that</i> -- which is very similar to <i>this</i> -- tomorrow, and <i>another thing</i> on the day following, or week, or month. Is Joe not paying attention, or just working out a problem he finds difficult?
It is well to be patient. I have seen the desire to play music quenched by the arrogant, the immature, and the mistaken, who thoroughly misinterpreted a situation. ( "Self love is more opaque than a solid body." M.B. Eddy ) That is very sad when it happens -- "a little bit of Mozart murdered," as St. Exupery put it.
In any event, I'm sure there are poor players in Ireland. It's historically accurate, part of "The Pure Drop."
