So how many of you have ever recorded yourselves and it made you realize how awful you sound!? It's a great teaching tool, so all the tutorials and other whistlers I know have said. So I recorded myself while practicing. Ugh! So depressing!
First, hearing oneself on a recording is in fact very helpful. I was able to hear much better where my rhythm was uneven, where it might be better to not tongue, where certain ornamentation was out of place or not flowing well.
But there is definitely that same feeling of seeing yourself on video or hearing your voice on a recording -- it was awful. I feel so deflated. Playing along with a CD or at sessions, I love the sound, I'm having a great time, and it seems like I play pretty well for a beginner (about 1 1/2 years now). But the recording really points out where you still need (a lot of ) work, and it's depressing to hear how far I have yet to go.
I guess the only way to get better is to keep practicing, like anything else you are learning, but sometimes the gap between where you are and where you'd like to be seems so big . . . sigh.
Anyway, just venting, hope everyone is well and whistling away!
Zoe
Recording myself . . . ugk!
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Cynth
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Oh dear. I'm sure everyone has that experience. I haven't tried it myself.
I have seen it recommended to record yourself every six months and then go back and listen to where you were six months previously when you start feeling that you haven't made progress. So just save this tape and make another in six months. Listen to this tape and you will be cheered by your improvement! In fact, if you had a tape from your beginning days I bet you would be marveling over how far you've come. You are comparing the wrong things here. Compare where you are to where you were, not to where you want to be!
I have seen it recommended to record yourself every six months and then go back and listen to where you were six months previously when you start feeling that you haven't made progress. So just save this tape and make another in six months. Listen to this tape and you will be cheered by your improvement! In fact, if you had a tape from your beginning days I bet you would be marveling over how far you've come. You are comparing the wrong things here. Compare where you are to where you were, not to where you want to be!
Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium. ~ Diligence is a very great help even to a mediocre intelligence.----Seneca
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Gabriel
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I feel for you.
I recently decided to send a recording to clips&snips, so I started my homerecording setup which I normally use for piano recordings, plugged in my mic, and started to play...when I was ready I started playback and my first impression was "that isn't me".
But the positive side is that you really can use this circumstance to train yourself, especially your ear - it's the same what every fiddle player has to learn since the instrument always sounds different to listeners than to yourself.
Keep at it!
I recently decided to send a recording to clips&snips, so I started my homerecording setup which I normally use for piano recordings, plugged in my mic, and started to play...when I was ready I started playback and my first impression was "that isn't me".
But the positive side is that you really can use this circumstance to train yourself, especially your ear - it's the same what every fiddle player has to learn since the instrument always sounds different to listeners than to yourself.
Keep at it!
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colomon
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I've got some compositions up at http://www.harmonyware.com/tunes/SolsTunes.html - Location: Midland, Michigan
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Re: Recording myself . . . ugk!
That's true for almost all of us, I think. I've been at this for seven years now, and when I listen to recordings of myself, all I can hear is the problems.Zoe wrote:So how many of you have ever recorded yourselves and it made you realize how awful you sound!? It's a great teaching tool, so all the tutorials and other whistlers I know have said. So I recorded myself while practicing. Ugh! So depressing!
Sol's Tunes (new tune 2/2020)
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peeplj
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If you record yourself regularly, it can become a useful practice tool. Listening to the recording the next day works better for me than right after it's made; it's like trying to proofread what you just typed, your brain can substitue what you meant to type--or play.
At one time, I had hoped I could get several folks recording and posting their recordings and we could all help each other improve. That plan didn't turn out to be workable--people tend to be long on criticism but short on helpful suggestions--but regular recordings of your playing do help season you as a player, and can show you exactly what you need to focus on the most.
--James
At one time, I had hoped I could get several folks recording and posting their recordings and we could all help each other improve. That plan didn't turn out to be workable--people tend to be long on criticism but short on helpful suggestions--but regular recordings of your playing do help season you as a player, and can show you exactly what you need to focus on the most.
--James
Well, it's one thing to say that everyone sounds sucky at first, and that's probably a universal truth in anything, but there are always reasons for it, and if there is a reason for something, there is something that can be done about it.
Being discouraged over it is not particularly constructive, so I prefer to take a more pragmatic approach. There is a reason I sound sucky, and if there is a reason for it, I can do something to eliminate it.
I think there may be two factors which interfere with and degrade the quality of our "listening experience," i.e., make us think out playing sounds sucky.
When you are playing, a good bit of the sound you hear is transmitted to your ears through the bones in your head. What you hear is therefore more resonant, more vibrant, and more "full" than what someone several meters away will hear. (This is why our own voice sounds deeper to us than it does to others.)
If you are playing the piano or even a guitar, what you hear is more like what others hear, so you are able to shape the sounds more easily. It sounds the same to you as it does to others, so if your music is sounding good to you, it is sounding good to others. What you hear is what they get. There is a direct correlation between what you do and what they hear. That is, if you apply x amount of pressure to a piano key, y amount of sound is produced, and if you hear it as y, then everybody else does, too.
With whistle, you blow with x amount of effort/technique so that you hear y amount of sound, but everybody else hears half of that. You, therefore, have to play with 2x amount of effort/technique in order that everybody hears y. And you may need earplugs.
When you learn whistle, you will be emulating other players and trying to approximate what they are doing. You aim to produce the same sound, but you don't realize that what YOU hear from yourself is not what others hear. The experienced player you are emulating did not himself hear it the way YOU heard him play--he heard MORE sound than you did. So, when you play, you produce the same sound he did TO YOUR OWN EARS, but it's still "too thin" when others hear it--they're not hearing all that you heard through your jaw.
It may be that one thing you have to learn in playing whistle and flute is to overplay somewhat, as far as what you hear, so that others hear a "full" sound. This is probably one of the good points to having a teacher . . . they probably coach adequate sound production right off.
So, what can you do about this if you don't have someone handy to listen and provide advice??? A guy who works down the hall from me has a recording studio. I brought him the graphic of a clip and asked him about the big gaps between notes. He suggested to work on closing them up, but to do so by filling them with sound, not by "speeding up."
When I tried that, I felt as though I were playing too loudly and overdoing it. I found myself becoming nervous that someone would hear me, and I realized that I was holding back for fear of bothering the neighbors. It sounded TOO LOUD to me, but someone sitting there with me said it wasn't loud at all. So, I learned that I have to really blast away in order to get enough sound to fill up those gaps. (I also have to not come to a dead stop in between the notes.
) And even when I'm blasting away to my own ears, it's still not all that loud.
He also said that a lot of the gaps and tinny sound had to do with the recording apparatus. If the microphone isn't sensitive enough to pick up all of the sound, you won't actually record all the sound you produce. There actually is sound in those gaps, but the mike isn't hearing it. With my cheapie mike, I have to be right up against it--literally an inch away--or it won't pick up much at all.
When you hear CDs, you're not always hearing raw sound. It's been electronically enhanced. So, you may be attempting to sound like the impossible.
In the light of all this, you should feel better about the way you sound. Instead of feeling discouraged, recognize that the recording isn't necessarily a truthful representation of what others hear.
Recognize that you've probably been accurate in YOUR hearing of your playing (since your jawbone has conducted it straight into your ears), but that you need to add sound and play even louder and more vibrantly in order to produce enough sound that others hear it the way you want them to.
So, it's not that you still sound terrible! You have learned and improved to the point that you can play and sound good to yourself, and your ears aren't lying to you. You're hearing what you are playing! You're just hearing more of it than they are.
The goal now becomes using those ghastly recordings to determine how much more sound you need to produce so that others can hear you, too!
Disclaimer: This suggestion was provide by a beginner AND truly sucky player!
Being discouraged over it is not particularly constructive, so I prefer to take a more pragmatic approach. There is a reason I sound sucky, and if there is a reason for it, I can do something to eliminate it.
I think there may be two factors which interfere with and degrade the quality of our "listening experience," i.e., make us think out playing sounds sucky.
When you are playing, a good bit of the sound you hear is transmitted to your ears through the bones in your head. What you hear is therefore more resonant, more vibrant, and more "full" than what someone several meters away will hear. (This is why our own voice sounds deeper to us than it does to others.)
If you are playing the piano or even a guitar, what you hear is more like what others hear, so you are able to shape the sounds more easily. It sounds the same to you as it does to others, so if your music is sounding good to you, it is sounding good to others. What you hear is what they get. There is a direct correlation between what you do and what they hear. That is, if you apply x amount of pressure to a piano key, y amount of sound is produced, and if you hear it as y, then everybody else does, too.
With whistle, you blow with x amount of effort/technique so that you hear y amount of sound, but everybody else hears half of that. You, therefore, have to play with 2x amount of effort/technique in order that everybody hears y. And you may need earplugs.
When you learn whistle, you will be emulating other players and trying to approximate what they are doing. You aim to produce the same sound, but you don't realize that what YOU hear from yourself is not what others hear. The experienced player you are emulating did not himself hear it the way YOU heard him play--he heard MORE sound than you did. So, when you play, you produce the same sound he did TO YOUR OWN EARS, but it's still "too thin" when others hear it--they're not hearing all that you heard through your jaw.
It may be that one thing you have to learn in playing whistle and flute is to overplay somewhat, as far as what you hear, so that others hear a "full" sound. This is probably one of the good points to having a teacher . . . they probably coach adequate sound production right off.
So, what can you do about this if you don't have someone handy to listen and provide advice??? A guy who works down the hall from me has a recording studio. I brought him the graphic of a clip and asked him about the big gaps between notes. He suggested to work on closing them up, but to do so by filling them with sound, not by "speeding up."
When I tried that, I felt as though I were playing too loudly and overdoing it. I found myself becoming nervous that someone would hear me, and I realized that I was holding back for fear of bothering the neighbors. It sounded TOO LOUD to me, but someone sitting there with me said it wasn't loud at all. So, I learned that I have to really blast away in order to get enough sound to fill up those gaps. (I also have to not come to a dead stop in between the notes.
) And even when I'm blasting away to my own ears, it's still not all that loud.He also said that a lot of the gaps and tinny sound had to do with the recording apparatus. If the microphone isn't sensitive enough to pick up all of the sound, you won't actually record all the sound you produce. There actually is sound in those gaps, but the mike isn't hearing it. With my cheapie mike, I have to be right up against it--literally an inch away--or it won't pick up much at all.
When you hear CDs, you're not always hearing raw sound. It's been electronically enhanced. So, you may be attempting to sound like the impossible.
In the light of all this, you should feel better about the way you sound. Instead of feeling discouraged, recognize that the recording isn't necessarily a truthful representation of what others hear.
Recognize that you've probably been accurate in YOUR hearing of your playing (since your jawbone has conducted it straight into your ears), but that you need to add sound and play even louder and more vibrantly in order to produce enough sound that others hear it the way you want them to.
So, it's not that you still sound terrible! You have learned and improved to the point that you can play and sound good to yourself, and your ears aren't lying to you. You're hearing what you are playing! You're just hearing more of it than they are.
The goal now becomes using those ghastly recordings to determine how much more sound you need to produce so that others can hear you, too!
Disclaimer: This suggestion was provide by a beginner AND truly sucky player!
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riverman
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Don't feel bad Zoe, I tried the same thing to send a whistle tape to my sister (kind of a gag gift), and though I liked the sound of my whistle, my notes were uneven. I bought a metronome and that helps (though I don't use it enough) and I had a teacher help me learn to read music. In reading music you don't have choice--each note has a certian time to it in relation to all the other notes. Mess up, and you have a "traffic jam." So it helps me much more than learning a song off a CD.
Trust me--you play better than you think!!
Trust me--you play better than you think!!
"Whoever comes to me I will never drive away." --Jesus Christ.
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ten or more
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Lambchops' analysis started me thinking. Could this also be the reason that when I play different whistles they sound quite distinct from each other but when I record myself on these different whistles and listen, they sound a lot less distinct from each other that what I hear. Could also be a function of undiscriminating recording equipment or my undiscriminating ear. Anyone else notice the same thing?
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Pete D
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Zoe,
I had the same exact expeience. But...when recording yourself, you realise your weakness...and strengths. Recording youself, and listing to the recording, is such a useful tool. In just a few weeks after recording myself again and again, I noticed a vast improvement. I'm sure you will too.
So two recomendations...1-keep recording, but not too much. Sometimes you just need to have fun and listen to yourself in your head. 2-A metronome.
Pete
I had the same exact expeience. But...when recording yourself, you realise your weakness...and strengths. Recording youself, and listing to the recording, is such a useful tool. In just a few weeks after recording myself again and again, I noticed a vast improvement. I'm sure you will too.
So two recomendations...1-keep recording, but not too much. Sometimes you just need to have fun and listen to yourself in your head. 2-A metronome.
Pete
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anniemcu
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Oh yeah... been there, done that, burned the T-shirt.
But actually,l it's a great way to sober yourself and get on with learning. and resist the urge to destroy those first recordings... they'll be great fun to compare yourself to later.
But actually,l it's a great way to sober yourself and get on with learning. and resist the urge to destroy those first recordings... they'll be great fun to compare yourself to later.
anniemcu
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"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
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"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
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http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
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colomon
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I've got some compositions up at http://www.harmonyware.com/tunes/SolsTunes.html - Location: Midland, Michigan
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Lambchop, this may be true for you, but that certainly doesn't describe my problems with my own recordings. I'm very happy with the sound of my whistle; I'm just not at all happy with my playing!Lambchop wrote:The goal now becomes using those ghastly recordings to determine how much more sound you need to produce so that others can hear you, too!
Even on those rare takes where I get all the notes right, there are all those little spots where I've sped up or slowed down just a touch, or I've burbled a note, or a few are a bit out of tune, or the ornaments I'm playing are just weak. It's even more frustrating because I can usually hear that I'm doing a lot of stuff right; it's just putting it all together at once that's the problem.
Sol's Tunes (new tune 2/2020)
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feadog39
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someday, zoe, you'll record yourself and you'll like what you hear. untill then, be compassionate to yourself, listen with honesty, and you'll be surprised to find that there is already greatness in your playing. it may be a bit hidden, but i assure you it's there and the more you can hear it the more it will emerge.
Brendan
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Zoe
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great feedback everyone!
You guys are the best! I needed a little pick-me-up and the advice is well taken. Especially to keep recordings and listen to them later to hear improvement, and to really pay attention and learn from the mistakes. After all I play the whistle because I love it, and feeling badly doesn't help anything.
So I got back on the whistle (hmmm, is it getting a little warm in here
) and even made a little breakthrough on Drops of Brandy today.
Slan, Zoe
So I got back on the whistle (hmmm, is it getting a little warm in here
) and even made a little breakthrough on Drops of Brandy today. Slan, Zoe
I'm sorry that my post did not fit your condition, Colomon. It probably didn't fit Zoe's condition. It might not have fit anyone's condition. But, I posted in case it might have fit someone's situation. If not now, then perhaps in the future.colomon wrote:Lambchop, this may be true for you, but that certainly doesn't describe my problems with my own recordings. I'm very happy with the sound of my whistle; I'm just not at all happy with my playing!Lambchop wrote:The goal now becomes using those ghastly recordings to determine how much more sound you need to produce so that others can hear you, too!