Noob Intro

Fighting For Air · Post by **Fighting For Air** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:19 pm

Hello all. I am a noob to this tin whistle stuff and am loving it. Short bio: I live in Salem, OR and am hoping to find some other folks out this way that are into this instrument.

I first tried to teach myself to play a couple years ago, could get nothing but a lot of squealing out of a Feadog, and gave up after about a week.
Since my last name is O'Shea, all my family members are into music, and I wanted to learn an instrument... a decided to give it another shot about 2 months ago.

So, I got another Feadog, taught myself Amazing Grace, Sally Gardens, Scarborough Fair, and a couple other slow ones.

Now, I've got a Burke brass D session model and a Sweetheart. Both of these are incredible. I was amazed at how much easier they are to play than the Feadog and how much better they sound. I've also got a few instructional CD's, DVD's, and books to help me along until I can find an instructor in the area. If any of you know of any, please let me know.

I'm doing pretty well teaching myself how to read the music and play the songs, but some of the unexplained or undemonstrated subtleties of some of the ornamentations is driving me nuts with backing up the DVD over and over again to try to catch what McCullough's fingers are doing.

Anyway.. great website, great forum. Glad I found this place is it helped me make the decision to buy the Burke and Sweetheart whistles and those are worth every penny paid for them IMHO.

Take care all.

Post by **Dale** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:25 pm

Welcome to the board. Delighted to have you with us. Thanks for introducing yourself.

Dale

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:27 pm

Welcome!

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:32 pm

Welcome to Chiff&fipple, and the exciting world of whistles.

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:40 pm

Hey there, welcome aboard. I've only been around here about a year (lurked for a little longer before though)

Great bunch of folks the CnFers are (hmm... that don't sound right

)

Don't toss your Feadog.

I didn't care for mine when I first got it but now I really like it.

Give it another try in about six months or so.

I think you'll find it easier to play.

You might want to try a few of the tweeks listed too.

You only have three whistles?

Oh that will never do.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:53 pm

Hello! It's nice to meet you.

I have heard of people talk about software that will slow down music without changing the pitch. People seem to find several types (I know some are free) of this software helpful for learning tunes. You would probably still have to play the part over and over. I don't really know anything about it or how you would get the tune from your DVD onto the computer. Perhaps you already know about this. I'm sure someone can give you more specific information if it is something you are interested in. Also, I think I have heard of things that will play a phrase as a repeated loop, so you don't have to keep manually setting it to start at a particular spot. Obviously, I am not very far beyond pushing a stop-start button myself

.

It sounds like you are doing really well.

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:37 pm

welcome and enjoy!

Chiffed · Post by **Chiffed** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 11:01 pm

Aanvil wrote:You only have three whistles?

Oh that will never do.

A Burke, a Sweet and a Feadog? That's a better start on WhOA than many.

Search for Amazing Slowdowner software, and best of luck finding folks to play with in Salem. Welcome to the forum!

Jason Paul · Post by **Jason Paul** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:52 am

As for slowing down music, I do fine with plain-old Windows Media Player. Just go to View, Enhancements, and select Play Speed Settings. It's not real fancy, but it works well enough, doesn't change the pitch, and you may already have it.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

Jason

shadeclan · Post by **shadeclan** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:01 am

Welcome to the community!

I highly recommend the website http://whistlethis.com/ as a great place to learn how to play the whistle and learn new tunes. This group posts a new tune every two weeks. Each tune has the sheet music, fingering diagrams and a simple MIDI rendition of the tune for you to study and practice. Sometimes the "tune of the biweek" is accompanied by some demo tunes by more "accomplished" whistlers. You can get other tunes that were featured before in the archive. You can even upload your own rendition if you wish.

This site has helped me a great deal. Very easy to use.

ChuffedAlex · Post by **ChuffedAlex** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:12 am

I too am new to the board, but not to the whistle.

I first took up whistle more than 20+ years ago, when I wanted to make music and no longer had either my clarinet or tenor sax from my school daze. Of course a whistle then was relatively inexpensive .....

I've played it and r****r off and on ever since, but never knew there was this whole community out there on the Internet (thank you Al Gore)

Wow a Sweetheart and a Burke?? Those are on my WhOA list ....

I've got a Mahan Woodwinds high D and a Susato Low D (with two keys for my stubby lil fingers) coming by snail in the next couple of days plus some new tune bookies. One of them is a book on Slow Airs, which are good to work on. I didn't have a problem with getting sound out of the whistle, but working on what sort of sound I was making

Those reeded instruments I used to play you could control your volume by breathing and it took a while to work out that volume is largely a result of the inherent whistle construction.

Which of course is why there's always room for one more whistle ....

I've got a lil list (well not so lil) ....

Alex

Fighting For Air · Post by **Fighting For Air** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:09 pm

Aanvil wrote:Hey there, welcome aboard. I've only been around here about a year (lurked for a little longer before though)

Don't toss your Feadog.

I didn't care for mine when I first got it but now I really like it.

Give it another try in about six months or so.

I think you'll find it easier to play.

You might want to try a few of the tweeks listed too.

You only have three whistles?

Oh that will never do.

No plans of tossing the Feadog... and I am already in the market for a another whistle. I know many people advise against this for beginners, but I'm gonna drop some dough for a low D. There are some songs I want to be able to play that may require it. My daughters are working on the piano and violin pieces of "My Immortal" by Evanescence. I'm betting a low D whistle would go great with that song.

Fighting For Air · Post by **Fighting For Air** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:12 pm

Cynth wrote:Hello! It's nice to meet you.

I have heard of people talk about software that will slow down music without changing the pitch. People seem to find several types (I know some are free) of this software helpful for learning tunes. You would probably still have to play the part over and over. I don't really know anything about it or how you would get the tune from your DVD onto the computer. Perhaps you already know about this. I'm sure someone can give you more specific information if it is something you are interested in. Also, I think I have heard of things that will play a phrase as a repeated loop, so you don't have to keep manually setting it to start at a particular spot. Obviously, I am not very far beyond pushing a stop-start button myself .

It sounds like you are doing really well.

This sounds like a great idea...thanks. I know I can use pinnacle studio to rip the audio track from the DVD as I have done that before. I guess I would have to figure out how to then convert that file format and get a software program like you mentioned. Hmmm... this would be worth looking into

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:15 pm

I'm not a low-whistle player, but I expect you'll be earning that moniker!

Fighting For Air · Post by **Fighting For Air** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:19 pm

crookedtune wrote:I'm not a low-whistle player, but I expect you'll be earning that moniker!

I'm sure I will. The name actually comes from a cardio kickboxing class I designed and taught for several years. I thought "Fighting For Air" was a good catchy title and I used the subtitle "Where every breath is a battle."

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone and for the great tips.

- Rob O'