I need some encouragement or frank feedback.
I am 50, can't read music, well I know the barest of basics, I cannot carry a tune in a basket, but I really enjoy Celtic music and the sound of the whistle. My children are all quite good musicians (Scottish bagpipes, voice and guitar). When they talk keys and tabs its a foreign tongue.
but it is very hard to hear live Celtic music around here and I would love to take it up.
My immediate family assure me that I am a musical cripple and should forget it, but a good friend at work believes that everyone can acquire at least a basic facility in common musical instruments like piano and guitar if they are willing to practice daily for even 15-30 minutes.
What do you think? Can it be learned initially from a book and CD?
Looks like a great and knowlegeable bunch here in the forum, BTW, as i have seen from the past couple of weeks of lurking.
Cheers,
T.P.
Can a 50 year old with a tin ear play a tinwhistle?
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Tango Papa
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pipersgrip
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Joe63251
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I've met MANY 50+ people with tin ears that play the tin whistle.
It doesn't stop them, so it shouldn't stop you!!!
But seriously, play and have fun! ... and have fun playing.
One of the best things about tin whistling is that (for beginner's especially) the annoyingness of the high pitch covers up the annoyingness of beginner mistakes. In other words, if someone complains of the sound-- blame the whistle!
MOST IMPORTANTLY: If you have difficulties, keep posting your questions here on C&F. But if you are enjoying yourself don't let everyone else's posts here get you wondering "IS my playing good enough?"
Happy whistling!!!
It doesn't stop them, so it shouldn't stop you!!!
But seriously, play and have fun! ... and have fun playing.
One of the best things about tin whistling is that (for beginner's especially) the annoyingness of the high pitch covers up the annoyingness of beginner mistakes. In other words, if someone complains of the sound-- blame the whistle!
MOST IMPORTANTLY: If you have difficulties, keep posting your questions here on C&F. But if you are enjoying yourself don't let everyone else's posts here get you wondering "IS my playing good enough?"
Happy whistling!!!
I'm not lazy, I'm just blessed with a lack of ambition, that's all.
-Satchmo
-Satchmo
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anniemcu
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Why, yes, we can.
anniemcu
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"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
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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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azw
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I've been in several musical groups that were totally composed of people in their 40's and 50's who were learning to play an instrument for the first time. We did just fine, judging by the audiences' reactions.
In a previous life I taught drawing and painting. As long as my students could relax into the exercises, I could teach anyone to draw or paint. Many of them became quite good. There were individual differences, of course, so each person's work looked different. But they all learned the skills.
Well, to be 100% honest, there were a few didn't learn. These were the ones who insisted on continuing with the stick figures and horses they had been drawing since childhood. If you want to learn something new, you've got to be willing to experience the uncomfortable foreignness of the new. What many saw as exciting, these few found unnerving.
You're absolutely right: Practice daily for just 15-30 minutes and you'll make amazing progress over the course of a year or two.
When you're learning a tune, I think it helps to have the tune in your head. So, listen to the music before you try to learn it.
Enjoy!
In a previous life I taught drawing and painting. As long as my students could relax into the exercises, I could teach anyone to draw or paint. Many of them became quite good. There were individual differences, of course, so each person's work looked different. But they all learned the skills.
Well, to be 100% honest, there were a few didn't learn. These were the ones who insisted on continuing with the stick figures and horses they had been drawing since childhood. If you want to learn something new, you've got to be willing to experience the uncomfortable foreignness of the new. What many saw as exciting, these few found unnerving.
You're absolutely right: Practice daily for just 15-30 minutes and you'll make amazing progress over the course of a year or two.
When you're learning a tune, I think it helps to have the tune in your head. So, listen to the music before you try to learn it.
Enjoy!
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squidgirl
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Hmm, I'm 46 and can't carry a tune either, but love many kinds of music. I've always considered myself something of a musical cripple, but I seem to be able to learn to play the whistle. I hope that encourages you...
I started playing a few years ago, played for a few months then neglected it for most of the time since then, and started again early this month. After these couple of weeks I've remembered almost all I'd learned last time 'round, and even made some progress past where I was back then. I seem to be playing well enough that my roommate (who's an accomplished musician) says it sounds pretty good... though the other roommate (not a musician) refuses to let me play when she's at home.
I find that the hardest part is just persevering with something I'm simply not very good at yet -- at our age, one gets pretty used to being reasonably good at the things one does. And so it gets very frustrating when you're trying to play and your fingers just won't do what your mind is trying to tell them to. And at times it sounds awful and that's discouraging. But then you have days when your skill seems to leap forward all of a sudden, and that feels great.
Lots of words to say that if I can do it, you probably can too. And I seem to be doing it -- I now have about 20 tunes I can play reasonably well. And both that one roommate and another friend have said that I'm pleasant to listen to!
I started playing a few years ago, played for a few months then neglected it for most of the time since then, and started again early this month. After these couple of weeks I've remembered almost all I'd learned last time 'round, and even made some progress past where I was back then. I seem to be playing well enough that my roommate (who's an accomplished musician) says it sounds pretty good... though the other roommate (not a musician) refuses to let me play when she's at home.
I find that the hardest part is just persevering with something I'm simply not very good at yet -- at our age, one gets pretty used to being reasonably good at the things one does. And so it gets very frustrating when you're trying to play and your fingers just won't do what your mind is trying to tell them to. And at times it sounds awful and that's discouraging. But then you have days when your skill seems to leap forward all of a sudden, and that feels great.
Lots of words to say that if I can do it, you probably can too. And I seem to be doing it -- I now have about 20 tunes I can play reasonably well. And both that one roommate and another friend have said that I'm pleasant to listen to!
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dfernandez77
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s1m0n
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Tin ears are exceedingly rare. If you really have one, you'd have little or no desire to play an instrument in the first place--music would be meaningless to you.
If you are able to tell the difference between the national anthem and, say, Pop Goes the Weasel, then you are not tone deaf.
~~
What you might have is a brain that's untrained in terms of pitch recognition.
And what's untrained can be trained. Yes, you're going to have a hard time at first, but the more you work at it, the better you'll get.
~~
Many years ago I tooka book out of the library which was called [url= http://www.amazon.com/Tone-Deaf-Thumbs- ... 0670808423[/url]
It's by a neurologist who took up the piano later in life. As he learned he found himself wondering about the neuro-science of music. I found it a fascinating read, and it's the book that gave me the courage to take up the whistle as an adult. Some of the hourney was enormously frustrating, and the other foks in the class seemed to do effortlessly what was either impossible for me or extremely difficult.
However, persistance paid off. I'll never be a virtuoso, but I can play.
He's Amaxon's blurb about the book.
If you are able to tell the difference between the national anthem and, say, Pop Goes the Weasel, then you are not tone deaf.
~~
What you might have is a brain that's untrained in terms of pitch recognition.
And what's untrained can be trained. Yes, you're going to have a hard time at first, but the more you work at it, the better you'll get.
~~
Many years ago I tooka book out of the library which was called [url= http://www.amazon.com/Tone-Deaf-Thumbs- ... 0670808423[/url]
It's by a neurologist who took up the piano later in life. As he learned he found himself wondering about the neuro-science of music. I found it a fascinating read, and it's the book that gave me the courage to take up the whistle as an adult. Some of the hourney was enormously frustrating, and the other foks in the class seemed to do effortlessly what was either impossible for me or extremely difficult.
However, persistance paid off. I'll never be a virtuoso, but I can play.
He's Amaxon's blurb about the book.
From Publishers Weekly
Convinced that everyone has an inborn ability to make music (a "biological guarantee of musicianship"), California neurologist Wilson, who came late to piano playing, here presents a picture of the brain and muscular system to help nonmusicians to understand that the human body is a "natural learner." He describes, in admirably untechnical language, the biology of rhythm and tempo, how we hear and see, the intricacies of musical notation; he tells what it's like to perform in public. Drawing comparisons between music-making and athletic skills, Wilson also tries to clarify such mysteries as tone deafness, perfect ptich, sight reading, memorization and "pumping ivory."
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
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brewerpaul
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Tin ear
Tin whistle
Works for me!
Yes, you can learn. Get a good tutor like Bill Ochs' "The Clarke Tinwhistle" and follow the lessons one by one. It'll teach you to read music and will progress from very simple tunes to fully ornamented jigs and reels. You can hear what each lesson is supposed to sound like on the accompanying CD. You're in for a LOT of fun.
Tin whistle
Works for me!
Yes, you can learn. Get a good tutor like Bill Ochs' "The Clarke Tinwhistle" and follow the lessons one by one. It'll teach you to read music and will progress from very simple tunes to fully ornamented jigs and reels. You can hear what each lesson is supposed to sound like on the accompanying CD. You're in for a LOT of fun.
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bozemanhc
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If you just play every day, even for a few minutes, you will wake up one day and realize that you have made progress. Listen to CDs if you can't find live music, but just listen as often as you can; in the car, at home, during walks, etc. This instills the proper sound into your being and will come out in your playing.
At 50, you have a lot of life ahead of you. Just play and enjoy it.
In college, I took a course in water color painting. When it was over, the instructor told the class to continue painting as often as we could. He said "Don't try to create the perfect painting, just paint a lot and you will find that your painting will greatly improve". This applies to playing music as well.
At 50, you have a lot of life ahead of you. Just play and enjoy it.
In college, I took a course in water color painting. When it was over, the instructor told the class to continue painting as often as we could. He said "Don't try to create the perfect painting, just paint a lot and you will find that your painting will greatly improve". This applies to playing music as well.
Howard
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dwinterfield
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I'm getting close to 60 and have been playing the whistle for 4 years. It's among the 4-5 smartest things I've ever done - and I'm not very good. I put in an inordinate amount of effort for what only occasionally comes out sounding right. Best investment I've ever made.
Tell your family 1) it's just your starter instrument; 2) whatever musical talent they have came from you; and, 3) you patiently listened to them in the painful early years, now it's their turn to listen to you.
Tell your family 1) it's just your starter instrument; 2) whatever musical talent they have came from you; and, 3) you patiently listened to them in the painful early years, now it's their turn to listen to you.
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polishlady
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s1mon may be correct when he says that very few people are truly tone-deaf, but there are plenty of people who do not have the "ear" to easily learn tunes by ear. This is especially true when you come to playing music late in life. However, this is no reason not to learn an instrument.
Once you've master an octave-and-a-half on the tinwhistle, teach yourself to read music. Not necessarily to play fluently and fast from sheet music (which is a challenge) but simply to be able to look at sheet music and figure out the notes. This is not difficult. For tinwhistle, you only need to learn the keys of D and G, and only an octave-and-a-half (roughly).
Then find a good recording of a tune you want to learn, and find sheet music for the tune (from session.org, or JC's tune finder). The recording will tell you how the tune should sound; now pick your way through the sheet music a phrase at a time. Your goal is to learn the tune "by heart" so that you can play without the sheet music.
Once you've master an octave-and-a-half on the tinwhistle, teach yourself to read music. Not necessarily to play fluently and fast from sheet music (which is a challenge) but simply to be able to look at sheet music and figure out the notes. This is not difficult. For tinwhistle, you only need to learn the keys of D and G, and only an octave-and-a-half (roughly).
Then find a good recording of a tune you want to learn, and find sheet music for the tune (from session.org, or JC's tune finder). The recording will tell you how the tune should sound; now pick your way through the sheet music a phrase at a time. Your goal is to learn the tune "by heart" so that you can play without the sheet music.