What else do people play (other than ITM)?

[crookedtune]

Cool, where's Sparta, and what makes them so open-minded?

[fancypiper]

It's in the north western corner of North Carolina, 17 miles from Galax VA, home of the oldest Old Fiddlers Convention and one county east of the Tennessee border.

My favorite old time fiddlers are the ones in Sparta, Elk Creek, VA, Mt Airy NC, and Clifftop, WV.

Map

I don't know why they are so open minded, but they do like the whistle and flute (Naomi plays a lot of old time on the silver flute). I guess they just enjoy good sounding music and the more the merrier!

Of course, some of them say they don't know much "leprechaun" music. I keep reminding them of the Irish crossovers such as Temperance Reel, and others I can't think of just now, and the Scottish crossovers like Hop High Ladies, Cold Frosty Morning, Soldiers Joy, Little Beggerman, etc.

[Guidus]

In addition to ITM, I love to play anything that will annoy my clarinet teacher

[Tyler]

Celtic punk

[walrii]

There are lots of Christmas Carols that fit the whistle's range. Wanderer has a bunch on his site. One advantage to carols is you already have them in your head.

[BoneQuint]

Imagine someone in a remote country taking up electric guitar, never having heard any rock music. They find sheet music to "Smoke on the Water," and learn to "play" it. What is that going to sound like to someone who grew up exposed to rock music all their life? Our enthusiastic guitarist will say, "It sounds just like real rock music to me! People recognize it instantly as such!"

Or, have you ever tried to help someone with a strong accent fix some mistakes in their speech? Especially with sounds not in their native tongue? You can repeat it over and over, and they'll repeat the same mistake, and you'll say, "No, it's like this!" and they'll say, "I'm saying it just like you are!" But of course they aren't.

I'm not trying to dissuade anybody, but just give a realistic idea of the hurdles involved if you haven't been regularly exposed to a certain type of music from a young age. It's a lot of hard work, and the hardest part is that you haven't developed the ability to percieve what you're missing, so to you it might sound just fine. But playing with others who have developed their hearing and playing to the genre of music, you may sound like the middle-aged suburban guy who read about how "the kids talk" and walks up to a group of teenagers and says, "yo, homieez. What is the haps?"

Recording yourself, and then listening carefully as if someone else was playing it, can help a lot. (My own "accent" is quite strong, by the way).

[colomon]

I'm not trying to dissuade anybody, but just give a realistic idea of the hurdles involved if you haven't been regularly exposed to a certain type of music from a young age. It's a lot of hard work, and the hardest part is that you haven't developed the ability to percieve what you're missing, so to you it might sound just fine.

I'd like to emphasize that this is by no means impossibly hard. The biggest hurdles are realizing that it really is something you have to learn and dedicating yourself to learning it.

[BoneQuint]

I'd like to emphasize that this is by no means impossibly hard. The biggest hurdles are realizing that it really is something you have to learn and dedicating yourself to learning it.

I agree, well said.

[falkbeer]

Here are the results from a poll a made recently

Music for the tin whistle?
Folk / Ethnic / World music 9% [ 7 ]
Irish / Scottish / Celtic 78% [ 57 ]
Jazz 2% [ 2 ]
Popular music 0% [ 0 ]
Classical music 0% [ 0 ]
Mediaeval / Renaissance 4% [ 3 ]
My own compositions 5% [ 4 ]
Total Votes : 73

[Easily_Deluded_Fool]

Kiss from a rose by Seal

This is my version that plays on a low D whistle.
A Soprano whistle might just break something
(friendships, marriages, glass jugs!)
Copy/paste into
http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
for the midi file and pdf.
I used Mid2Abc to make the abc file and export it as a midi
for Midinotate.
I find it easier to read and follow the dots than the abc notation.
If you print out the pdf, or the dots from one of the midi prog's
there is a 6 bar rest after bar 71. I didn't put it in because it's
annoying waiting 6 bars doing nothing
I found that the highest notes sequence is easily got by
using the third octave,
closing holes 2+3 then 2+3+4, then dropping into the 2nd
octave for the high a (1+2) very quickly, and is well worth
practising that bit alone until you've got it.
There is some half holing or cross fingering to practice too.
For tab' readers use tabkaraoke - google for it, it's free.
It might not show the highest notes in the tab screen,
but do the above for the high sequences. The two main
octaves will show up ok. Copy to clipboard and paste to
your favourite word processor for a hard copy.
Adapt it for yourselves.


X: 1
T: Kiss from a rose
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=130
K:G
V:1%%MIDI program 1 73
%Flute
z8|z2 AB c3d|cz B2 A2 G2|A4 AG A2-|
Az AB c3d|cz B2 G2 Bz|A3z AG A2-|A2 z4 ^c2-|
^c2 ^cd ^cd ^cd|e2 G2 e2 e2|d2 =c2 e^c3|z2 a2 _a2 e2|
^c4 d2 e2|G2 e2 e2 d2|=c2 e^c3- ^c/2z3/2|d'2 ^c'3=a e2-|
e2 fz g2 e2|e2 f2 d2 d2|e2 ^c^c a_a ^c2|z^c =a_a =c3z|
A2 c3d c2|B2 Az3 c2-|cd c2 B2 A2|G2 ^c4- ^cz|
z4 ^c'2 =a2-|a2- a/2z3/2 ae ge|ge a2 g2 e2|d2 =c2 B2 A2|
a3e ge ge|ge a2 g2 e2|d2 z^c d2 ^c2-|^c2 z2 a2 g2|
e2 a2 g2 ed-|d3z2e a2|g2 e2 d2 G2|_A2 =A6-|
A4 AB =c2-|cd c2 B2 A2|G2 A4 AG|A4- Az d^c-|
^c2 z2 ^cd ^cd|^cd e2 G2 e2|e2 d2 =c2 e^c-|^c2 z2 a2 _a2-|
_ae ^c4 dz|e2 d2 ez g2|e2 g2 =a3/2z2z/2|ag e=c d2 zc|
dc dc d_e =eG|GG GG A3z|z2 AB AB AB|cB B4- B/2z3/2|
ze a_a ^c3^c|=a_a =c2- c/2z3/2 A2|c3d cz B2|A2 G2 c3d|
cz B2 A2 G2|A6- A/2z3/2|z2 ^c'2 =a4-|az ae ge ge|
a2 g2 e2 d2|c2 B2 A2 za-|a3e ge ge|a2 g2- g/2e3/2 d2-|
dc d2 ^c4-|^c2 a2 g2 e2|a2 g2 e2 d2-|d2- d/2z3/2 a2 g2|
e2 d3=c B2|A6- A/2z3/2|
z4 g2 g2-|g2 d2 d4|d2 c2 Bc3|B2 ag g2 z2|
g2 d4 d2|d2 c2 Bc3|B2 cd g2 g2-|g2 d2 d4|
z2 c2 BA3|g2 fg3 ed|ed4-d z2|z6 E2|
A2 B2 A4|A2 ^cd ^cd ^cd|e2 G2 e2 e2|d2 =c2 e^c a_a-|
_ae ^c4 dz|e2 d2 e2 g2|e2 g2 =az3|z6 z=c|
dc dc d_e =eG|GG GG A4|z2 AB AB AB|z2 cB B3-B/2z/2|
zB a_a ^c3^c|=a_a =c4 A2|c3d c2 B2|A2 G2 c3d|
c2 B2 A2 G2|A8-|A/2z3/2 =c'2 =a4-|a/2z3/2 ae ge ge|
a2 g2 e2 d2|c2 B2 A2- A/2z3/2|a3e ge ge|a2 g2 e2 d2-|
dc d2 ^c4-|^cz a2 g2 e2|a2 g2 e2 d2-|d3z a2 g2|
e2 d3G _A2|=A4- Ae ge|ge ge a2 g2|e2 d3-d/2 G G2A4|

I forgot about tab' users when I first submitted the post.

[Susu]

. . . the hardest part is that you haven't developed the ability to percieve what you're missing. . .

No doubt, that is true.
Continuing along that topic (hopefully to the benefit of those of us wishing to develop that preception), I'm interested to know what you all think is the most common problem that plagues whistlers new to ITM? In other words, what do you hear that lets you know immediately that a person is not a "native"?

[s1m0n]

Playford tunes, otherwise known as "english country dance music" or maybe tunes from the various edition of "The English Dancing Master " of the 18th century are often gorgeous, and take very well indeed to being played with ITM-style ornament & variations.

And they're a little slower than Jigs, polkas or reels as currently played in ITM.

~~

The only drawbacks to this repertoire from a trad POV is the rather more of the tunes are in C or flat keys like Bb or F than is the case in ITM, and that conservatory-trained Early Music specialists think they own it, and these tend a little more to stiffness than people playing trad informed from a living tradition.

On the other hand, it will give you a good reason to use all those whistles you have in keys other than D.

~~

Btw, if you're intrigued, these are the books to have:

The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master Edited by Jeremy Barlow Faber Music, London, 1985

English Country Dance Tunes, 1986, 1996, edited and arranged by Peter Barnes. 178 pages, spiral bound. $20.00 plus $2.25 postage. Library of Congress cat. #94-700-722

But a lot of the tunes are already available in various ABC collections around the net--Google "Playford tunes" ABC and poke around--there's plenty to be had.

[s1m0n]

Playford tunes, otherwise known as "english country dance music" or maybe tunes from the various edition of "The English Dancing Master " of the 18th century are often gorgeous, and take very well indeed to being played with ITM-style ornament & variations.

And they're a little slower than Jigs, polkas or reels as currently played in ITM.

~~

The only drawbacks to this repertoire from a trad POV is the rather more of the tunes are in C or flat keys like Bb or F than is the case in ITM, and that conservatory-trained Early Music specialists think they own it, and these tend a little more to stiffness than people playing trad informed from a living tradition.

On the other hand, it will give you a good reason to use all those whistles you have in keys other than D.

~~

Btw, if you're intrigued, these are the books to have:

The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master Edited by Jeremy Barlow Faber Music, London, 1985

English Country Dance Tunes, 1986, 1996, edited and arranged by Peter Barnes. 178 pages, spiral bound. $20.00 plus $2.25 postage. Library of Congress cat. #94-700-722

But a lot of the tunes are already available in various ABC collections around the net--Google "Playford tunes" ABC and poke around--there's plenty to be had.

[Cubitt]

Playford and all things under the banner of Early Music. I use a low G whistle, which is especially well suited to this music.

[Cubitt]

. . . the hardest part is that you haven't developed the ability to percieve what you're missing. . .

No doubt, that is true.
Continuing along that topic (hopefully to the benefit of those of us wishing to develop that preception), I'm interested to know what you all think is the most common problem that plagues whistlers new to ITM? In other words, what do you hear that lets you know immediately that a person is not a "native"?

The lack of flow and too much tonguing.