Drove him out

[sbhikes]

Well, I drove my partner out of the house with my whistle playing. I followed him and he went right back inside. Now he's hiding in a room in the back.

I know I'm bad at it, but now I really know I'm REALLY bad.



When/how do you find time to practice without bothering anybody?

[cowtime]

When/how do you find time to practice without bothering anybody?

They just have to deal with it.

[crookedtune]

Whistle mute....... put a ball of putty on the window. Also, if you take up fiddle, he'll beg you to go back to the whistle again! Lesser of two evils, I guess.

[sbhikes]

I was playing the fiddle before!

[Blaydo]

Doesn't necessarily mean you're bad, he's probably just sick of the repetitions involved when practicing. Even if you played perfectly well he'd be still sick of hearing the same things over and over again. I know I would be. Anyway I'm lucky I have the house to myself most of the day so I just close all the windows and blast away. I don't even think the neighbors can hear me cause the walls are like 2 foot thick, even if they do, screw them cause I can make as much noise as I want during the day. It really holds you back if you're worried about people hearing you practice. Can you not kick him out of the house for a couple of hours every day?

[Tim2723]

Just take up the bagpipe and he'll be glad you're whistling!

Seriously though, it's the constant repitition that get's under most listener's skin. Work out a schedule. That's the best way to keep peace in the family. In my experience, I've found that 30 minutes of serious practice on a regular schedule is much more beneficial than hours a day tooting. Taking a break allows my brain and fingers to memorize their tasks faster than constant playing. When I come back the next day, it seems to have sunk in and I make way more progress.

[psychodonald]

If he truly loves you, he will understand or come to understand the compulsive, irrational drive and need to play your whistle. And if he dosen't, then I have a suggestion where you can stick that ball of putty that Crookedtune recommended, but your partner won't like it. In addition, there are many devices on the market that block out unwanted sound. I know because I to play whistles, GHB, SSP, Uillean Pipes and my sweet wife has actually come to appreciate my varied, unusual interests; of course the medication has helpd a lot. Keep up the good work, the only way you will improve is with practice. Good luck, Don.

[azw]

The whistle mute would probably work for you.

There's an alternative method of playing quietly without adding anything to your whistle. It's pictured here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=653383#653383

I've found that a quiet whistle helps, too. I've got a few Mack Hoover whistles that are significantly quieter. My wife usually tolerates my playing for a longer period if I use a Hoover. My Blackcap C is a real beauty to hear and it'll be easier on your ears, too.

Hm, I wonder how quiet Mack can make a whistle and still have it play?

[squeezebox99]

SOmetimes I drive myself crazy with my whistling but having conquered the fiddle AND the accordion, I guess I'm either deaf, or just tenacious!

[egreen]

I am glad that I have only my cats.

Though when I start practicing a musical instrument -- ANY musical instrument -- they flee to on top of the kitchen cabinets and start mewing piteously begging me to stop. But I am a mean daddy and continue playing whatever instrument I'm torturing at the time (whether it be guitar, harmonica, recorder, keyboard, whatever). Besides, usually I had to kick one of them off my lap in order to play, so they're probably just bitter at me playing music rather than sitting at my computer where they can take turns on my lap (they are rather large cats thus do not fit two at a time, it is hilarious though when they try!).

[jlunt]

My wife is OK with my whistle playing, but my dogs hate it. They would beg to go out in a hurricane rather than listen to me play (though they'll tolerate the low D.) And the big dog gives me look over her shoulder that let's me know exactly what she thinks of my playing.

[Key_of_D]

I was fortune enough to take up whistling when it was just my dad and I living in the house together. When I first started off, he's like "What are you playing? the flute?" haha I said of course, "No, it's called a tin whistle, it's commonly used in Irish music." He gave me a weird look at that moment. Anyway, he was surprisingly tolerant of my learning the whistle, only a few times did I get on his nerves, or did he tell me it's too late to be playing, the neighbors can hear you... Sound travels through my old house like a knife through butter. Needless to say, I have him to thank for being so tolerant, otherwise I probably wouldn't have learned when I did. Learning to master the second octave got on his nerves a bit, claiming it bothered his ears. Which was fine, but I had to learn this part of playing the instrument or I'd never progress. I'm not saying that's what you're struggling with, just using it as an example.

The nice thing about the tin whistle, say, a soprano whistle, is that it's small, you can carry one in your pocket, and take it anywhere. I would take mine to church, play before church, play after church, play in the car, where ever there wasn't a lot of people, and I had time, I was playing it. I even played a flogging molly song on the whistle after high school got out one time, a couple girls who were into FM liked that. So play at school if you're attending, and not necessarily just to impress somebody. haha.

I don't know how your daily life runs like/how much free time you get, but whenever you can, just play. Soon enough those unpleasant noises will become extinct, or not near as common as before.

If nothing else, tell him to wear earplugs!

Happy whistling,

-Eric

[Tia]

He might just need to get used to it first, if your not used to hearing the whisle being played it can sound loud and very high pitched. It took my family a long time to get used to me playing, thankfully they didnt say much. And as Blaydo said it could be the repition of the songs, one of my sisters came in on me and my other sister as we were practising to tell us that she was getting really sick of that song...hehe so we're starting to add more songs to our rather small repitore.

[keuka]

I practice at home in the morning before going to work and again a night when the family has gone to sleep. I use a quieter Dixon Poly which has been fine, but this week I started using a paper clip in the windway as a whistle mute. It works GREAT!!! The whistle still sounds fine, including the second octave, but the sound level drops way down.

[sbhikes]

Thanks for the tips. I don't understand that picture with the whistle against the chin. For some reason, unless I'm making sound with the whistle, my fingers have even less of an idea what to do. Propping it against my chin and not playing it will just confuse me.

I may have to practice only during those moments he has to lock himself in his room and attend conference calls. Fortunately (well, for me now anyway), he manages a team of computer programmers in India 12 and 1/2 time zones away. So I can probably practice during his 7am and 9pm calls. Or on the nights he has other meetings out of the house.

Fortunately, my parrots are not afraid of the whistle. They cringe in mortal fear of the fiddle. I can't stand how I sound on the fiddle. I think I sound better on the whistle.

I'm getting a flute and playing the whistle in the mean time until the flute comes. Although since I enjoy the whistle so much, I'm not sure I'll be able to put it down. Hopefully the flute will sound less irritating to the ears.