What to do next?

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:46 pm

Hi everyone,

Today is three monthes since I bought my whistle, so I decided to make <a href="http://breqwas.net/my/2007-08-19/">some recordings</a> to see how is it going. Well... I thought it was better :) So - could you explain me in particular why does my whistling suck? :)

I mean - could you explain, what things I am doing right or wrong, and what should I do to improve? There are things that I can hear myself (e.g. - for some reason I don't know my whisling soungs hurried, thou I actually play slower than my favorite recordings), and I'm sure there are lots of things I can't hear yet. So - I will be very grateful for any advice.

Thank you in advance!

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:51 pm

Ah. Another thing I know about my whistling is that I do not use ornamentation - no rolls, no crans, no taps and just a few cuts when they are really needed. But for some reason I'm sure it is not the lack of rolls that makes my whistling that bad.

jen f · Post by **jen f** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 4:46 pm

Wow, three months? I think you sound pretty good! I'll leave it to others to offer you some helpful suggestions, but I just wanted to say I think you're coming along nicely!

Jennifer

Chatterton · Post by **Chatterton** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:38 pm

I can only hope I sound that good in 11 weeks.

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:56 pm

Well, this post is NOT asking for compliments, really :)
And I played a recorder for two monthes before switching to whistle, that's why I may sound better than expected

Blaydo · Post by **Blaydo** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:03 am

Your playing is pretty good and I think you're going in the right direction, more practice will make it more fluent and less rushed sounding, though it's not that rushed! Your rhythm seems pretty good so thats the main thing.

I'd say though that you should find more places to breath and vary them so you are not always breathing in the same spot. I just listened to the polkas and you are breathing at the start of each part which can sound a little repetitive, try joining some of the parts and breath in the middle instead. If theres no natural spots to breath you can shorten longer notes or drop a short note and take a quick breath. Basically work on your phrasing. Personally I'd use a bit more tonguing or cuts in those polkas to give them more bounce. Some small parts of them sound very slurred and a bit sloppy.

seisflutes · Post by **seisflutes** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:03 am

I agree with Blaydo. Your rhythm is indeed pretty good, and more practice will definitely improve it further. I too would use more tonguing (if I was playing the whistle), probably in most of the tunes, not just the polkas. Eventually you'll probably want to get some more ornamentation going, but the rhythm's the most important thing, and you're doing good with that. The more you listen to recordings of great players, the more your phrasing will improve. It sounds like you've got a good ear for it.

BoneQuint · Post by **BoneQuint** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:16 am

Your "cuts" should be much quicker...this video explains it better than I could with words:

http://www.whistlethis.com/index.php?co ... kzVjBjdz09

emtor · Post by **emtor** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:15 am

3 months??? That's not at all bad for a beginner. Your rythm is good, those polkas actually sound like polkas, and you also manage to keep the speed at a steady pace. The cuts could be quicker, but that comes with practice.

arnie · Post by **arnie** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:51 am

You play the tunes. It's the first step. What you want right now is ornamentations like tabs, cuts, rolls and slides. Look at www.whistletutor.com and look for the section "Tutorials". then work them through from the beginnerssection on. At the intermediate section you'll find the videos of Sean Cunningham. He explains how they are played and shows it to you by playing them to you very slowly. Good luck!

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:16 am

Your "cuts" should be much quicker...this video explains it better than I could with words:

Oh. I make my cuts in a completely different way.
In that video he opens either the 3rd, or the 1st hole when cutting. I use to open the lowest closed hole - so if I'm playing note G, I cut it with note A, when playing D - I cut it with F#, and so on. Am I wrong, or doing like that is OK?

straycat82 · Post by **straycat82** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:22 am

That approach to cutting is fine. There are different styles and schools of thought on executing cuts but there is more than one way to effectively do it. I myself tend to execute them differently depending on the tune and desired effect.
They do have to be quicker though, otherwise it becomes a grace note and not an articulation.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:33 am

Man, from your self-criticism, I expected to hear much worse.
You sound just fine. The only time I thought you sounded
particularly rushed was on the first two measures of the A part
of Sean Ryan's Polka (the third in your polka set). That's a hard
passage on the whistle; I've been playing for several years, and
I still have trouble getting that triplet clean. If you want to make
sure that rhythm stays right, you can drop the C# from that triplet...
Scarce o' Tatties starts off rushed-sounding, but you seem to settle
into it the second time, so I think practice and proper warm up are
all that you need to be happy with that. Make it sound good slow
before you try to speed it up.

What kind of whistle are you playing on those tracks?

Have you posted any clips on http://whistlethis.com yet?
There's often lots of good advice there, too.

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:46 am

What kind of whistle are you playing on those tracks?

Just regular Sweetone.

Have you posted any clips on http://whistlethis.com yet?

No, but I certainly will - thank you for the link!

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:55 am

breqwas wrote:
What kind of whistle are you playing on those tracks?
Just regular Sweetone

That's what it looks like in your avatar, but it sounded so chiffy
in the recording, I thought it might be a Clarke Original. I found
that the SweeTones are really easy to overblow (I found out when
the folks on Wistlethis.com told me that I was overblowing), so
watch out for that. Don't blow too hard in the first octave.
When playing in the first octave, try to make your air slow and
hot. When playing in the second ocatave, try to make the air fast
and cool. (I hope that makes sense...)