Learning music for newbies?

JoeKrepps · Post by **JoeKrepps** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 1:50 pm

Gentle-folk,

I've taken a rabid interest in whistles over the past 4 months (going from a single, rarely played Generation D to 2 more soprano Ds {Clarke and Susato} plus a Kerry Low D w/black fipple).
I'd like to _someday_ play whistle on the church's Sunday morning worship team but I need to learn more about the nuts 'n bolts of music first. I e-mailed the Minister of Music about what I need to be able to do to successfully audition for the team/orchestra. Here's his reply:
" 1. Familiarity with all scales, major, minor and chromatic.
2. Strength in reading music
3. Strength in reading rhythms
4. Tonal quality on the instrument needs to be good and strong
5. With #2 and #3 in mind, ability to learn music quickly (often in one
rehearsal)"
I'm sure my Susato will be 'sufficient' to play on stage with many other instruments and I hope to aquire more whistles to cover a range of keys. The problem is, well, #1, #2, #3. I'm doing well with playing songs in my head and _attempting_ to figure out the notes as I play them so I'm not too concerned about #5.
Can anyone recomend methods/websites/books/videos/etc. to cover the first 3 things? (Learning online is a good thing...cheap & easy access.)

Thankee!!

Joe
P.S. How do you pronounce "Susato"? Is it "SueSayToe" or "SuhSatOh" or ...?

cj · Post by cj » Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:17 pm

Joe, welcome! Most whistle tutorials will begin by illustrate music/rhythm reading. Bill Ochs' tutorial is available at the Whistle Shop and surely many other places as well. It's basic and starts with music reading and might be your best bet. Good luck.

I think it's pronounced "Su-sah-to."

JoeKrepps · Post by **JoeKrepps** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:23 pm

Thanks CJ!

I already have Bill's book. It came with the Clarke D along with a cassette and, you're right, it IS a big help (especially the cassette). That "Low D package" from thewhistleshop.com included "The Low Whistle Book" (I think).

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 4:15 pm

For learning to play with a band for church, practicing with a metronome (computer or stand-alone) may be useful. Learning to sight read is important. There have been several threads on sight reading, but I do not have the links handy.

A recording device (digital or tape) may be useful to archive the short rehearsal sessions. Whistles in other keys may be useful, because many pieces may sound strange with a D whistle in the mix. The music director is probably used to working with chromatics such as flutes or recorders, and may not know the limitations of whistles.

There is a thread on free music downloads that may be useful to download specific pieces that you are going ot perform:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 8e48376951

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:25 pm

Hi Joe,

In another thread on this forum ("Reading Music" http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=15071), ErikT recommended a book titled "Practical Theory Complete: A Self-Instruction Music Theory Course" by Sandy Feldstein. I ordered it from Amazon, but haven't received it yet. So I can't offer a first-hand review, but from the reviews I read, it looks like it might help you with numbers 1 through 3. It was only $13.89 shipped from Amazon.

Lawrence

antstastegood · Post by **antstastegood** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:46 am

Nice avatar!

I suggest, for reading notes, a deck of note flash cards you can find at music stores. For reading rhythms, listen to a song with the sheet music in front of you, to follow along, and become able to quickly recognize rythmic notations.

serpent · Post by **serpent** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:16 am

I think the real key is to get familiar with the whistle first. I sight read like a real moron .. one .. note .. at .. a .. time... and it makes things real hard to put together (I'm s l o w l y getting better), but right now, I can listen to a piece and play it literally within minutes - not expertly, mind you, but I can get the gist. That's where the familiarity comes in. You get to a point where you know where the sounds are, and your fingers just go there.

Since the biggest part of your playing will, I assume, be in church, I'd suggest beginning with the tunes from church that you already like, and try to pick them up just by playing along. No music. And yep, you definitely want a good selection of whistle keys. To avoid going broke, I'd suggest (OMG... he's going to say it!) that you begin with Gens (aaaaaggghhhh!!!), as many music shops carry a full line, and they're inexpensive, not bad whistles. Do try to force the shop owner to let you play each one, however, as the consensus seems to be that there's a good deal of variation in a given key with some inexpensive whistles. If you have an electronic tuner, use it.

Which brings up another burr under the saddle - some groups tune to the fiddles, which is about like picking a random note out of white noise - fiddles are almost inevitably sharp, but the players never seem to notice. So if you can't get your director to tune to a fixed pitch, like off a Korg tuner, then think about making your whistles tunable. Not terribly difficult, and way cheaper than buying a scale of tunables.

Well, that's enough babble from me. The others have some great ideas, too, so pick and choose among us what works best for you!
Cheers,

serpent

JoeKrepps · Post by **JoeKrepps** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:34 pm

Thank you everyone!!

This is very encouraging!!

I do have to admit, however, that I already fell into the trap of writing the names of the notes under the notes on sheet music. I'm _slowly_ trying to break that habit and the idea of flash cards is very encouraging. I tried to take a sight reading class at church but my odd work schedule put an end to it. I can take a piece of sheet music and...slowly...figure...out...each...note...as...I...play but that really takes all the fun out of it unless I'm already somewhat familiar with the tune.

I've been trying to pick up songs by ear. I spend my (computer) work hours listening to celticchristian.com and really liked Kildare's arrangement of "The King of Love My Shepherd is". I found a score online but I'm also trying to correlate that with Kildare's version. My church _usually_ plays more 'contemporary' music though.

Serpent:
"To avoid going broke, I'd suggest (OMG... he's going to say it!) that you begin with Gens (aaaaaggghhhh!!!)"
My first whistle is/was a Gen D. I made the innocent mistake of buying L.E. McCollough's "Complete Tin Whistle Tutor" (I think that's what it's called) and quickly got discouraged. The Gen was a real stinker to play and L.E.'s book was overwhelming to this newbie. I'm getting better with the Gen.. Now, I use it to TRY to play songs with lots of high notes ("Danny Boy" for example) but I much prefer the Clarke or the Susato. Anyway, I haven't had a good experience with my Gen....yet...so I'll keep my eyes open for other alternatives.
I begin my practice sessions by playing "Amazing Grace" & "Skye Boat Song" on all 4 whistles...errr, not all at once and definitely NOT while driving! I drive stick shift for Pete's sake!!

(Okay, so I do play _sometimes_ while sitting still, waiting for a train. Who doesn't?)

Lawrence:
Thanks for the tip on that book. I'll definitely check it out!

antstastegood:
"Nice avatar!" Thanks. Now I wish I'da thought of it sooner. "King Toot" would be a cool forum name. Well, I'll be glad to give the avatar away if there's a "King Toot" on the forum. The Low D whistle in his hand is a photo from the web of the Kerry low D I have and the soprano D in Toot's other hand is a Susato although mine is black instead of ivory. I used the "Smudge" tool in Photoshop to curve the ends of his lips into a grin. (Do ants taste good??)

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:58 pm

Another really good book is _The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory_ by Michael Miller. It's non-intimidating, easy to read and understand, and has all the information you'll ever need and then some.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:12 pm

The goal of playing with your church group is
excellent.....and, to point
out what you already know, there are
lots of other things to do with the whistle,
the tradition is largely aural, it's meant to
be fun, there are sessions, you can
learn by playing music you hear on
CDs that turns you on, etc,
so I hope you won't forget or neglect
that side of things. Also that's how
you really learn to play the whistle,
I reckon. Best

StewySmoot · Post by **StewySmoot** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:17 pm

ditto....

I also use the freeware at http://www.anvilstudio.com/ for learning from midis. It is worth looking at to see if it floats your ark.

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:25 pm

Another really cool MIDI player is Tablature Karaoke at http://sharewaredirect.tripod.com/. It will even show you the whistle tabulature.

You can find plenty of worship MIDIs at http://www.freewebs.com/praiseclips/ and http://free.gentle.org/users/gospelhymns/page5.html.

Lawrence