Practice makes perfect...
Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:51 am
In my 3 + years learning to play the whistle and trolling the forum, I have learned a few things:
1. Find a whistle that feels comfortable to play from a finger and breath viewpoint, not necessarily the most popular
2. Hold your fingers any way you feel comfortable
3. Practice as much as possible with material that makes you feel comfortable.
I am a 52 yo Engineer (read: old, stuck in his ways, very few creative bones in his body) who knows a few 60s chord progressions on the guitar, cant read music.
After initial WhOa, I primarily play Freemans, Dixon tunables, and the occasional Copeland (Something about conicals bug me) for hi D and am sold on Phil Hardy's Low Ds.
(I know I keep threatening to write my "Smoot's review of KerryWhistle's OS and NR Chieftains and Kerry Pros", but it comes out as a vindictive, vitriol-riddled jab at those who think Phil's whistles are similar to Overtons. I own both and they simply are not: The fingering is different and the upper octave breath requirement for Phil's instruments is less. Amplitude control is easier with Phil's, too.)
I spent a lot of time learning the thing. After the first year, I was happy that I could play maybe 10-12 slow to moderate tunes on it. Some days I could play "ok", others I sounded like I was blowing into a toilet paper roll. I would give up on it for days.
But I finally got a good feel for the note structure.
Eventually I collected over 1000 MP3s on my computer and started playing along with them at regular speed. I knew only a few of the tunes as I was more interested in first learning the "feel" of the music. I figured eventually I would learn the actual tune. At first it sounded like gibberish but my fingers got into the habit of playing the style.
I practiced this way maybe 6-7 hours/week for perhaps the past year or so. My travel sked for the past few years has made if difficult to plan to sit in with any sessions.
So Thurs night I stop into a bar in Southern MD that is featuring "live music" for St. Patty's day. It was a local singer/songwriter guitarist, another guitarist and a bluegrass fiddler from the Annapolis area. They are playing the standard Irish drinking songs. The last tune from their first set was "the red-haired boy" which was spot-on.
In between sets, I told them I played the whistle and asked if I could sit in on one of their tunes and they said sure. The whistle I had with me was my dog-chewed Jerry Freeman Feadog/Gen he made for me some years back. If is not a loud whistle but they were willing to unplug their amps to accommodate.
So the fiddler says she is going to play "St. Anne's Reel" and launches into it. After a few notes I jump in. She is tossing to me, I play a few measures, toss back and jump in after she does her thing.
Tune is over and the fiddler says my playing is excellent. I say thanks and then said something which made me feel very good:
" I never heard that tune before..."
I had never heard of "St. Anne's Reel" but over time I learned what it took to play it.
We played a few other tunes, Musical Priest, Wind that Shakes the Barley and some airs.
I was asked to sit in on their next practice.
So if any beginners wonder if you can ever get the hang of playing the whistle, as I did 3 years ago, the answer is yes, you can.
1. Find a whistle that feels comfortable to play from a finger and breath viewpoint, not necessarily the most popular
2. Hold your fingers any way you feel comfortable
3. Practice as much as possible with material that makes you feel comfortable.
I am a 52 yo Engineer (read: old, stuck in his ways, very few creative bones in his body) who knows a few 60s chord progressions on the guitar, cant read music.
After initial WhOa, I primarily play Freemans, Dixon tunables, and the occasional Copeland (Something about conicals bug me) for hi D and am sold on Phil Hardy's Low Ds.
(I know I keep threatening to write my "Smoot's review of KerryWhistle's OS and NR Chieftains and Kerry Pros", but it comes out as a vindictive, vitriol-riddled jab at those who think Phil's whistles are similar to Overtons. I own both and they simply are not: The fingering is different and the upper octave breath requirement for Phil's instruments is less. Amplitude control is easier with Phil's, too.)
I spent a lot of time learning the thing. After the first year, I was happy that I could play maybe 10-12 slow to moderate tunes on it. Some days I could play "ok", others I sounded like I was blowing into a toilet paper roll. I would give up on it for days.
But I finally got a good feel for the note structure.
Eventually I collected over 1000 MP3s on my computer and started playing along with them at regular speed. I knew only a few of the tunes as I was more interested in first learning the "feel" of the music. I figured eventually I would learn the actual tune. At first it sounded like gibberish but my fingers got into the habit of playing the style.
I practiced this way maybe 6-7 hours/week for perhaps the past year or so. My travel sked for the past few years has made if difficult to plan to sit in with any sessions.
So Thurs night I stop into a bar in Southern MD that is featuring "live music" for St. Patty's day. It was a local singer/songwriter guitarist, another guitarist and a bluegrass fiddler from the Annapolis area. They are playing the standard Irish drinking songs. The last tune from their first set was "the red-haired boy" which was spot-on.
In between sets, I told them I played the whistle and asked if I could sit in on one of their tunes and they said sure. The whistle I had with me was my dog-chewed Jerry Freeman Feadog/Gen he made for me some years back. If is not a loud whistle but they were willing to unplug their amps to accommodate.
So the fiddler says she is going to play "St. Anne's Reel" and launches into it. After a few notes I jump in. She is tossing to me, I play a few measures, toss back and jump in after she does her thing.
Tune is over and the fiddler says my playing is excellent. I say thanks and then said something which made me feel very good:
" I never heard that tune before..."
I had never heard of "St. Anne's Reel" but over time I learned what it took to play it.
We played a few other tunes, Musical Priest, Wind that Shakes the Barley and some airs.
I was asked to sit in on their next practice.
So if any beginners wonder if you can ever get the hang of playing the whistle, as I did 3 years ago, the answer is yes, you can.