2014 - ROLL CALL for C&F Whistlers & Learners

Whistle
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Back in the days of CB Radio (when it was a rage) roll calls were done on a monthly basis everyone who had access to a radio gave out a holler and got registered in the Big Book the guys doing the Roll Call drove up a mountain and set up a portable radio station just for the event.

Thank fully we don’t need a mountain to do this Roll Call

So Please, don’t be shy you can just say hello, or say how long you’ve been whistling, share the current tune or ornament/exercise challenge you are working on.

Last Years 2013 Roll Call

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Here we I’ll kick of Roll Call

You guys know me as Jleo Fipple I’m a learner whistle player I plug away and learn as I go my current challenge is Cranns the Tune is “Frahers jig”
why don’t you answer the Roll Call by just saying hello or include some info about what you’re up to on whistle and hope to achieve this year

A Happy New Year to all a fresh perspective and good luck to all you new guys.

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I’ll jump in; I’ve been whistling (off and on) for over 20 years, just started to get more into it. I haven’t taken any lessons, but I did buy Bill Ochs’ book and tape(!) years ago. (I know that taking lessons would help, especially in the ornamentations, but I just picked up the whislte and started, sort of like throwing rocks at tin cans, nobody taught me how to do that, either.) I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for Clarke whistles, and for Jerry Freeman tweaked Feadogs and a lone Genereation. Oh, and a Dixon in delrin. I’ve got Grey Larsen’s book on the the tin whistle and flute, and I’m looking to get Mary Bergin’s Book One to see what it can do for me. For such a simple and cheap instrument it gives a heck of a lot of satisfaction, and it’s the one instrument where I can have a collection and not get in trouble with She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Best wishes for the new year. With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

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Still here! Still playing (though not as much as I should) and still learning things (always, always learning things!) Big project is relearning my cuts 'cause I’ve been doing it wrong all along (I’ve been lifting the finger of the note I’m cutting {cutting G by lifting L3}… well, it felt intuitive… closest technique to switch me over, I suppose, is the one where I use the finger above the one of the note I’m cutting {cutting G by lifting L2}). headdesk

Finally got around to getting some lower whistles too. That low D’s a streeeeeeeetch but I’m determined to manage it!

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Hello! I’m Stanton.

I’ve been playing whistle for four years now, various other things for longer. My main instrument is an MK pro low D, and lately I’ve also been enjoying a low-low A/Bb combo whistle I made out of thin-wall PVC. It has a 45 degree bend to bring the holes within arm’s reach, and I have to use both pinkies to manage the stretch, but I love the lower, more mellow tone–and so do my wife and baby!

This past week I’ve been dusting off some Scottish tunes that I hope to play at a Robert Burns party in a few weeks: Highland Cathedral, Munlochy Bridge, The Turf Lodge.

Currently I have my eye on an MK pro low F and a Bracker mezzo A. Not for tomorrow, though. Must resist the urge…

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It’s not ‘wrong’, but just different, and some decent tutors (eg Geraldine Cotter’s) teach cutting the whole whistle with just L3 (for D, E, F# and G) and L1 (for A and B).

closest technique to switch me over, I suppose, is the one where I use the finger above the one of the note I’m cutting {cutting G by lifting L2}).

But that’s good too, and you can even vary things as need be (while I probably still broadly follow the ‘Cotter’ approach having learned from her book donkey’s years ago, I’ll cut G with L2 if approaching from A and L1 if approaching from B, and sometimes cut right-hand notes with right-hand fingers).

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I was taught to use L3 to cut all the lowerhand notes D, E, F#,and G.

I’ve heard the idea of it making rolls easier by dividing up the work between the two hands.

Then L1 or L2 to cut A.

Anyhow as for the rollcall Richard here, this year makes 40 on the big pipes, 35 or more for uilleann pipes whistle and flute.

My current project is to get the perfect low D whistle, which I’ve been on for a few years, ever since handcramping ended my fluteplaying days.

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I’m coming up on 3 years of playing. Been working on Kitty’s Gone A Milking for quite a while now. New tune learning has slowed down greatly, other than picking up a few more Christmas tunes. The goal is to spend more time on each tune instead of thinking of it as getting more of 'em under my belt. Other than that, listening more, putting some “swing” into it, relaxing, and finding the best position for my (crooked, tendinitis, and possible arthritis in one) fingers to be comfortable and do what they’re supposed to are the focus.

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These days, most of my whistling time is spent practicing cuts and taps, and polishing my small existing repertoire, rather than picking up new tunes. I am working on committing to memory the finer points of Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of his Second Wife.

My current project is refining a model of how dimensions of the whistle head affect the tuning, then using that model to finish making an A whistle so I can play Niel Gow’s Lament in its original key.

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Just over two years for me mainly on a Goldie Low D though I also started on a high D six months back learning through Mary Bergin’s new tutors. On the low whistle I’m working simultaneously on about ten tunes (perhaps not a great idea!) including John McSherry’s Tripswitch and some tunes by Brendan Ring and Diarmaid Moynihan while trying to backtrack and soften and also lessen my dependence on tonguing (instead of tuh, now trying djuh). Breathing continues to be a problem for me in terms of finding the right place and rhythm for it and using my diaphragm . . . but these last two months also in a real and physical sense. I have some kind of bronchial blockage or inflammation that doesn’t make for easy breathing. I’m wondering if it’s some spoor or the like breathed in from the whistle. I see a specialist soon. Like pancelticpiper I’m on the search for the ideal Low D. John Meyer gifted a fairly free blowing Low D to me that uses little air and yet isn’t quiet. It’s getting close but I do like the Goldie sound.

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I started whistling about five years ago, but in a very desultory way. I didn’t start to make a serious effort to learn some ITM and play it properly until about a year and a half ago, at age 58. This has also involved buying a lot of music and listening to it all the time, to the exasperation of my family. At that point, I started going to sessions and trying to keep up. I’m still trying to keep up.

In recent months, I’ve been playing the low whistle more and more at sessions. I tend to learn a tune on the high whistle and then transfer to the low and get it up to speed. I also have a Tipple flute that I like to play, but I can’t say I’m making brilliant progress there. I think I’d need to put down the whistles and focus on the flute to get to the next level.

I’m currently learning “The Plains of Boyle.”

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Heyo.

I’ve been playing since around '96 or so. I’ve been hanging around on Dale’s boards (in their various iterations) about as long, though I was much more active in my younger days.

I don’t have a lot of “projects” these days. Mostly, I hear a new tune every now and then that I have a hankering to learn, and I sit down and learn it :slight_smile:

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Hi

I am David.

I have been a folkie for around 30 years now (when I say folkie, it is as the term is used in Scotland, not the US).

My main instrument is the bodhran, but I play low whistles badly and uilleann pipes even more badly.

Stanton, Highland Cathedral is German not Scottish, but enjoy your Burns supper.

David

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:astonished: [researchresearchresearch] Well, what in the world! I never would have guessed. Next you’ll tell me that Danny Boy isn’t Scottish either. :poke:

Thanks! I certainly mean to.

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LOL. Highland Cathedral is Scottish-ish. That is, it was written by a couple Germans, but they did so for the love of Scotland. :slight_smile: It’s the equivalent of me writing an Irish-style tune, I suppose.*

Either way, it’s a nice tune. I’ve played it at church, on B-flat/E-flat whistle.

*(Which reminds me-- latest tune I’ve been working on is a jig I came up with. I’ve got it up to speed, and now am back to slow for adding ornamentation. Eventually I hope to come up with a second one to go with it, and then perhaps I can convince my dance teacher to let me play them for jig in a performance some time.)



Hrm. I’ve never heard of anyone doing it the way I do it-- always either cut with the finger right above the note you’re using (and even that seems uncommon, but if Grey Larson says I can do it, then I can do it :slight_smile: ) or cutting with, as you mention, L3/L2 for all notes except A and B. I certainly instinctively cut “my” way, and I prefer the way it sounds, but I assume there’s a reason no one does it that way so I figured I’d better start learning a “proper” way now. It’s slow going, though, and it’s going to take a lot of slow, deliberate practice to get it into my hands so I do it automatically.

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Maybe it’s best to take the discussion of cuts to a separate thread, so as not to derail this one. Carry on … :wink: - Mod

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Hi everyone,
I’ve done a lot of “lurking” on the forums here (quite helpful to this newbie!), but I think this is my first actual post. Haha! I’m from the US, but living in Scotland for now while my husband does post-grad studies. It’s a wonderful traditional music adventure for me! I’ve been able to increase my Scottish repertoire a bit, which is cool.

I’m very new to this whistling thing, though not to playing music. :slight_smile: My main instrument is Celtic harp, but I played flute for 9 years, and I do some guitar and piano as well. I play my harp tunes on the whistle, which is lovely because I already have them in my head, which makes it easier to get them out of the whistle. :slight_smile:

I just–2 days ago!–got a Dixon low G (plastic, tunable), and I’m having lots of fun with it! I started with a Clarke Sweetone, but really am mostly interested in low whistles. I want to work my way to low d, but I have tiny hands so I’m getting used to the reach bit by bit.

-Alli

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Haven’t been around for a while. Life happens. But I’ve dusted off the whistles and resumed irritating the wife. Feels good. Please count me in on the roll call.

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Hi,
I’m learning to play whistle second year. A three months ago* I also started to learn play flute which is probably too early, but I like it.

I’m currently learning “Arianna’s tower” and “The High Reel”.


*) Actually six months if you count my attempt to make pvc flute. But since october I have a real flute and some habits had to be changed.

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In my twenties, I saw the Chieftains in Edinburgh on their first tour of Scotland in 1973, and bought my first whistle the next day (Generation d, nickel). I abandoned baroque recorder for Scottish trad, and never looked back.

I hung around Sandy Bell’s in the early- to mid-70s, where you could hear people like Finbar Furey on a regular basis: I got the tip about Bernard Overton from him, and bought an Overton A in 1974. I still have it. Tony Cuffe was also learning at that time, and we swapped tips and ideas - he helped me with the guitar, I helped him with whistle. I never had lessons, but a young flute player from Donegal (whose name I don’t think I ever knew) showed me how Irish ornaments are used. There was a whistle player with a withered arm - Alex somebody? - who played Scottish tunes, and Cathal McConnell was a regular, too.

I also remember an old guy in the Ship Inn in Melrose who played pipe tunes on the whistle, along with a moothie player: that was very much pipe band style, with a touch of Jimmy Shand.

Nowadays I am spending a lot of time with my Garvie low D, finding how to get the best out of this wonderful and versatile instrument, but asthma sends me to the Scottish smallpipes more and more: I have a combo NSP and SSP C set by Ian Ketchin, and an A set by John Rutzen.

I don’t know how many whistles I have lost or given away over the years. I think I still have around sixty in the house, though I doubt if more than a dozen get regular use. My old Fred Rose blackwood d, my Grinter F in cocobolo, my Weston c in hawthorn, my Copeland brass d and nickel silver c, and my Dixon delrin d-plus (for travelling) - these are probably the ones, apart from the Garvie low D, that get the most use at sessions and gigs.

I also sing and play guitar and mountain dulcimer, and I have been hanging out at C&F for about eleven years.

Keep on blawin, lads & lassies!

yours aye
b