After 9 months..

Whistle
1

It sure has been a while since I posted, but I have done my best to fulfill my personal pledge to play at my local pub come St. Patrick’s day. Actually, I have accompanied the locals with some songs, I mean tunes, but have yet to get up and play some of stuff on my own. one shall see..

After 9 months of playing, my favorites whistles to play are the Generation D, 2 different Walton Ds, and occasionally a Dixon tunable. My Feadog and Clare sound harsh (if this is “chiffy”, you can keep the chiff), my Clarke sounds like I am blowing across a block of wood (which I am, but it doesnt sound right), the Chieftain requires too much air, and the above mentioned Dixon gives me trouble above high G. I am getting better on the Susato low D. One of the Waltons I enjoy is my car-whistle (for playing at stop lights only) so perhaps I should rotate one of my lesser played whistles into the car and get more breath-control experience with it.

I have finally mastered “Maid behind the Bar”, a tune that intimidated the life out of me at the start. Now it is almost flowing. Almost! And “Jacky Tar” is in my repetoire!

While getting various “tutor” type books has been extremely helpful in explaining the theory of Celtic music structure, I have learned so much from playing along with music. Besides playing with the above noted musicians, I play along with Slainte and Slua Si on CD. THAT is how I am learning the feel…

Speaking of Slua Si, how does one pronounce “Si Beag, So Mor” and “Pratie” (as in “Gander in the Pratie”)?

Another thing: How high above the whistle should one lift the fingers? One some tunes I am lifting my fingers at least an inch or 2 above the whistle. Should I be practicing to learn to lift only a 1/2" inch or so?

Finally, I want to thank each and every one of you for sharing your experiences. I would never have gotten as far as I have with my playing without your advice and, by sharing your experience, your inspiration. I have finally found a creative outlet!

And to all the wannabes, I hope my diatribe will give an insight of how the road will be traveled…at least for a middle-aged person…

Slainte!

Stew


[ This Message was edited by: StewySmoot on 2002-03-02 15:32 ]

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She beg she more…I’ve heard it close to shee and close to shah.

That was the easy question…I’ll leave the tough ones to someone else {G}.

I strive for lifting my fingers as little as possible and still get a true note, but there are certain passages where it just seems tons easier to get it right if I do very exaggerated finger lifts, always concentrating on the higher finger if I’m lifting more than one at a time.

3

The higher you move your fingers the harder it gets to play fast and smooth, on the other hand, if you stay too close the note won’t be as true. You just need to figure out what works for each individual song. By the way, since The Maid Behind the Bar is one I’ve been struggling with, I was wondering if you had a recording I could listen to?

4

I find that my fingers lift higher than I think they should be, I’ve noticed that Kari’s tend to just sort of ripple up and down the whistle, She claims its because of my piano playing that they do that, I also have a habit of using a lot of force when
placing them down, This sometimes results in a barely audible pop, I’m working on it though, Kari and a friend who practices with us, keep saying I’m getting better,and maybe I am.


Dan

5

On 2002-03-02 16:47, Graphics Guy wrote:
I find that my fingers lift higher than I think they should be […]

This will either be very helpful or useless to you – it’s one of those things that either makes sense right away or never does:


Don’t think about lifting your fingers – just think about putting them down.

I was able to greatly increase theplaying when I read this on the uilleann mailing list.
    -Rich
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Also it helps to have exact posture
and to consciously relax–this helps
keep the fingers lower, I find.

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Jim,
What is exact posture? I thought I had it, but my fingers tell me different!
Seth,
The Maid at the Bar set I pay with (or against) is on Slainte’s Slainte CD. As a bonus, they feature the Kesh Jig, (#1 in the Complete Tinwhistler Tutor book). Life is so much simpler when you not only get to hear a whistler play, but you get to hear Celtic musicians play it too!