My first-ever whistle nearly a year and a half ago was a brass Waltons D. It was never any good–full of shrieks and squeaks and hard to play, and when I got some others last fall I put it down and haven’t picked it up since except to try it once in a while, hoping it was me and not the whistle. But to no avail–it was still terrible while my other whistles sounded fine.
Well, I haven’t touched it for months. I also haven’t practiced for months because practicing seems to make my (pregnancy) nausea much, much worse.
Anyway, last night I picked it up again just for the fun of it and tried it out. Lo and behold–it sounds GREAT!! It has a lovely warm tone, is very easy to play, and I felt like I had just been given a brand new whistle!
Now, how can this be? It can’t be what I’ve seen on the board before–so and so whistler tries out a whistle again they haven’t touched for a while, and it’s much better, but it’s really the whistler who improved because they practiced a lot.
I haven’t practiced at all for months, so it can’t be that.
So I have two theories.
It improved with time, just sitting there on my whistle stand getting older.
Reading the message board and learning about new techniques makes a person get better by osmosis without even practicing.
Neither of these seem very plausible to me. But I can’t explain what happened last night any other way!
Thoughts, comments, words of wisdom?
MCM Transatlantic Whistle Detective Agency - no case too small.
Branches in London and Salt Lake City
[ This Message was edited by: Cees on 2002-09-27 10:54 ]
Reading the message board and learning about new techniques makes a person get better by osmosis without even practicing.
Neither of these seem very plausible to me. But I can’t explain what happened last night any other way!
Some study came out a while back that I found interesting. I’m going to cite it heavily paraphrased. Basically, they took two groups of people, and measured their ability to shoot basketballs. Then they spent some time practicing with half of them, and spent time visualizing practicing with the other half. Those folks who meditated on basketball practice weren’t allowed to actually practice. After a period of time, those folks who only practiced mentally showed a high degree of improvement (something like 90% of the improvement of those who practiced regularly). I found it amazing, and interesting to boot, since we often did ‘mental practice’ in kung fu class.
I found with the dulcimer that I generally made progress in fits and starts rather than contunuously. The fits and starts also didn’t seem to correlate with how much I was playing. This has happened to a lesser extent with the whistle, but I haven’t been playing it for 20 years, either.
It seems you’ve had some sort of epiphany, whether due to reading the board, active thinking or subconscious thinking.
I say it isn’t you, Cees, it’s the baby playing THROUGH you. . .
Which may not be all in jest. Your more advanced pregnancy may be affecting your breathing.
I have done the visualization thing too. My HD instructor felt very strongly about mentally going through a song stroke by stroke before playing it. But I haven’t tried it with the whistle. With the HD the trick is to locate the note. Are you going to hit it here with the right or there with the right, here with the left or there with the left? You don’t have much of this sort of choice with a whistle except for a few notes (how am I getting the c# or cnat?).
Personally I don’t believe a person gets significantly better at anything by simply “visualizing”. It might make a bit of difference but I fail to see how it can make a huge one. I don’t believe “visualizing” is going to train my reflexes to move my fingers significantly faster, or to train me ears to hear significantly more musically (poor wording I know), or to teach me to have significantly better breath control. Don’t get me wrong, I think visualization is a useful technique when combined with practice but I don’t think anybody ever excelled at anything because they just visualized it.
Nor do I think a person can learn something like playing musical instrument by “osmosis”. Yes, you may learn techniques but you don’t really know them until you have practiced them.
Perhaps I’m a just too sceptical (don’t get me started on that Moon landing fiasco).
Before I read this thread I posted to the “Waltons Mellow D – opinions?” thread about a similar experience I had with a Walton’s Mellow D whistle. I have been practicing (although not as much as I’d like to) but that still doesn’t explain why the insturment sounds so much better … weird.
Very interesting thing on mentally throwing baskets! The mind is marvellous like that. BELIEVING you can do something (within reason)really does make a big difference.
With practising I find at one session I find I get worse and worse when trying to learn something new. Then I put my whistle down in frustration and about half an hour later I pick it up again and the tune comes out brilliantly!
Osmosis?
Stella
On 2002-09-27 15:20, tyghress wrote:
I say it isn’t you, Cees, it’s the baby playing THROUGH you. . .
Aw, darn, so when I have the baby in a month, my whistle will sound like junk again?
Temp and humidity, hmm? I suppose that’s possible. It’s very dry here in Utah but we have a swamp cooler, so there’s more humidity in the house than there would be with an air conditioner.
Gary–I just saw your post in the other thread. I was glad to know I wasn’t the only one with this experience…it wasn’t all some sort of weird dream I had or something!!
Or, another possiblity I just thought of…could it be more sinister work of the Crystal People? I thought they hadn’t noticed me yet. I was feeling safe in my little townhouse since I don’t drink Mountain Dew! Dang, what have they done to me…
[/quote]
BELIEVING you can do something (within reason)really does make a big difference.
Stella
[/quote]
Why the caveat within reason? Can’t you fly as well?
Belief, true unswerving belief,(no doubts in the clutch) should serve to make ANYTHING possible.
Including learning through osmosis.
Reason is a fallacy.
\
He who hurries cannot walk with dignity.
[ This Message was edited by: Sean on 2002-09-27 19:14 ]
I’ll go with a couple of theories. Even though I don’t always have time to practice my drawing, I seem to improve with age. But of course, I do the opposite with music, so…
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had the opportunity to join in with a local choir for a performance with the L.A. Symphony Orchestra, of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. I was also singing in my local church choir. I have always had trouble getting lungs fill when attempting to sing in public, but at 7 months pregnant (clear through until delivery) I had volume! Resonance! It was cool. I thought my lungs were supposed to feel squished but I guess the kid propped my rib cage open. Anyway, I’ve found Waltons require/tolerate a LOT of air to play clearly. Good for when I’m getting frustrated with the softer ones.
I say that it’s a new found breath control. If you’ve been practicing all these 'hoo hoo hoo hee, hoo hoo hoo hee’s, then it might have made your breath control better.
Try this. Take an easy whistle to play and let some non-whistlers play a high A on it. I’ll bet that many of them can’t, and it’s because they don’t have the control.
On our third child my wife was on terbutalin, because at 29 weeks she would have contractions everytime she got up. The baby still came early, as did the other two before. They’re fine now.
Sounds like you’re hanging in there.
JP
[ This Message was edited by: JohnPalmer on 2002-09-27 22:50 ]
I’ve heard people say that plastic head whistles get better with age, but they usually say it’s with playing them, and it’s usually over a longer period of time than you’re talking about.
I think there’s a possibility that you were playing this well before and you just didn’t realize it. Maybe you were too close to notice your own progress.
On 2002-09-27 17:31, garycrosby wrote:
Perhaps I’m a just too sceptical (don’t get me started on that Moon landing fiasco).
A few days ago, someone brought up in conversation the lack of computer technology available for use in the “moon” missions. They said that most people now have more computer technology in their homes right now than all of NASA had in 1969.
My response is that this is probably the reason we haven’t had a more recent “moon” mission: many more people are now technologically savvy enough to detect the kind of hoax that was pulled back then.
I usually don’t discuss this topic because people think I’m nuts, but with all of you talking about the Crystal People…
I wouldn’t normally comment on this OT subject either (yeah right, and maybe monkey’s will fly out of…) but I have to now.
I say a pox on you non-believers of the moon mission. How dare you corrupt such a monumental achievement in the history of the human race with you’re “hoax” drivel.
“Oh but I can prove it was a hoax” you whine. NO YOU CAN’T. Prove to me it was a hoax and I will prove to you a hundred times over that it wasn’t.
Regardless of the actual events, the interest and awareness of science that was raised by the effort substantially increased our level of life and our movement towards the better health of the planet as a whole. If for no other reason than it has propelled our (now thanks to nay-sayers like you, nearly defunct) space program to a point where we could decrease our impact on the global health situation by migrating off of this rock in the near future (near in an astronomical sense, not you’re lifetime thank God 'cause you deserve to suffer on this satellite for all eternity after what you’ve done to our collective consciousness).
Furthermore you’re progeny would never strive to meat great scientific achievments in the worlds of science and physics if they are overtly influenced by such trite contradiction of history for the sake of social non-conformity such as you pervay.
Bleh on you and all of your ilk says I.
IMHO
Sean the Heretic.
On 2002-09-27 23:27, jim_mc wrote:
I think there’s a possibility that you were playing this well before and you just didn’t realize it. Maybe you were too close to notice your own progress.
But seriously, I am not playing any better than I was. Unless it’s a tiny improvement in breath control or something. It’s just that the whistle SOUNDS a lot better!
