I picked up the Bill Ochs tutorial book yesterday (I didn’t really need another tutor, but I wanted to support my local shop’s forays into providing more whistle-related stuff)…great book, by the way! Probably the best whistle tutor I’ve seen so far.
But I digress…
As I was reading the intro, I noticed that he mentions first hearing the whistle played by Tommy Makem, almost in the style of a fife or piccolo. Later he heard a very different, highly ornamented, style from whistlers in the West of Ireland. I wonder if there are distinctive regional styles of whistle playing in Ireland and elsewhere in the British Isles, and if anyone’s ever done a study on it?
This would also explained why I’ve always had a preference for pure-toned whistles, and for ornamentation used sparingly, rather than as a main feature of a piece. I grew up on Tommy Makem and Will Millar, both of whom play in that more “piccolo-like” style (and I believe both are also from Northern Ireland…I know Will Millar is from Co. Antrim, and I think I remember hearing that Makem is from Belfast).
You know…that group of islands in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Europe.
What I was wondering is if anyone has ever done some kind of region-by-region comparison, as Robin Williamson did for fiddling. For example: “This style is typical of Northern Irish players; that is typical of players from Co. Kerry, etc.”
Redwolf I’d be amazed if anyone has made such a study, and if there was anything to be studied.
For one I don’t think there has ever been anything you could call a tradition of whistle playing outside Ireland.
For two, hard as it may seem to whistlers, the instrument has never been taken seriously enough in Irish music for anyone to get interested.
For three, the whole idea of regional styles, esp. when seen as something cut and dried, is questionable. I think that in fiddle playing for example there are regional tendencies, usually inspired by one or more outstanding local players, and this trend continues today.
Then across all the instruments there are broad regional preferences regarding tempo and tune types. But within any one so-called “style” e.g. Donegal or Sligo there is a great deal of diversity and individualism between players.
I don’t think a search for regional styles of whistle playing would yield a rich vein of data.
Somebody has to have made a study of this. I’m willing to bet that there’s a music department at some college here in the Boston area which has a prof. who specializes in Celtic music, and has done regional comparisons. There just has to be. Now, how one would go about finding such a study is another issue, but there’s nothing under the sun that hasn’t been studied.
