By lucky cooincidence, my wife Charlene and I were in the NY City area last Sunday and were able to attend about a session and a half of Bill’s free whistle workshop. I knew Bill MANY years ago, long before he became the man who literally wrote the book on whistle playing, so I was really looking forward to seeing him again and seeing him teach. Actually, if I recall properly, he gave me my first whistles-- a pair of red top Generations.
This workshop was an introduction to the longer and much more comprehensive whistle workshops that Bill will be giving this fall at the Irish Arts Center in NY ( Bill, sorry if that is not the correct name of the Center). All I can say is, if this is a tast of the regular workshops, whistlers of all abilities in the NY area will want to attend. Bill gives workshops and private lessons for players of all abilities.
His teaching style is simple and unassuming but really gets to the heart of the music. I’ve been playing whistle and other wind instruments for quite a while, and I’m fairly OK at it, but in the short time I was at the mini-session, I gained a number on valuable insights on whistle technique and interpretation. If I didn’t live three hours away, I would have signed up on the spot!
What I liked best about the workshop was simply listening to Bill demonstrate tunes. Unlike a lot of players, he doesn’t try to blow you away with every ornament in the book thrown at you at lightning speed. You are always aware that this music is first and foremost DANCE music. There is a strong underlying rythm to Bill’s playing with just enough ornamentation to keep the music interesting and to help the tune along, not compete with it. Wonderful stuff.
