Comments needed on my playing

Whistle
41

In an earlier post I said:

Listen to good playing (which means leave yertube alone, go for proper stuff)

For youtube the same caveats apply that were expressed here earlier: there is an awful lot of stuff around put up by people who don’t know their arse from their elbow. The advice to learn from a player well grounded in traditional music (which I assume is the goal) is given for a reason. These are generally simple tunes with a bit of effort anyone can learn to play the notes. To carry them off though, do them justice send make them shine, that isn’t enough.

I remember being in a piping class after three years on the pipes where the teacher told me ‘you have all the notes, now you’ll have to start play the music’. Now there was a novel insight. I have been trying ever since (FWIW this occurred forty years ago). Playing traditional music, any traditional music, the fine detail is of extreme importance. Fine detail a beginner or anyone not well versed in that particular music may not even perceive. Detail in rhythms, ornamentation, phrasing. Learning from good players in a particular tradition embeds these details, often without the learner being aware of it and yet, after a few years it will sink in and the exposure will shine through. Learning the ‘wrong’ way makes it very hard to go back and rectify. These things need to be assimilated, by immersion in a particular music, played by players who ‘have it’. Because that’s the thing: you’re not just learning tunes, you’re learning a specific type of music, with all its intricacies and oddities. And doing so you will want to get an understanding of it that goes beyond ‘learning a tune’, an understanding that sees you develop a consistent, personal style of playing.

The internet is a bit of a curse for that sort of thing. Every man and his dog seems to want to ‘share’ their experience, even if they don’t have any too speak of. A beginner will not be able to discern what is right and what is leading them up the garden path.

Youtube can be a helpful resource, but only if you know what to look for. I think a blanket recommendation to learn from youtube is not a good one for anyone trying to have a serious stab at this sort of stuff.

42

I’ll agree and disagree.

YT is source for about all the Irish music I listen to. Irishtunesinfo has a great number of clips to gain a small taste of the variety of style, and to follow up in search on. However for both of those, my choice of listening is of the most original players, players who are clearly more than grounded in the music . I’m well aware that even there I’m missing three quarters of the good players and music being played or available . Even with very good “foreign” artists, there are very very few who could be mistaken for being out of Ireland I think. They almost all have a slightly different air or feel or sound to them. Anyway, you can learn that way… but just so much.

I remember once playing flamenco scales and improvising with them on guitar. A group of people were walking by and stopped outside the window to listen for a moment, all quiet. Then one pronounces out loud with a mixture of dissapointment and assertion “That isn’t flamenco” , and they walk on. I was thankful, for though I didn’t even think I was playing flamenco, for a moment I was aware of what he was looking for from the music. That is how to learn really, by being immersed in the culture at the same time.

Take the Bush Hornpipe by Josie McDermott I posted an early clip of, now I am playing it very close to his sound and style… but I will never be him playing it, and all that goes with that, and I accept that and don’t try to be that, whatever that that would be.

I would not like to be a musician who plays cover versions either. Some are very good , and I remember occasionally having to check if the music coming from a restaurant or bar was recorded or live. It’s practice but I don’t think the idea is to be a recording.

So I take the way I learn as a form of familiarisation, and then play to my own contentment… but I know that I won’t be playing like the Irish do…not really really .

That is ok though, I will be playing my own style, and playing it well eventually, whether taken as a personal interpretation or as an offshoot of Irish playing style.


However, if someone learns this way from a recording of a recording of a version of a version of a version of a version, then they are likely putting so much distance from where the music is actually coming from that they won’t really be learning the music that much at all. It might be ok for very first steps, but after that anyone should be listening to the best of players to learn from if they want to get anywhere near.


And there you have it, one more set of advice… but at least I am saying “listen to them, not me”.

:slight_smile:

43

This is an incredibly true statement, so I’m not disagreeing with it. A lot of the people I looked up to on YT when I started playing, I can now see are far from perfect players.

The reason I’m posting, is that people are going to use youtube. Its a free resource everyone has access to. I don’t know any professional whistle players. I’ve never even met a whistle player. Someone like me, is going to end up on youtube. So to me the best option would be to tell people who the best players on youtube are, and to try and learn from them, along with any other good non YT source recommendations. Because yes, theres a lot of really bad covers and teachers on youtube haha. but the good ones, are an excellent free resource anyone can have access to. and many whistle players, are just someone who thinks the instrument looks fun and picks up a $10 gen/feadog/clarke on amazon. They are going to take the free youtube learning route, at least from the start.

My view on comparing oneself to youtube covers: is that if you are better than the covers that suck you at least hopefully dont suck. Then the goal is to get an ear for whats good, and to then try and be that. Because in music theres never a magical tier where you are all of a sudden “good”. People who dont know an instrument can think bad playing is good, so some people want to just be good enough to seem good to them. So it depends on who the persons target audience is. A lot of people dont care to be the best, and end up settling. Luckily and sadly for me, my standards are very high so I have to keep getting better haha.

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And that’s why we have the No whistle Youtube thread? Well then! sticky. I haven’t checked on it in a while, but if I know you guys, opinions will not be held back. Gotta keep the newbies from going astray, after all. :wink:

And I agree that in Trad, at least, you can’t overstate the importance of listening and hearing. Further, I would strongly urge anyone to listen not only to players of their own instrument, but to hear how players of other instruments approach the Trad vernacular - IOW, listening not just for entertainment. It can only broaden you.

The first time I came to appreciate banjo was on a cassette recording (there’s a blast from the past). It was a reel in a minor mode, excellently played, and the player used the mode and arrangement to advantage so that it unmistakably expressed the flavor of anger. Real, raw anger that someone knows and has carried, not cartoon anger. Brilliant stuff. Blew me away to the point that I still carry the impression with me. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that when you come across times like that, it’s a huge bonus to your head. For a musician, that can never hurt: possible stuff for the tool box. Leave no stone unturned.