Over the weekend, I got an email from one of the organizers of the New England Folk Festival (April 24-26, Mansfield, MA; http://www.neffa.org), asking if I would like to fill the last open position at the vendors’ craft pavilion.
She wrote, “You didn’t have to convince us that the penny whistle is a fine and honorable folk instrument.” The deadline for application was January 15, so it’s fortuitous indeed that I’ll be able to attend on such short notice (not to mention being invited in the first place).
If any of you will be there, please come by and play a tune or two. I’m not a gifted player by any means, and it always helps when a competent musician comes along and plays my instruments for people to hear.
I’m optimistic about this. The events where my whistles fare best are those with a lot of teaching and session play, which the New England Folk Festival has in a big way.
I’ve been doing this long enough now to have seen an actual long range effect in a music community (e.g., the first person to play a Freeman whistle at the All Ireland championships began with a Mellow Dog his mother bought him when he was seven, at another music event eight years ago). By now, I’ve done around 20,000 Freeman tweaked whistles.
This festival will be attended by several thousand folk music enthusiasts. I’m hoping enough bring my whistles home and play them in their sessions and performances, it will help sow some more seeds for the whistle in the American folk music community.
The whistle certainly is a fine and honorable folk instrument. May its sweet voice be heard far and wide.
Best wishes,
Jerry