I’m new to the whistle so forgive me if I say anything stupid or misuse any terms.
I’ve been practicing the whistle for a few days now. I often look up clips of other whistle players to get an idea of what sounds good or what I’d like to play. While I certainly enjoy/play some Irish music on the whistle, that’s most of what I find online and I’d like to hear what other things whistle players are doing with the instrument? Any kind of folk or anything really. I’m just curious.
Great forum by the way. I’ve already learned a lot. Thanks for all the content.
As you’re beginning, welcome, and my tuppence worth would be to get yourself a copy of Bill Och’s “The Clarke Tin Whistle” (CD available if you feel it might be usefull) and/or Robin Williamson’s “The Penny Whistle Book” (no CD unfortunately). I found both publications to be excellent introductions to “whistle playing”, (as opposed to specifically Irish Whistle playing), with a range of tunes from several cultures. There are also publications aimed at playing the whistle in the Scot’s tradition.
This topic comes up with some frequency. The whistle is a musical instrument that is not bound to a particular genre of music. It has ventured far afield of the Irish traditions over many years. Being a diatonic instrument it is as adaptable as instruments like the harmonica. So folk, blues, jazz, classical are all fair game. The limits are not in the whistle but the player.
Thanks for all of the replies! This is exactly what I’m looking for. I find the whistle to be a very versatile instrument. I’ll certainly keep listening to Irish music for the whistle as well, I’m just looking for examples of the whistle in many different situations. Thanks everyone!
Also, I’m from Nashville, for the poster wondering above. And thank you for the links to the books, they look like something I’d be interested in learning on.
This arrangement features a high D whistle (it’s an O’Riordan). (There used to be a clip where you could see the guy playing it, but I can’t find it.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVr26_lUvcY
The vast majority of the whistleplaying ‘the general public’ hears isn’t Irish music, and the person playing has no background in Irish music.
If you hear whistle in a movie or TV show it’s most likely Chris Bleth, who probably has more whistle credits than all the other whistleplayers on the planet combined, many times over
because it’s his fulltime job, playing on soundtracks.
I’ve worked with him several times, he shows up with dufflebags full of bamboo flutes and kenas and panpipes and whistles and every flutelike or whistlelike thing you could imagine.
And he of course plays Boehm flute. Recently he’s often called upon to play Duduk (the ‘instrument du jour’ in Hollywood).
He’s done far more whistleplaying than that list of credits indicates! He’s only listing the big stuff. He’s playing on stuff every day. And often he’s listed as ‘world winds’ when he’s playing whistle.
Jubal, pardon me if I’m moving too far from your original post; original question. But thinking outside of the paradigm? (if I’m using the term correctly) of Irish & whistle, tinwhistle . . . my mind goes to what I hear; rather than any specific instrument being played. There’s a tremendous amount of crossover between musical instruments & various ways to produce sounds; to make music.
To make a long story short how about cane fifes; (if you can see where I’m making the connection) which have been made & played in Mississippi? ~ http://www.folkstreams.net/film,59
There are two CDs that use whistle in different genres of music. One is found on Amazon titled Nothing and Everything by Jac O’Keefe. Jac is Irish but the only thing Irish on the CD is Celtic Mother, written by Jac. The rest are in Pali, Sanskrit and one in English. They are devotional chants in the Hindu tradition, traditional songs which Jac set to her own music. The whistles are a nod to her Irish roots.
The second is titled Stan Wells, an American song writer in the folk/country genre, all written by Stan. It uses low whistles in C, D, E and bass A on over half the tracks. The last track uses uilleann pipes. It can be found on CD Baby and iTunes. Notable artists on the CD as well are David Grisman, Nina Gerber, David LaFlamme and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Unique use of whistles.
Shameless plug; I am the whistler/piper on both these CDs.
I was asked by a teacher at my old school to play quick improv solos on my high D whistle for the Bruce Springsteen song Atlantic City, so here’s a link to the video of that…I was lukewarm about how the whistle mixed in with the music but the teacher (who was singing) seemed happy with it!
Wow! Hans, thanks for posting those! Some seriously interesting and cool whistling in those clips (and the various others linked from them). On a couple of them the whistlers were using what seemed to be a ‘throat drone’ - for want of a better term - i.e. keeping a voiced tone going in the throat while whistling. I think that’s what it was anyway. Very, very interesting! I’ll be watching and listening a lot to these, I think! I just wish I spoke Hungarian…
Some seriously interesting and cool whistling in those clips (and the various others linked from them). On a couple of them the whistlers were using what seemed to be a ‘throat drone’ - for want of a better term - i.e. keeping a voiced tone going in the throat while whistling. I think that’s what it was anyway. Very, very interesting! I’ll be watching and listening a lot to these, I think!