Unfortunately It’s just been confirmed that I have a recurrence of an old problem, a trapped nerve in my right elbow which causes paraesthesia in the ring and little fingers of my hand; this was surgically corrected 15 years ago but sadly is now back with the propect of further surgery.
The symptoms, which were becoming very debilitating, totally prevented my playing either flute or whistle, however, after a few weeks lay off my symptoms have settled to the extent that I am almost symptom free, my consultant certainly feels that the elbow flexion in playing the flute and whistle has aggravated the condition, if not actually causing the relapse, so it seems to be the end of my flute and whistle playing. Probably no great loss to the world but I’ll miss it.
It’s not all doom and gloom as I can still manage clarinet and shakuhachi, these seem to cause no problem probably due to the lesser flexion of the elbow joint but I’ll have to see longer term, I may try the low whistle but my previous experience with it was not happy, I just could not get on with it at all; again I’ll see.
I’ll certainly be keeping my eye on the board as I enjoy the discussions and have learnt a lot over the years so it’s not a goodbye.
So all the best to everyone and thanks for all the wonderful information and guidance.
I would very much like to have a cup of tea with you and watch the world go by. Heart surgery is what unexpectedly brought me to the world of wind instruments and for that I am extremely happy. Heart surgery is what also took me away from quite a few things that I can no longer do. They’re like a distant memory. I hope there is some good and fun surprises that comes with this left turn in your life.
Yes from the point of view of elbow flexion the low whistle should be fine the only problem being that when I tried it previously I just didn’t like it at all, I’m not ruling it out all together and might well give it another try at some stage but I’m not willing to spend very much on something I may not enjoy.
Fortunately for me, my body began falling apart when I was 19. (I had to give up volleyball, which I still miss. I had to give up running in my mid-20’s, but later got my knees fixed, so I’m back at that, but it was a terrible 5 years or so without volleyball or running.) So now the aches and pains of middle age just don’t bother me as much as they do my wife, who hadn’t experienced all the aches and pains in her youth.
I had to get two surgeries last month cause I broke my ankle, they couldn’t operate on one side because it was too swollen at that point so I had to go back the next week. I am going mad not being able to walk without crutches especially now that I am back in Dublin where I live in town and would usually walk everywhere. I have to rely on taxis al lthe time now which is not fun and expensive. It is bad enough not being able to do something important temporarily, I can’t imagine how it feels knowing that you won’t be able to play flute/whistle again. Don’t let it bring ya too far down!!!
Paul, you should try a length of surgical tubing as a whistle head extension, to allow holding the (high) whistle in a more ergonomic position for you. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
I’ve been meaning to test this myself, and now your problem will move me to pick up a length of tubing the next time I’m out.
As for low whistle … The difficulties of piper’s grip are greatly exaggerated, and motivation can be everything. By all means, try again!
Thanks for all the tips, I’ll take them on board and as I said I haven’t totally given up on the idea of a low whistle, but I think I’ll give the tabor pipe a miss.
