Hello, all,
This is my first post here at the C&P PSWB. I’ve been lurking for a little while. I’ve been fifing and whistling since September 2001 and fluting since Christmas 2001 (my keyless Ormiston in D was my Christmas present to myself!). I feel like whistle, fife and Irish flute are the instruments I’ve been waiting my whole life to play!!
Who inspired me to play Irish flute and whistle? I have to say it was Tom Doorley and Danu. I bought the CD totally on a whim, I did not know who Danu was. I had listened to the Titanic soundtracks and Gaelic Storm CDs so much that I was tired of them. After Danu, I bought several Bothy Band CDs, received a Skip Healy CD, and I just purchased the WFO CD as a jump off point to finding new artists and bands to enjoy.
I sometimes play session at a local pub on Sunday nights, but my attendance has been baaaad lately.
Anyway, to FINALLY get around to the subject of my post, what was the first tune you ever played on whistle? Do you remember? I think “The Kesh” was my first from sheet music, but “Over the Hills and Far Away” was the first I learned by ear.
I still do remember, even after all these years! The first tune I successfully played on the whistle was a camp tune called “The White Road,” and the second was also a camp tune called “Gypsy Weather.” I remember bringing my whistle to the breakfast table and playing both for my mom…very proud of myself! The first Irish trad tune I learned was “King of the Fairies,” followed by “The Rakes of Mallow.”
Welcome to the board!
Redwolf
[ This Message was edited by: Redwolf on 2003-02-19 01:48 ]
I figured out Amazing Grace and The Water is Wide before I knew what I was doing. When I started learning what I was doing the first was Dawning of the Day.
Mike
First from sheet music (on whistle) was “Whiskey In the Jar” - though since I’ve loved the song since I first encountered it on a Limelighters LP many years ago, all I really needed was a reminder.
First by ear - “The Men of the West” picked up from a Clancy Brothers CD - I still don’t have sheet music for that. Didn’t really try to learn it, but tried playing it on a whim and found I could play it to the end without problems. I wish I could say that was the normal case - so far, it’s the only one I could pick up that fast.
For now, I try to do a combination of ear/sheet music - listen to the music a few times, use the sheet music to get up to speed, listen again for details of phrasing, etc.
This works really well for the tunes in the Clarke Tin Whistle book, A Dossan of Heather (Thanks for bringing it together, Brother Steve!), and Tommy Makem’s whistling on the various Clancy Brother’s CDs - the pace and level of ornamentation should be in reach of most intermediate whistlers (after all, I can do it - and I’ve been accused of having no sense of rhythm and five thumbs per hand!). I’ll think I’m getting good when I can play along with the likes of Mary Bergin or Paddy Maloney.
hey, reading everyone’s answers reminded me of some tunes I haven’t played in a while! I need to go back and try to play those again! I liked “Maid Behind the Bar” too, I can probably play it a little better now. Another one I tried but couldn’t quite get was “Salamanca”.
Although some people may emerge from the womb quoting Shakespeare, (with proper pronunciation and accent), I wager that for many others, their first tune was “Hot Cross Buns”, “Mary had a Little Lamb”, or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
Well, besides those lovely childhood tunes Paulsdad mentioned..
My first was a jig whose name I STILL don’t know–I downloaded it on Audiogalaxy, but since you have to pay to use that now, I no longer have access to all my DLed songs, and I forgot the name.
After that was Si Beag Si Mor and Inisheer, at about the same time. Looks like Inisheer is a common first–and its a tune I still love!
)
I still working on Another Jig Will Do… I dont play trad very often as you can tell