I find that I get fussy & irritable if I don’t get to play at least once a day, if only for a few minutes. It’s a bit like wanting a cigarette–general underlying mild anxiety until relief comes.
Anyone else feel this way? Anyone need to play MORE than once a day? Just curious…
I generally feel fussy and irritable,but this is down to everyone else,and NOTHING to do with being a miserable old Git! 
Try going a whole WEEK without being able to play. This D****D cold (or whatever it is) hit me last Thursday (the 6th) and I’ve lacked the air to finish a full tune without either coughing or gasping for air ever since.
I know what you mean Chuck. My nose has been running horribly. Today I was playing a tune for some coworkers and…you guessed it.
I didn’t stop until the song was done!
I don’t get cranky if I don’t play but my wife gets cranky when I do!
Kar, YES! lol. I can’t stand to not play every day. It just about kills me and makes me go stir crazy.
That answer your question? 
I wish I could remember for sure who said it…I think Kincaid…“If I miss one day’s practice, I’ll know the difference. If I miss two days’ practice, you’ll know the difference.”
I’m not quite that bad about it.
I find that playing is one of the best ways I have right now to center myself and burn off frustration and exhaustion when I get home from work.
I can start out feeling jittery and upset and uptight, and an hour later I’m relaxed, focused, and I’ve taken all the negative emotions I was feeling, and used them as energy in my playing. When you use them up, they are gone–until the next day, anyway, when it all starts all over again.
If I don’t get to play, I become increasingly nervous, agitated, I don’t sleep well, and in general my whole personality changes.
Besides all that, playing is just fun!!!
Today I burned my lunch hour playing flute and whistle in the hospital cafeteria, and it was a blast!
Best,
–James
www.flutesite.com
Try a Hoover narrow bore . It requires so little air that you can play it on all but your stuffiest days!
Tery (who just got over a cold)
It’s a compulsion - I haven’t missed a day since I got first got obsessive about it (only 3-4 months, granted). If I don’t get some practice time in the morning or at lunch, I try to do it when I get home. And on the days I put it off till evening I get very irritable until I get my music fix.
Though if a practice session isn’t going well (making mistakes again and again) I’ll usually cut it short and try again later - practicing mistakes until you make 'em every time isn’t a good idea.
I’ve got to play everyday. I don’t think it is an addiction, more of a beloved habit. Something that grounds me, focuses my thoughts, revitalizes me after a day with 7th graders.
I either play whistle or guitar- depending on how destructive my children are feeling when I get home.
edit
Yeah, I admit, I have a twice-a-day music habit. I have to get my tune fix in the morning before I go to work, and then again after work for as long as I can. I’m also up to a twice-a-week session habit: Irish on Saturdays, folk/old-timey on Wednesdays. The main focus of my obsession is my hammered dulcimer – in the smoking analogy, the HD would be the cigarettes, and the whistle would be nicotine patch that lets me survive if I can’t have the dulcimer. However, I’ve been playing the whistle a little bit almost every day for a couple months, and I’m enjoying it more all the time. (I’m still a long way from being able to play even one reel at full speed, though, so I need my dulcimer when I feel like playing fast.)
My family will back me up on this: I DEFINITELY get cranky if I miss my morning or evening music time!
Sarah
Add me to the list!
I try to play for at least an hour a night. It’s become a wonderful ritual for unwinding from the day. Light a candle, pour a glass of wine (right now I’m trying wines NOT made from grape) and play away.I’ve found that an added benefit is that the wine helps relax me just enough to help me not freak out when trying to learn new tunes!
If I don’t get that time for myself - I’m miserable to be around! 
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I play some kind of instrument every day, usually for several hours. The whistle is #2 on the list right now, since I usually grab my concertina first.
As an aside, I’ve never thought of it as ‘practicing’. I’ve always called it ‘playing’, because even though I may be working at it, it’s way more fun than work!
I do get cranky if I can’t play…
edit
I have not noticed that I am cranky when I don’t play, but I am DEFINITELY happier when I do play. If I’m having a bad day at work, playing whistle or fife out in the parking lot during my breaks makes me feel so much better – til it’s time to go back to work.
I love the fact that you can hear my fife from three miles away. Just think of all the people I’m inflicting my playing on!
madfifer9
just call me cranky
Not sure if I’d get cranky from not playing, it hasn’t happened yet. I literally don’t go anywhere without one of my whistles, usually a high-d, but I’ve been known to bring my low-F or even the low-D.
Generally, I play about 15-20 times a day, usually just one tune, sometimes only part of one, sometimes several. Since I work mostly from home, it’s not a problem. When I do have to go in to the office, I take breaks now and again in the parking lot to play a little.
Well, if not whistling or fifing, I’m probably humming, lilting or singing just about all the time. If not out loud, then inside my head.
My wife was mad at me for something and stopped in the middle of telling me off to ask if I was paying attention to her or playing a hornpipe in my head. Of course I wasn’t playing a hornpipe in my head! It was a reel. She needs to work on her sense of rhythm.
Jim, that’s hilarious!
I definitely feel a -need- to play the whistle on a daily basis. It’s so soothing and comforting, not to mention downright enjoyable! Even just holding a whistle feels good sometimes, like, it’s only a gesture way, should the need arise.
I also like to gather all my whistles up like a bouquet and laugh evilly whilst repeating the words, “Mine all mine!” It’s not as exhilerating as, say, world domination, but it’ll do in a pinch. 
HA HA HA!!!