When I was at Lark in the Morning on Saturday, I picked up a copy of Vinnie Kilduff’s “Learn to Play the Irish Tin Whistle” video. I’m only part way through the video at this point, but I’m finding it so useful, I thought I’d post my impressions now.
First, if you’re trying to learn the whistle from scratch, I wouldn’t go with the video alone. It moves a bit too fast, and doesn’t go as much into rock bottom basics as a rank beginner might want. For someone who’s been playing a while, though, or someone who’s trying to learn from a book and CDs or audiotapes, it’s a really useful resource. He starts out by talking about the various types of whistles, and demonstrating a couple of tweaks (he uses a bit of tape partially covering the tone holes to correct a whistle that’s a little sharp). He works through the D and G scales and talks about tonguing vs. not tonguing (he actually tongues quite a bit, especially on hornpipes), then moves into tunes and ornamentation. He plays each tune “straight” first, then slowly with ornamentation (all the time you’ve got a closeup on his hands, so you can see as well as hear exactly what he’s doing), then at speed with back-up instrumentation (guitar and banjo). Couple of things I’ve noticed: He slurs by sliding the slurring finger forward (rather than drawing it back over the hole, which is how I learned originally), which works A LOT better on faster tunes, and he uses a fair amount of finger vibrato.
One thing I’ve noticed that’s quite different from what I’m used to…he refers to the ornament I know as a double cut or double grace as a “treble.” I’d never heard that one before.
I’m really excited about this! If you can’t find a teacher, this may well be the next best thing, as it’s easy enough to stop and rewind until you get a particular technique, and it gives you the chance to see AND hear how particular techniques are done.
Think I’ll go down and watch some more, but I just wanted to share.
Redwolf