I received the following email from a young man in Belgium. I’m not sure what to tell him so I thought I’d pass his questions on to all you learned Chiffers out there. I’m sending him the URL of the topic so you can address him directly.
Thanks in advance
Steve
I’m a 21 year old student from Belgium. I’m studying the recorder at conservatory and to finish my study I have to write a thesis. Since I’ve always had a great interest in folk music I want to do it about the Irish Whistle. I’ve never had the opportunity to start practising Irish music (although I like it a lot), and I really don’t now how to start my quest for information. I found your (very nice) site on the net and I was wondering if you could help me with names of books I should read (about history, technique and playing etc.), people I should write to, or any information at all. Is there some kind of whistle-society I can write to?
The work I have to make has to be about 60 pages, I don’t doubt it’s possible to fill them up all about the whistle, but in Belgium it’s hard to get the proper information. I would be very grateful for any help.
I think just trolling the archives of C&F topics will get you a good start on a lot of different topics. There are dozens of threads on various playing techniques and the whos, whats and whys of playing. Granted there’s nothing very authorative about any of the information. But I think it’ll be a great way to get more specific questions to ask.
I’ve found that the most informative book on whistles/recorders(still in print) is Anthony Baines “Woodwind Instruments and Their History”. you can find it here…
I could also recommend a “booklist” he could use for library references and a “weblist” for online. I give you permission to relay my E-mail addresses to Martijn, if you see fit.
Your man should have ended up in the musical instrument museum in Brussels which is one of the finest collections of muscial instruments in the world and a storehouse of information. Very knowledgeable people in there like Hubert Boone. In Belgium Herman deWitt has a good collection of early whistles that were played in that country and France, nice 19th century and early 20th century French and English made stuff and he’d know heaps.
Roger has the instrument museum in Brussels moved to their new location? They were in the process of moving when I contacted them last, some nice pastoral sets and early uilleanns in there. I have some pics somewhere I believe if you’d want them [but I suppose you can walk in yourself].
Trinity College Dublin - www.tcd.ie -
University College Galway - www.ucg.ie - and
Queens University Belfast - www.qub.ac.uk -
may also have some information.
Fintan Vallely’s Companion to Irish Traditional Music also has a section on tin whistle that might be useful, or his website - http://homepage.tinet.ie/~fidil/ - seems to have some interesting links.
If you’re interested in a broader cultural overview of the instrument, try Ciaran Carson’s The Pocket Guide to Irish Traditional Music (Belfast, The Appletree Press, 1996) or Last Night’s Fun (London, Jonathan Cape, 1996 - both are wonderful reads for anyone with even the slightest interest in Irish music, or the Irish mindset.
There’s also the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann website - www.comhaltas.com
One thing this student should do is get a whistle and actually learn to play that bad boy! He’s lucky enough to choose a thesis theme that he can actually experience and should not pass up the chance to REALLY understand the instrument from other than a merely academic standpoint.
If he’s willing to send me a plane ticket, and stand me to several of the outrageously outstanding Belgian beers, I’m willing to give personal lessons…
Yes indeed, the museum has been operating in its new location for a year or two (it’s a magnificent Art Nouveau former shop). It has an excellent collection, and very well laid out. You can hire headphones and hear recordings of the different instruments as you stand in front of the cabinets where they are displayed. They also have an educational service, and a reasearch department, though I haven’t sampled these facilities.
The only advice I would give this Belgian gentleman is to make sure there is no one on his faculty committee that has strong feelings about the whistle, either positive or negative.
The negative faculty may try to shoot down the whole thesis, and the positive ones will want it to go on and on and on…
L. E. McCullough wrote the first musicology dissertation ever on Irish folk music. He has many books and resources.
