HELP! What can I tell the newbies?

Whistle
1

Hi,

from Thursday on I will be giving my first-ever whistle class. I will have eight pupils in one class, from “never ever played an instrument” to “skilled recorder player” (to hell with them, harhar…). I know many of you are experienced teachers. So maybe you can give me a few hints on how to start the class. I thought I’d give them a few informations about whistles, flutes and pipes first, show them some instruments from my collection and then move on to “tweaking”. Then I show them posture, embouchure, fingering, breathing. After that, I’d let them play some scales before turning to a simple tune like “Amazing Grace” or so. Having done this, I think I can judge how to proceed with the following lessons (six as a whole). What do you think? Thanks for your input…

Christian

2

Here’s what I do when introducing fiddle to listeners:

I hold up the fiddle in one hand and say, “This is fiddle.” Then I switch hands and say, “This is a violin.” Then I ask, “What’s the difference?” You’d get a fair chuckle over some of the repsonses I get. :0

With the whistle, you could use “whistle” vs. "pennywhistle: vs. “tinwhistle.” Sort of like Tevye’s third “on the other hand” in Fiddler on the Roof.

3

I personally would leave tweaking for the time someone has trouble with their whistle. I presume the pupils will be bringing their own, or will they be supplied by you? You could help tweak without givign them the chance to mess the thing up.

I’d start with playing a basic D scale, and arpeggio, and show them how to get to the second octave, and then try to teach them a tune using the lower octave only. There are tons of tunes that use only one octave. Show them the names of the notes (BAGFED), so they can write down the note sequence. Get them practising blowing long clear notes.

I wouldn’t bother with any music theory unless they ask, it’s complicated, overrated and boring (haha).

I’d teach them how to log onto the C&F website for great advice & more arguments than you can shake a whistle at.

4

Martin,

thanks for the sensible advice. Most of my pupils will get their whistles (no, no Megs, but Folk Gens) from me. Apart from making them tunable and sanding the airway/blade a bit, they are fine untweaked. At least I will tell them to do the tea-water thing. As for music theory, I agree that it should be left aside (too many pitfalls there…)

Christian

5

Get them to start by playing a sustained G, then an A, then an F, an E a low D, a Csgarp, then a high D. Then get them to play a scale going on up into the second octave. Then a Cnat. Assuming that it’s in Deutschland, pick a tune that they already know that doesn’t have to be Irish and let them drop scales as quickly as possible and get on to tunes that contain fragments of scales like the dawning of the day (Fainne geal an lae) or the sally gardens (the song, not the reel).

And bring earplugs for yourself, teaching beginners whistle is an occupational medicine problem!

6

I agree that the intricacies of tweaking might make their eyes glaze over - unless their whistle needs it. I think your main problem could come from this:

… eight pupils in one class, from “never ever played an instrument” to “skilled recorder player” …

It’s a large group and you may have very mixed abilities. People who have never touched an instrument can find just putting their fingers down and getting the holes covered properly to be a major problem at first (age can be a factor here). They may need an hour of coaxing to get their fingers to go in the right place, and understanding the principle of putting fingers down to get progressively lower notes.

People who have played other instruments, especially other wind instruments, or who are just quicker on the uptake, will get very frustrated with this.

OTOH if you work with at the level of the quicker players the slower ones will feel disheartened and will probably drop out.

If there is a significant range of abilities they might all gain if you split them up into two or even three groups. You could do worse than spend the first lesson getting to know them and their potential and chatting generally about playing, and then start the real work in smaller groups the next week.

Good luck!
Steve

7

Tell them about proper tongueing, to start and end a note cleanly. Also demonstrate breath control and the different air requirements as you go up and down a scale.

Reading the notes on a score is important. We’re only talking 12 basic notes on a whistle. You can save it for lesson #4. :wink:

Good luck!

Gary

8

You could also ask the more advanced students to volunteer to help students who are having trouble covering the holes, so you don’t have people waiting and getting frustrated.


Edit - here’s a thread of ideas people had when I was starting teaching.

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=5307&forum=1

Lee Marsh’s suggestion on the second page for a method of ‘learning each note’ was a big hit. She rapidly progressed from using whistle tab to being able to play from the names of the notes. Now, I bring in some music, we identify the notes and write the letters under the staff, and she plays it from that.

(That’s as far as I am myself in reading music!)

[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-10-08 14:12 ]

9

I agree with Gary re teaching them proper tonguing and how to end a note cleanly. Ditto on breath control…particularly for those who have never played a wind instrument (I routinely have to listen to beginning recorder players at my daughter’s school…no, I’m not their teacher…and you’d be amazed at how many don’t seem to realize that you don’t have to take a separate breath for each note! That’s right…they articulate each note by “huffing and puffing”!).

Fairly early on (as soon as you think they’re ready to start using cuts and slurs), you’ll want to teach them that they don’t have to TONGUE every note either…but for now, helping them to develop good articulation and breath control will greatly increase their playing pleasure as they’re learning.

I also agree that tweaking is something that should be saved for later (for those who are interested). If you’re supplying the whistles, do whatever tweaking is necessary first, so the beginners can concentrate on playing. Some will eventually want to learn how to fine-tune their whistles…others never will.

I also think you should introduce basic music reading (not heavy theory, but definitely playing from a score) right away. Whatever we may think about this being more of an “ear” tradition, your students will ultimately have much more flexibility in learning if they can read music (and those that play other instruments will be used to it, but will want practice to translate the notes on the page to fingerings on the whistle).

Redwolf

10

I’m interested in teaching my daughter to play the whistle, so I was glad to read the tips posted here.

Martin suggested showing them how to play in the 2nd octave. I have been playing for 5 years, and learning to play the 2nd octave was the hardest part of learning to play the whistle. Although I can do it, I have no idea of how to show someone else how to do it. I learned by repeated trial and error, and you can’t demonstrate that. What would you suggest?

11

I have my student play low D and then high D, repeatedly, so she gets a feel for the air differences. I also use tunes that go from first b to second D so she gets used to the complete swapping of fingers and using more air (and also the concept of covering MORE holes to get a HIGHER note, which is confusing at first.) Same thing for low and high E, and F if you are brave. I recently demonstrated a third octave D, outside, on a quiet whistle, and she was thrilled, hehehe. Then she wanted to hear a tune with a lot of second octave, so I played Merrily Kiss the Quaker, and she and her little sister danced around. So funny.

(Fortunately this was BEFORE I made my plastic chanter… :wink: )

12

Start by having them practice octave jumps. For example, play a low E, then have them blow a little harder to get the high E. Work up and down the scale. When they can do that, have them try a few scales going up into the second octave. When they can consistently get the lower notes of the second octave, introduce tunes that incorporate those notes as soon as possible.

The octave exercises will help them learn fairly quickly how much additional breath pressure they need to get and sustain those higher notes, and incorporating them quickly into a tune will help them sustain interest.

Redwolf

13

Thanks everybody! I really appreciate your knowledge and your will to share it! I am going to consider all of your remarks and see how well they work with my pupils! I am sure it will turn out great. And, hey, I am a very patient guy. I think this is more important for a good teacher than anything else…

Christian

14

BTW Christian, I admire your desire to teach! I’m so impatient, I couldn’t teach a duck to swim.

15

Martin,
maybe after the first lesson I will know what patience REALLY is…

Christian

16

There are a lot of good suggestions here, my only exception is in teaching, tonguing. If you teach it. First show them how to make two G quarter notes using tonguing, then show them how to put a grace note between the G’s in place of tonguing. Let their ears hear the difference and chances are they will see that the grace note adds a more irish feel to the phrase. You can explain that the use of tonguing varies from player to player, but generally a lot less tonguing is used in Irish tunes than one might find in other genres or with other wind instruments. Its the use of ‘ornamentation’ that adds the unique irish whistle style to playing. You may want to demonstrate, playing a tune with every note tongued and then repeat it with every note ornamented to show them that neither extreme sounds right.

Also there is a related C&F topic: <a href=http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=6712&forum=1&28>Recommended Beginner Tunes which you can use to draw tune suggestions for your class.

Finally, if you teach one tune with notation (ABC or Standard) you might also want to teach one tune by ear alone. With the mixed background, you may find that learning to play by ear is something the less trained players pick up quicker, it may put them on a more even footing. It may also present a challenge for students that know how to read music and keep them engaged in the class.

All these ideas and techniques aside, there is one thing that will improve your teaching more than any other thing.

Let your students see and feel your passion for the music. Find a simple tune you really love and teach it to them; warm up your fingers playing a couple tunes before class that mean something to you. Learning music is more than how to put fingers on a tube and blow air through it. You are teaching them how to express things that can’t be put into words, play one of your tunes that demonstrates just that.

Music is more than hearing with the ear, its engaging the heart and soul of the player and listener, connecting them. Make the tunes personal, pick tunes that have a personal meaning for you the teacher. A personal meaning doesn’t have to be sober or serious; if the tune is just a fun, frivilous feeling, share that too. Maybe share both in the same tune, play the Minstrel Boy, the way you played it the evening of September 11th, lamenting the loss, then play it again like you needed to express your bravado while walking through the haunted wood.

For me, teaching music is all about showing others how you …

17

I strongly support what Lee is saying. Especially in the land of the Blockflöte, there’s likely to be too much rather than too little tonguing.

Using more experienced people to help total beginners is also good, and something which I have always associated with the music. The army uses it too, calling it the “master-pupil” system.

An PluiméirCeolmhar

[ This Message was edited by: Roger O’Keeffe on 2002-10-09 12:35 ]

18

Oh yes, I’ll put them through a heart-wrenching version of “Christian’s lament for the loss of his earplugs” on my Low D before showing them “Alle meine Entchen”..
Thanks Lee, for your advice. It is true, it is important to show how the music can speak for itself.

Christian