Growing up in the Irish country side as a boy I spent a fair bit of time working with and socializing with farming folk so today I was reminded of an old greeting during a conversation with another YouTuber he said “I was listening to your Tralee Gaol and your cutting is coming on well” and he basically encouraged me to keep working on the technique very nice of him I thought so the older farming men would often greet another farmer or friend by saying “How’s it, ((she or you)) cuttin’” and the she was always in reference to machinery but didn’t have to be visible during the meeting
So I “Hey diddled dis” and recorded my own cutted version during practice last night I was rather pleased with it so here it is to share with you guys. Bill Ochs says this is of English origin and he plays it with a lot of tonguing and little slurring. With continuous practice I’m working towards be able to vary or turn on and off Tonguing/slurring for more control of my whistle playing by being aware as possible as to what I’m actually doing while playing and it’s hard work getting there as I’m sure many of you know. One of the things I’ve noticed is that I’ve turned into a drooling fool during slurring complete tunes you know when you tilt your whistle down and the whistle juice runs out the end of it all over yourself
So anyways this is as rustic a recording as you’ll ever hear as it was done one my mobile phone then emailed to my desktop and converted and jigery powkery’d onto YouTube. Bill Ochs reference version contains a lot more tonguing. So there’s the story have a listen let me know how I’m cuttin’
Ah sure I’m not far off fifty meself and I’m still a lad. I thought from your picture that you were only a young fella in your 20’s. Anyway I don’t post much on this forum but I have followed your progress and I hope you will listen to the advice your given. I’d like to grab you by the scruff of the neck and sit you down for a couple of hours at my local session where we could teach you a thing of two that you’ll never learn from Mr. Ochs book. If you’re ever in Dublin over a Wed night, give me a shout…
Jleo,
Stay with it Lad and keep playing every chance you have at it. I would take heed of Blaydo’s comment and make haste in getting to Dublin to take advantage of his offer to join him at his session.
I very much enjoyed hearing your story of visiting with Irish farmers back in the day. Good on ya for recognizing their importance to the culture with the dedication of a tune. We should all take note and appreciate the hard work of those who till the soil and through hard and honest work, provide food for our tables. Just the mindful ramblings of this 57 year old Lad from the U.S., with an appreciation for Irish culture, tunes, whistles, and farmers.
For sure Blaydo thank you for the offer not that I get doing much travellin’ we do have a trad group in town but the group leader is in bad heath and the group has taken a sabbatical he’s doing fairly well but sadly no outings for a while… with regards the advise I sure do take it on-board and practice diligently but there are constraints within my learning method (Bill Ochs) in that I feel it necessary to make the English tune sound English as in the way Ochs performs it (tongued to death but still wonderful) the tune has a fairly simple structure that allowed me to learn it quickly and I then attempted to put my own slant on it with out deviating a lot from Ochs reference version taking my beginner status into consideration.
Thank you Cayden for your heartfelt comments and encouragement
My Steeple Sessions playlist enjoy
This concert took place as part of the Steeple Sessions 2011 season at the Unitarian Church on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin