Hi, New Whistler from TX

Whistle
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Hi, I’m a new whistler from Texas, I just bought my first whistle, a Waltons mellow D last Christmas, and although my learning curve is pretty fast, I’m still fairly inexperienced as of yet can’t figure out how to create most of the incredible array of sounds created by professional tin whistlers. I’ve looked for online tutoring websites, but none of them go into too much detail past the basics. I can do a few slurs and ties, but can only play slower stuff, I get the police called on me when I attempt to play fast “jig” music. Yeah, so far, I have to keep the door to my room closed when I practice, but hopefully if I keep at it I might be able to perform at my church soon.

I can’t play very fast yet, and I suppose that’s why I can’t figure out how jig music whistlers make such a beautiful fast-moving “fluttery” sound, I can’t even tell they’re changing notes, they often seem to “flutter” on the for a while same note, and I can’t figure out how they do that.

Most of the “mainstream” whistle music I hear and make attempts at playing myself is dissapointingly out of my whistle’s range, I guess it either must be on a low D whistle, or perhaps on whistles tuned to C, or maybe I’m even mistaking flutes for whistles, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.

I love Irish music and have several cds and albums from my favorite groups and artists, like Old Blind Dogs, Solas, Lunasa and Eric Tingstad & Nancy Rumbel. I also have a few old cornball “Nature Quest” celtic music cds. I can play a few of the songs on them already, and have written some of my own stuff, but none of it’s very good.

Anyway, I really like this site and everything, I think I’m going to enjoy it at this message board.

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Welcome to C&F! What part of the state are you from? I think that you’ll find folks around here are a great group. Lots to learn, and good folks to learn it with and from.

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Welcome to the board.

I know you said you’ve checked out a few online tutoring sites, but here are a few that I found pretty helpful. Maybe you didn’t see these:

http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/
http://www.whistleworkshop.co.uk/home.htm
http://www.whistletutor.com/

There are others, but these just came to mind.

Read up on ornamentation - taps, cuts, and rolls. That’s where you’ll learn about that “fluttery” sound. These are things that are simple to learn, but difficult to master.

And one thing I see recommended often for becoming a better whistle player is listening to lots of good whistle playing.

Jason

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Hi whistlinwarrior. Nice to meet you! I would think that if you have been practicing since Christmas it would be quite a bit too soon to expect to play fast. I think the online sites just mentioned will help you start on ornamentation and articulating notes. My feeling is slow practice is best. Get the timing right and the changes between notes really clear. Get some slower tunes into shape and don’t worry about speed so much. I think that comes after a lot of practice.

In addition to the sites Jason Paul recommended (which I always recommend too) I’ll add just this one more:
http://nigelgatherer.com/whist.html
A bit of a Scottish slant with some nice tunes for starting out.

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Hi WW, welcome to the board and the exciting world of whistles. 24/7 :slight_smile:

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Hi Whistlinwarrior!
Since you mentioned using your whistle at church you might also want to check out the Praise Whistlers Abroad site, which is a forum for whistlers who like to praise God with their instruments. This could also be a partial answer to your problem: many praise choruses and older hymns sound GREAT on the whistle–and adding ornaments is frosting on the cake. Many sound as beautiful as slow airs to me.
Trying to begin with jigs and reels–with ornaments!–is a good way to get discouraged. I have been playing almost a year and still reek at them. (but then again, I never could play basketball, either!)

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As some have already said, what you’re describing as “fluttery”
sounds are most likely rolls. I think it’s very astute that you
picked up on that. It takes many people a long time to realize
that you’re not supposed to change notes while performing a
roll. I didn’t recognize that even when listening to professional
recordings until it was pointed out to me.

It might be flute or low whistle, but as long as it’s played on a
D whistle/flute, you could play it an octave up, and play along
fine! Good luck, and welcome.

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Howdy! I’m glad there are others in Texas who have discovered whistling; what part of the state are you from? I’m from Burleson (south of Fort Worth) but am at TAMU in College Station right now.

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hey whistle warrior: keep it up. my church’s congregation and the other musicians were quite pleased with the sound of a whislte and how it added new dimensions to old songs. i’m quietly learning how to play the flute now and hope to be ready by lent. although i must say, i do love the sound of a harmonica at lent. nothing says the blues like a harmonica

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Hi everyone! Thanks for all your comments and advice. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a busy online forum before! Eight posts already? Wow!


I’m glad there are others in Texas who have discovered whistling;

Hi there Hoof, I’m from east of Houston, I’m planning on transferring to U of H as soon as I get through my basics at Lee. I’ve enjoyed Celtic music for a long time, but I never thought about the possibility of playing it on my own until I realized how cheap tin whistles are, and when I discovered you could buy them online, since I don’t know of any music store that sells them. Isn’t the internet great?

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Hi there-welcome aboard! I’m from Dripping Springs, which is about 45 minutes NW of Austin. Glad you’re enjoying the whistle. I started playing a few years ago because I needed to throw another voice onto an album I was making… and I just fell totally in love with the whistle. Let me know if I can help you out.

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You mean southwest of Austin? And I don’t think it’s ever taken me more than 30 minutes to take my wife to Cowgirls and Lace there. :slight_smile:

Jason

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Yes, you’re right–SW. That’s true that Dripping Springs “proper” is about 30 minutes south of the Oak Hill “Y” (290/71 intersection). However, I live quite deep in the country. Just driving on the dirt road that connects us to the main road takes 10 minutes to go 2 miles.

You would be welcome to come to my music studio sometime. I have a sweet collection of whistles from Burke, O’Riordan, Copeland and Humphrey. Where do you live? Did you say, Houston… but you’re moving to Austin?

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Whistlinwarrior said he’s from east of Houston.

I live in Austin. Thanks for the offer. I’ll keep that in mind. :slight_smile:

I can just hear myself now…

“Honey, I’m going to drive out 45 minutes deep into the country on a dirt road, but somewhere in the neighborhood of Dripping Springs. I’m going there to meet someone I met on the internet. We’re going to play our whistles together.”

That’s be a hoot! :smiley: :laughing:

Thanks,
Jason

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Be careful, you never know where something like that could lead. I answered an ad, and now I’ve been married for two years. :laughing: :astonished: :boggle: :smiley:

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Ah, the offer was borm from the passion of a whistle-playing fool, no more and no less. I’m already happily married, thank you. Best of luck to you!

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Not that this is something to go by just merely throwing in my two cents, but I started the whistle 2 years ago last month. I’m a very avid player, and I’m just recently within the past few months starting to get into reels. Some of the simpler ones I’ve come across being Within a Mile From Dublin and Drowsy Maggie, and even those need some perfecting. I’m just now starting to put in rolls into my reels, and that’s a practice in itself for me. I didn’t start learning rolls untill about 4 or 5 months ago. I still need to work on my taps…

Anyways, yeah, just go easy and focus on learning the basics, like single taps, cuts, breath control, and be sure to practice those scales all the way up and back down again. If you live with anyone, they might not be pleased with this, maybe your ears might not be pleased with this… But it’s part of the instrument! Take it easy and enjoy. Those jigs and reels filled with rolls, cranns and what not will come in due time. Haste makes waste right?

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Emrys - I hope you got the funny in my post and didn’t take offense, none was intended. :slight_smile: You never can tell these days on the internet - I was just being silly.

I took your offer exactly as you meant it, and will keep it in mind if it continues to be open.

I actually met a person from a kite forum and we’ve met and flown together 4-5 times.

I’m also happily married myself. When an opportunity comes up to meet someone that I’ve “met” online, I always think of funny ways to tell my wife. That was the best I could come up with. :slight_smile:

Thanks again,
Jason

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Gotcha! Keep on whistlin’… Emrys

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Wow, thanks for all those websites you folks suggested, I guess I hadn’t look very hard… They’re really helping me out!

…and I’m driving everyone else in the house up the walls… :smiling_imp: