How did you discover C&F?

Whistle
1

TerryB’s post about hanging out with people he/she has met through C&F reminded me of the whole world of cool people I’ve encountered, many in person. It being the season, I can risk a slight excess of sentimentality and ask how others found this site and what’s transpired as a result.

About 3 yrs ago, a psychiatrist I worked with sent me an email with a funny anecdote involving a whistle, knowing I played them. He was passing on a story written by Casey O’Rourke about a guy who annoyed his wife with his whistling. The wife complained to a neighbor, who said her husband had a smelly goat he was close to and everything in the house smelled like the goat. The story is on the main C&F site and I happened to see the C&F link in the email. (May have been from Dale’s newsletter.) I went there and my black and white world turned to color. I had no idea anyone else was into whistle playing and I found out there were non-Generation/feadog whistles extant.

From there, a board member got me in touch with my current session friends, I met and visited Dave Parkhurst at his home, and played on stage with John Palmer. I also had the pleasure of meeting Richard Katz, president of the SF Pipers’ Club after I saw him play whistle onstage with the Chieftains and commented on the board about the conservative looking gentleman, or words to that effect. He read the post, responded with good humor, and we met at a Pipers’ Club concert.

My playing has improved enormously due to an expanded cd collection based upon suggestions from board posters, I now own more whistles than I need to, but I like what I have, based again, on reliable recommendations. As well, posters have directed me to abc format and slow speed cd transcriber, both very helpful learning tools.

I’ve had email contact with whistle makers and worked a trade of graphics work in exchange for a couple of nice whistles with one. Another maker is going to trade me a nice low whistle for upcoming lessons for his nieces, who live near me. I received heartfelt condolences by email when I announced the passing of my dad 2yrs ago and developed email friendships out of that. And since managing the Clips and Snips site, I’ve had great correspondence with tune posters from all over the world. There has even developed a sub-network of corresponders who exchange info on recording tunes and general life-goes-on things. One of these people even lent me a practice set of uilleann pipes- never having met me. That’s the kind of trust and friendship that has evolved. (And Betty, I’ll get your bodhran video back to you; I haven’t forgotten.) I’ve sent a whistle to someone before I received payment and the same has been done for me, no worries on either side. Is that cool, or what?

I wish I could meet so many of you in person, but probably never will. There are still ways of us reaching out to each other. I was thinking of a photo gallery page on Clips if people wanted to send jpgs or links to their own sites. A couple of people have promised to contact me if they are passing through the SF Bay Area; there’s always our very friendly house session on Sunday afternoons.

Happy holidays to everyone.
Tony

2

I was brought to C&F by a search engine.

(This thread could start to sound like testimonies by members of some bizzarre cult)

I liked the main site; the combination of
Dale’s “somewhat unconventional” humor and the thought that there were other people like me in the world made me happy. It was several months before I got into the message board. My first post was asking for help learning ornamentations. The response hooked me–all these people who actually wanted to help! What fun!

Last summer’s sessions with Mack, Brian, and “Digger” were the highlights so far. I look forward to more of that sort of thing. See my long ramble post if you’re dying to know more. For now, suffice it to say the site is a hoot, I appreciate all of you, and the bell just rang! I’m out of here!

:laughing:
Tom

3

I found it thru a search on the web looking for whistle info back in march when I first picked up a whistle that had been lying around for a couple of years. Since then I have met Brian and developed a friendship with him, he even being kind enough to invite me to sit in on a session in SLC where I was in way over my head. I get to meet Tom and Mack next month and have come to love and appreciate the sense of fellowship (no rings involved)and community here. Everyone always willing to help out.

Ron

4

I don’t remember exactly how I got here. I presume I saw a whistle on eBay and ran it through Google to see what I could find out. It’s pretty hard not to get to C&F when you put a whistle brand name in Google!

5

Years ago, before the C&F message board, I had picked up a whistle and did an online search. I, too, was amazed at the sheer variety of whistles available. I became obsessed fairly quickly. I remember the beginning of the message board. I have gotten SO MUCH joy from my C&F connections. I have met lots of whistle makers in my travels and a handful of passionate collectors and players. I never knew that whistles would be such a huge part of my life. I have a few really good friends that are a direct result of C&F. Sometimes community politics sadden me, but even in that, there’s always something else (a new C&F friend, a renewed connection with an existing C&F friend, etc.) to come along and make me smile.

:slight_smile: Jessie

6

A lady who was just starting to learn the whistle recommended it to me (she was REALLY enthusiastic about it), along with Henrik Norbeck’s ABC site and a whole bunch of other sites. Although I had been playing the whistle for a long time, it had never occurred to me to search the internet for whistle info and tunes and stuff. Since then I’ve followed the discussions on C&F with interest, learned lots about whistle tweaking, and downloaded more tunes in ABC and midi format than I will ever learn in one lifetime.

7

I can’t remember what life was like before C&F or how I got here. So many great friendships and when the chips are down…there you are. Tweaks to Dale for opening up a whole new world…may you go on forever. Gm

8

If my memory serves me well, which it does with less alacrity these days, I believe I came to C&F via a search engine. I had Internet access for something like a year, during which time it never occurred to me to do a search for information on whistles, but when I did eventually find the sense to do it, I was really amazed and delighted to find such an active whistle community.

This lively community really boosted my interest in playing whistles. The enthusiasm of so many whistle nuts (a term of endearment, of course!) really rubbed off and took me over! I can’t exaggerate how much I’ve benefited from this community. I’ve not met anyone who contributes to this forum in person, but through a variety of communication methods I count a number of you to be very real friends. Like Tony, I wish I could meet you all in person, but expect it will never happen in most cases.

My playing has improved a lot since I joined this community, in parallel with a growing satisfaction, and that is due, at least partly, to the contributions of other members, in various ways, and the added enthusiasm I’ve had for playing the whistle, catalysed by the passionate interest of you all!

I wish each and every one of you a very happy Christmas and a year of peace and contentment ahead.

Mick

9

The Crystal People dropped me off here, I honestly can’t remember much before that…

10

I saw a whistle advertised on one of Ebay’s specially featured items page. What? Maybe close to 3 years ago. I lost the bid. Thank goodness. At least that auction posting explained what it was about Irish music that always grabbed my attention. It was a whistle. That was the sound that intrigued me.

Then I did a search through Dogpile where I found out all about the different types of whistles and some reputable dealers. I’ve been a happy whistler ever since.

Mary, da mouse

11

I did a search on whistles and found David Auty’s Penny Whistle Workshop web site. It is another great site and I highly recommend it for the beginner. His tutorials allowed me to advance much faster than I would have otherwise.

He has a link to C&F, and found it from there. I too like the unique blend of humor and seriousness…shaken, not stirred. :slight_smile:

I was truely amazed by the amount of whistle information and tunes on the web. Who would have thought that such an small inexpensive instrument would generate such a huge online following.

It also demonstrates the power of the web in that hundreds (thousands?) of people all over the globe can come together for the purpose of sharing their knowledge, thoughts and ideas about whistling. We would never have met, talked, learned from each other and LOL via any other forum.

Have a great holiday!

12

During a call to the crisis hotline I was directed to C&F for therapeutic reasons (or maybe that was just a bad dream). Anyway, C&F is great therapy after a stressful workday. Have a Merry and Musical Christmas fellow C&Fers! (speaking of which, Santa just dropped off a Burke B Alum whistle - I’m loving it.)

13

It was a search engine. Like others I had never thought to look on the internet for a whistling community.

Julie, my wife, just looked over my shoulder and said, “So what’s UP at Chiff and Fipple?!” She said it in a very mocked excitement sort of way.

Obviously, I was looking on the search engine for people that understand me :wink: (seriously, she is a very loving and understanding whistle wife).

Thank you Dale and thank you everyone. Also like other folks I’ve developed a number of real world friendships out of this very ephemeral world.

Peace and merry Christmas,
Erik

14

This has been a really gratifying thread to read. A nice Christmas present. Thanks to all of you. Keep me in your prayers/thoughts (same thing).

Dale

15

March 2000 my children found my old whistles (from the late 70s early 80s)that were in the basement. I started playing again, I searched the web and found The Whistle Shop and let my family buy me a whistle for my birthday (a Silkstone green pvc D-which is the only expensive whistle I still have) and from the link at The Whistle Shop found C&F. After a couple thousand dollars spent on WhOA I find myself playing mostly those whistle that were in my basement(but atleast I found C&F-which I needed to sell a couple thousand dollars worth of whistles).

Joe

16

I found a link from a jump, little children site (www.seven-days.org to be exact. Anne Martinez [not to be confused with Anna Martinez] runs that magnificent fan site) to C&F. I poked around the site a bit and sort of forgot about it until I picked up a whistle (my little blue sweetone) over the summer. The sweetone collected dust for a few months, until I got bored and started playing around on Anne’s links page again and re-discovered the site. I was bored and depressed, so I picked up the whistle and started trying to play a bit. It all sorta went downhill from there, and now I’m a whistle-obsessed nut. Oh, and I’m not really depressed anymore. Bah, who needs little purple happy pills? Just get a blue whistle! Wheeeee!!! :wink:

17

I just stumbled in, by happy acccident! Lucky me!

18

02/17/99 (my 64th birthday) Stephany Weber won the bid against Larry Madden on my first ebay offering: a sterling silver D. It was made on a whim and sold on a whim, but the hook was sunk deep. Steph turned me on to C&F, and Wisely reeled me in. Steph’s was one of the first entries in Dale’s guest book, and an avid contributer to C&F, and (I think) a personal friend of Dale’s. Both she and Larry Madden have dropped from the C&F scene. I do hope all is well with them. If there is information on either I would love to hear. They were both great encouragers of this whimsical whistlemaker wanabe. Another name I remember with fondness is Roger Bailey. And then I have to give kudos for encouragement to Thom Larson, Vinny Digloria, tinwhistler (Jim Anderson), and numerous other contributors to my WhIM(Whistle Improvement Malady) and WhOA, and special thanks to the great Dale Wisely who created C&F and sustains it! Chiff and Fipple has become more than a place to hang out; it’s a way of life, a community of friends, a spectrum of talent and intelligence—playing with whistles!

Mack (Just A Whim to some who remember)

19

My Dad went out and bought a whistle a little more than a year ago…I think it was a Sweetone. He was going to learn it, but I picked it up and started tweedling on it. For a birthday present, they got me a Susato D, which I didn’t appreciate at all (I just wasn’t in to whistle). Anyways, this summer I picked it up again, and it hit me like a rock! I became a whistle fanatic! So, my dad told me about this site that his friend (a whistler ) had suggested to him when my dad was looking for a whistle for me. That last sentence was really confusing…Well, there you have it.

Brent

20

Found this via a search engine; I had an old Generation C from years ago (with terrible intonation but great tone), and began to be interested again in playing. As some above have said, I was astounded by the different sorts of whistles out there, and C & F has been helpful in sorting through this. The humor here is fine, and, although there are instances where folks are a little antagonistic, it’s nothing compared to most other boards. It’s also refreshing to be able to refer to faith matters without getting clobbered. (The only place outside of home I currently play is at worship.) Thanks to all who make this possible!