Okay, I admit it. As a whistle player (and soon-to-be flute player), I don’t like fast Irish tradition music (reels, jigs, etc). No offense to anyone here, and I am not knocking this style. But for me personally, it just doesn’t work. I have played the whistle for more than 5 years now, and started out playing fast ITM, but I don’t play this style any more. Modern society is already rush-rush enough as it is.
I personally love playing Gaelic airs and ballads on my low whistles, especially with guitar or harp accompaniment. Maybe this style reflects my character- easygoing and meditative. Slow, sad airs with deep feeling really do it for me. Very relaxing and emotional. I just don’t get this whole ‘speed thing’, especially among whistle players. Like it’s race or something to see who can flick their fingers the fastest, often sloppily. It’s like driving a car at high speed through the countryside on a Sunday afternoon… driving so fast that one is unable to enjoy the beautiful countryside as it whizzes by outside the window. I do realize that fast dance music is the majority of ITM repertoire, but I guess it’s just not for me. Give me my airs and ballads any day. I noticed that there are rarely any threads about Gaelic airs or ballads in these forums. Seems I may be in the minority.
Again, no offense to anyone here who enjoys playing fast ITM.
Like it’s race or something to see who can flick their fingers the fastest, often sloppily.
That’s a rather silly and unfounded generalisation that doesn’t sit well with your stressing the no-offence line.
It could equally be said there are too many people who are indulging their own feelings of weltschmerz by noodling long quasi sad notes on low whistles roughly mimicking airs belonging to songs they don’t know the meaning of.
No offence intended ofcourse, just making the point it’s easy to throw platitudes around.
What you shouldn’t forget is that both the dance and the song tradition (with in extension of the latter the instrumental rendering of song airs) are both expressions of the same spirit and culture. They are rooted in the same ground and one isn’t whole without the other.
Wow. Looks like a struck a nerve. That wasn’t my intention. Sorry.
I don’t think one has to understand the words to a Celtic air to enjoy the music, do they?
‘_Like it’s race or something to see who can flick their fingers the fastest, often sloppil_y’ is my observation when I watch the hundreds of whistle videos on YouTube. Many of them are just plain crap. I just tell it like I see it. Many times, a jig or reel is played very quickly, but with sloppy ornamentation or varying tempo.
But that wasn’t the main reason for starting this thread. Slow Celtic airs are just my personal playing and listening preference. To me personally, ITM dance music is usually just repetitious and annoying, especially when played on a high D whistle. I used to like high D’s, but now I can’t stand those shrill, piercing devils. And my family really appreciates me giving up the high D. Now, the highest whistle key I play is Bb. I do think a low Irish flute or whistle sounds much better for ITM dance music. But even when played very well, fast ITM dance music really isn’t my thing. Again, no offense please.
My partner and I had a rather unfortunate experience at ITM sessions, must mention that we had been going along just about every session for about 3 years when a new couple appeared ( both flute players and new to their instruments). After a few months they began to imposed their style ( jigs, reels at at leest 175) on the rest of the group (usually 20/25 at any one session), needless to say numbers soon began to dwindle. Very soon we moved to a new venue and wishing to support the leader in the new venture we went along.
We were working towards a St.Patricks day concert at the local Church Hall and were practising a varied set. I was asked to play an Harmonica solo (South Wind) as an aire, At the second practice session the comment was made by one of the flautists that we shoudn’t make the piece anymore dreary that it was. I was wondering how the concert was received because the CD of the dress rehersal that we received, to say the leest left something to be desired.
I have nothing against Jigs, reels and mazurkas as I regularly play these, but there is something that stirs the soul with Celtic Aires, listen to Vinnie Killduft playing the Donegal Aire?
Some of us just live in the slow lane. Nothing wrong with that.
Ofcourse there isn’t. I take issue with how the point is made though.
How can someone be taken seriously when he maintains he doesn’t wish to offend while at the same time dishing out statements like:
To me personally, ITM dance music is usually just repetitious and annoying, especially when played on a high D whistle.
While judging a whole body of music based on the performance of a bunch of dimwits who post on youtube?
To me, personally, this sort of posts are annoying, thoughtless and ignorant. No offence intended ofcourse.
If you like slow music, fair play to you, but do so for positive reasons. Do it because you love the tunes, the expression of the low whistle or the warm fuzzy embrace of the old keyboard in the background. Or any dozen other reasons.
Trampling on something else doesn’t make you or your preference any bigger.
Youtube? Others? Why do you care about others?
Also, can’t you play jigs and reels at a slower pace?
To me personally, ITM dance music is usually just repetitious and annoying
If you get into it, you’ll hear and appreciate all the differences between tunes.
ITM is capable of great depth if you don’t get distracted by your and others’ ego, and play feeling the music.
I agree though that the high pitch of a whistle offers less possibilities to express yourself the way you like…
Get a wooden flute
And if you don’t have it yet, find a way to get the album “Shady Woods” by flute player Desi Wilkinson, you’ll like it.
It’s funny though, how some people are more attracted to the airs (and usually lower whistles), and some are more into the dance music. I have to confess to never having learned a slow air, nor having ever longed to play one. I have been known to skip past whistle airs when listening to my iTunes. I am already sufficiently mournful and lugubrious by nature, and have no desire to deepen these feelings through music. Instead I seek to counteract that by playing the more upbeat dance music – though I do prefer eerily modal tunes some days, and bright major-key ones on other days.
[Edited to add: (I always have subsequent thoughts]
I play my dance music relatively slowly, because that’s the speed at which my rhythm is good and my ornaments don’t glitch the flow of the music. I must agree with the OP in that I am extremely put off by recordings of the dance music in which the player’s tempo exceeds the threshold beyond which they are able to play expressively. I want the dance music to lilt and make me want to dance, not attack me with an endless barrage of notes.
So I play my tunes rather slowly, because that’s how I sound best.
I like a good air played well as much as the next man. I have never taken to the low whistle’s sound however. I think the small whistle is capable of fine nuances in the hands of a good player. Airs aren’t easy to play well, no mistake about that.
The old people held a player who ‘could draw out a good lonesome reel’, bringing a hint of sadness to a lively dance tune, in the highest regard. Expression is where you put it.
Slow or fast though, they’re both branches of the same tree.
Surely there is room for all styles and tastes. When one individual tries to impose their own ideas on everyone else as the standard it becomes unharmonious. Slow airs interspersed with the faster music can give a contrast. …
A good player at high speed is a pleasure to listen to, but no point in over reaching and sacrificing the quality
This isn’t such a tough crowd, but we try to keep it honest. The OP just seemed like such a one-dimensional comment to me. A session of nothing but airs would be dreadfully boring, just like one of all jigs, all reels, etc… Diversity is what makes each tune stand out.
FWIW, most folks here consider it quite a bit more difficult to do a good job of airs than jigs, reels, polkas, marches or slides. If they don’t seem as challenging to you, you’re probably not playing them well.
I didn’t realize I was ‘trampling’. It seems you take a lot of what I say personally. Just to make things a bit clearer, I have nothing against people who enjoy playing or listening to fast IT music, and I am certainly not telling people what they should or shouldn’t do. I think people should play whatever they enjoy, regardless of what other people think. I was just stating my personal preference, and my inability to understand the never-ending ‘need for speed’ quest required to play IT dance music. But absolutely there is room enough in the world for all types of music, even.. ahemopera.
I totally agree. Expressiveness and style does seem to get lost as the songs get faster and faster. I actually like some moderate speed Irish dance tunes. But it seems from my observations, to many that lightning speed is the top priority.
And regarding IT dance music in general, I read somewhere that certain players think that many do play Irish jigs and reels at too fast a tempo, because they were originally meant to be danced to. But these days it appears that most audiences just sit and listen in the pubs or outdoor sessions instead of dancing, so perhaps extreme tempos are not an issue. I suppose all-out speed can sound impressive and skillful. Maybe my brain is just slow.
I would respectfully suggest that there is no such thing as a “Celtic” air. You have Irish airs and Scottish airs, and laments and lullabies, and all sorts of specific slow tunes, but that “Celtic” label misses some very important distinctions. I use the “Celtic” term myself, but approaching a tune, slow or fast, in a generalized fashion, not shaped by the particular tradition it belongs in, can lead people astray…
Regarding the original statement, I think that if you reject a whole class of tunes, you are missing a lot. You don’t have to play the dance tunes at lightning speed, there are just as many relaxed ceilidhe dancers in the world as there are fast paced set dancers. Keep you mind open…
I just don’t get this whole ‘speed thing’, especially among whistle players. Like it’s race or something to see who can flick their fingers the fastest, often sloppily. It’s like driving a car at high speed through the countryside on a Sunday afternoon… driving so fast that one is unable to enjoy the beautiful countryside as it whizzes by outside the window. I do realize that fast dance music is the majority of ITM repertoire, but I guess it’s just not for me. Give me my airs and ballads any day. I noticed that there are rarely any threads about Gaelic airs or ballads in these forums. Seems I may be in the minority.
And my family really appreciates me giving up the high D. Now, the highest whistle key I play is Bb. I do think a low Irish flute or whistle sounds much better for ITM dance music. But even when played very well, fast ITM dance music really isn’t my thing. Again, no offense please.
