Just now, I picked up my whistle and started playing and I realized after playing several measures I had absolutely no idea what I was playing so, while I continued to play, I went through the names of the tunes I know and came to the conclusion that it was the Blackthorn Stick. I’ve never done this before–pick up an instrument and start playing a tune perfectly before I even have time to realize what I’m playing, particularly as a few minutes earlier, I’d conciously decided to play The Blackthorn Stick and completely murdered it.
Funny thing, the brain.
There’s only one?
It happens.
Looks like you’re getting there now.
Once a tune becomes a reflex, so to speak, it becomes a part of you and finds it’s way through all the learning and stuff that you read about.
Playing is one thing, thinking and talking is another.
Don’t be scared or surprised Pallas, this is how it works 
You’re getting there now,
well done,
Slan,
D. 
I guess I’m the opposite when it comes to tune names- I rarely know them. Everytime I play, the first tune is always what ever comes on it’s own. After that first one, I sometimes do consiously think of a particular one, but mostly , with all the tunes I play, it’s just whatever comes out.
She will leave you and then,
Come back again.
A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.
I think I’m in between, its usually how i’m feeling at first and then one tune leads to another…then another..then another. Other times, I play the one that i’ve had stuck in my head or fingers all day.
I guess it’s kind of like when you can’t remember something and then it comes back to you at a most inconvenient time like when you’re trying to fall asleep.
It’s a shame not to know the name of a tune. What can you say to anyone who asks what it was? If you teach it to someone (or they pick it up) how are they going to refer to it?
I know what you mean, PallasAthena. And “The Blackthorn Stick” is one of my favourites.
And I know what you mean, Tia, about one tune leading to another. I used to worry that I was always playing the same selection in the same order, but happily that doesn’t happen these days. Too many tunes!
The subconscious is a better musician than the conscious.
The conscious is needed to learn the tunes and develop the chops.
I know several tunes I’ve learned in session that I have no clue as to the name.
The odd thing is how tunes I learned years ago sometimes just fall out from under my fingers–I go to start playing them, and past the first couple of notes I just can’t find the tune.
Sometimes in those cases if I can remember the name of the tune, then I can play the whole tune.
The mind is a funny thing.
–James
Muscle memory is powerful, isn’t it? I stop to think about what I’m playing and lose it. If I just I just let the fingers go, they find the right notes on their own. I suppose that if you stopped to analyse each little move while you tried to ride a bike the same thing might happen–you’d fall off.
Oh, that happens to me too, and the harder I think about it the more I foget of the song. I hate it, especially when I want to play that song, usually I have to go look it up then, but then its not quite the same.
It is funny how that happens. I sometimes have songs I’ve never played before materialize thru my whistle when I “zone out” a bit (which isn’t hard to do 
).
Alternatively, I find that before a show, I’ll have a bunch of songs floating around in my head but when the sound guy asks me to start playing something for a soundcheck, I almost always go blank. It’s gotten to the point where I have a decided “warm up tune” for soundchecks so I’m not stuck thinking about it.
Pallas Athena developing Apollonian tendencies? Let 'er rip!
Then there’s the times when you get your a and b sections confused. The other day I was playing through “far from home,” and my fingers kept insisting on going into the b section of “off to california.”
Which I guess is fitting somehow.
T
I tend to forget whether I already repeated the A or B section of a tune, so I’ll sometimes play it correctly, other times A B A B, and other times odder combinations like A B B B. But as long as it sounds good…
It’s great to play with folks who have a similar ability to muddle up tunes, and the flexibility to get back on track. Nice when it works.
I’m new with the whistle and I can attest to all the baffling things you all have mentioned. Last weekend I went to my first session. I practiced Father O’Flynn at home for hours until I sounded like Thom Larson, well sort of, and when I got there and got up to do my piece, Blanko! The others all started banging away on their accordions and fiddles. Thank heaven, I brought my Burke; no one could hear me. Next time I’m bringing my Susato. I will be heard. So be it.
Speaking of interesting experiences, I had to learn and play some Welsh, Cornish, and Manx tunes for a Ceilidh recently and those had some strange patterns. It confused the heck out of me. One of them was played like this: A B B A, A B B A, A B B A
Another strange (to me anyways) one like this: A B, A B, A B, A B C
and on top of that, the tempo sped up with each time through.
It took every bit of concentration I had not to play the A A B B that I’m so used to.