It's just like riding a bicycle...

Whistle
1

Some of you may remember years ago when I would post on this forum, but I got into ukulele and fiddle, so my whistles became very infrequently played. I did practice for my annual Christmas busking, but that was just a dozen tunes or so on one whistle. Christmas carols are easy.

Well, last night, I took up some of my OTEHR whistles and got out my old sheet music (I like playing non-ITM, like French & English dance tunes, renaissance tunes, 20th cent folk stuff, etc). I spent a nice hour with my whistles and this music I hadn’t played (and, subsequently, heard) for probably a couple of years.

And you know what? I sounded pretty good! Better than I remember. I don’t know if my musicality has developed from playing other instruments, or if the whistle seems so comparatively easy after such a beast as the violin, but I was surprised at how nice some of those tunes sounded. It all came flooding back, pretty effortlessly.

Now, I was never even close to being a decent player, even back when I played all the time. I can’t play very fast, and never got the hang of ITM, so I would think (to myself) “I play around with the whistle, but I can’t really PLAY it.”

However, last night, I think anyone listening would certainly have thought I could play it. I even thought that! And boy, was it fun.

2

Kar, you’ve captured the true joy of a musician. Music really is fun, whether it’s Irish Trad or anything else. I’m happy for you!
Cheers!

3

Funny, I’ve been playing concertina lately, and dabbling in some other things, and only occasionally playing a tune on a cheapie whistle laying around. But just last night I pulled out my Busman, and man, it’s so much fun to play that thing, I almost feel like I can play whistle, and it inspires me to explore and play with a tune. I even made a quick recording of the reel “The Wise Maid” to see what I sounded like, and I only really cringed half a dozen times! (It’s one of my favorite Irish tunes, I don’t play many, especially reels, and that one’s tough for me).

So, in other words, Yay! Fun! I do think playing other instruments helps. It helps you listen to yourself especially. It seems most traditional musicians, even if they’ve only known for one particular instrument, can knock out a few decent tunes on many others. I like that.