I have my whistle homework this week which is to learn January Snows, I have the Lunasa album and just wondered if anyone had a whistle version in D, I am sticking with my whistle
teachers advice and trying all new tunes without notation or ABC, so was after a simple version
that would be a bit easier to follow as the Lunasa flute version is a bit tricky for me, its sound amazing on the flute but for a novice learn by ear guy its hard, if any one has the time to maybe do a whistle version I can e-mail the Lunasa mp3 over.
I don’t have a forward version of the song. I do, however, have some tips for learning by ear based on how I do it.
Listen to the song over and over and over and over and over and over and over… and over…
Try singing, humming or lilting the song. When you do this you can filter out the ornamentation through your voice.
Don’t try to play the whole song from start to finish. Just try to pick out small notational phrases and then put them together as you figure them out.
Experiment to find the right note. Finger every note if you have to until the right one sticks out.
I agree with Skipjack - singing or lilting along to the tune helps a lot to “get it” in your head. Then it’s just a matter of finding it on the whistle. Dare I repeat - start w/small sections of a tune - I generally shoot for the first 1/2 or 1/4 of the A part & play it over & over until becomes pretty natural before moving to the next phrase.
The more you learn like this, the faster / easier it becomes so don’t be discouraged.
I could be wrong but…
My memory banks are telling me that the Lunasa version of the tune is played on a B flat flute…in which case learning it on a D whistle would be a challenge
slow and steady is working, I do have a bit of help, I bought a Tascam MP VT1 music and vocal trainer, works really well, load your mp3’s on and you can loop a tiny section and slow down by half speed in tiny increments, I do have audacity, but this unit is a no bigger than a packet of cigs.
MT I managed to learn all the Abc notes you put up by ear with the tascam, which for me is a breakthrough, and it was nice this evening to check your abc and I was bang on, only thing is I am playing the three B notes as three separate notes, but I noticed you have the tilde symbol in front so what ornament would I use to break those three b’s up a tap on A maybe ??? or can you roll on a b note.
The first B is what I call a flipped roll. It’s like a short roll, but begins with a flip {Bc} instead of a simple cut. The same notes as a condensed long roll, but the timing is different.
The second B is a short roll. And the third B is just a cut. And of course, the 3 Bs are really all connected together as one long ornamented note.
The Lunasa version is wonderful.
I have always wanted to learn that tune and your post prompted me to get started.
I’m still just at the basic melody, no (real) ornamentation yet - but given time and practice (a year or two ) it will sound fine, I think.
I got my whistle teacher to play it at normal speed whilst I recorded him on my little sony mp3 recorder, i then transfered it to a tascam mp vt1, and can now start breaking it down into small sections, is so much easier to learn from a whistle version, for me anyway, the tascam vt1 vocal music trainers are great you can loop a small section and slow it right down similar to the freebie audacity software for computers but the tascam is the size of a pack of cigarettes so can go anywhere.
so i’m getting on really well. just wished i had started the ear training a couple of years back and avoided the abc.
Mmmm, sponge, that sounds good. The tascam thingy seems to be really handy (looked it up in the www).
So far I’m my own tascam - just my ears, the repeat button on the cd player + a basic sort of ABC. But that works fine for now. It’s amazing what you can learn to HEAR.
So good luck and joyfull playing.
In January we might be able to play along with the snowflakes .
) it will sound fine, I think.