Ok…so I have never been a particularly diligent musician, except when it comes to voice lessons, which I also have been slacking on lately (but that’s not the point, is it?)…
What I want to ask people (and it relates to whistle) is how do you train your ear to be better? One of my whistle teachers a long time ago told me “you need to work on your ear…your biggest obstacle is not your performance, but your hearing it…” but at this point I’ve practiced off-and-on for years, and recently a voice instructor told me the same thing.
Is it possible for someone’s ear to have a limit on how good it can be?
Record yourself, and listen. That way it will be easier to spot mistakes that might go by unnoticed when you’re busy playing. Then, next time you’re playing, try to discern when (and why) those mistakes happen and correct them. Do this often, and I think your ear will become better.
Take West’s advice and also listen to recordings of stuff you think is good and how you want to sound. Listen attentively. Try playing along if you can.
Tony
This is good advice. I might also add that playing along to some basic form of accompaniment is also a big help – a click track or metronome is invaluable for timing, and chords (or even just bass notes) will help your intonation.
Admittedly I’ve only played for a few months, but before I tried recording myself with accompaniment, I had no idea how bad my timing actually was…
