Ok…I visit this site more than I care to mention…reading, reading…going to links…and links…printing off music…listening…etc., etc. I EVEN DREAM ABOUT PLAYING THE WHISTLE!!! Ok…I am obsessed. Also have a wish list of more whistles I want to buy. Sigh…
So many whistles, so little money…
Ok…my questions:
I have been playing for less than a month. I’m working on my ornamentation…but it just doesn’t have the punch that I hear on sound clips or my cd’s. I think I may be playing them too slow. What can I do to help me speed up my cuts, taps and rolls???
Second question: Why buy different whistles in different keys? Are the fingerings different for different notes? You guys that play them must be Einsteins then…cuz I am still shuffling about with my own fingers on my D whistle.
Thank you for all your help and encouragement!!! Next week I am on vacation…and I will be stopping in Madison Wisconsin and Milwaukee, hoping to find a session or two to attend. Also…if anyone is from that area, let me know of any sessions you may know about.
Ok, if you are anything like all the other beginners (including me), then your problem is not to speed up but to slow down. Practice your ornaments (I would only do cuts & taps at this point) slowly. No. Even sloooowwer. Like reaaaaalllllly slooooooooowwwwww. Get them clean and steady, without breaking up the rhythm. It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as your rhythms stays steady. Don’t tongue, but use your cuts & taps for rhythm (separating same-pitch notes, mostly). If your rhythm isn’t right, no one will care how fast you play: it won’t be good. Go slow. SLOW.
As for other key whistles, if you want to get some, do. But don’t bother worrying about fingerings & notes, just play everything as if it were a D-whistle. Enough time to figure out the rest later.
Oh, and did I mention that you should go slow?
Have fun.
P.S. If you’re going to buy a book, I’d recommend Bill Ochs’s Clarke Tinwhistle Tutor.
P.P.S. I am assuming you want to play Irish Trad, or “Celtic”. Can’t speak to anything else.
Thank you Bloomfield for the response. I guess I have to buy some cd’s so I can listen and listen!! And…play slower!!! I get what you mean about the beat…I will try and do the ornamentations with beat…even though it is slow. I think that will help!!!
I am a very impatient person…but I am willing to do the work…like practice, practice, practice!! I am a watercolorist and a pastelist…so I am familiar with the need to steading improve one’s skill. I was just feeling a bit insecure that I was not “getting it”.
Thank you for your reply…I have no idea why I have two messages out there with the same writing. I did not do this twice…not too good in the puter department either!!!
Well, being the very soul of patience myself cough I think I can relate. A great teacher said to me once: Practices doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent… so be careful to get it right. Listening is an excellent idea. There is a good thread in the ITM forum called Beyond the Bothy Band (or something) that should get you started on some good stuff to listen to.
Also, if I may link to myself, there is a thread I wrote a while ago about my learning, and where I got that permanent-not-perfect quote, that might be helpful: Roll Over Bloomfield. I am also the soul of modesty, come to think of it.
NancyMae,
It’s great your trying to learn and play along with CD’s but doing that and trying to play SSSSSLLLLLLLLOOOOOWWW can be a little difficult.
However, there are a number of Software packages that will let you play CD’s at slower speeds without changing the pitch. I have a couple of programs that came with my Audigy Sound Card, but there are a number of inexpensive shareware programs that let you play the tunes at slower speeds. Check you sound card software first. If you don’t have an luck there you can do a search of this bulletin board for ‘Slow downer’ software. The topics come up a number of times with various folks recommending the various packages they’ve tried.
Thank you all for your insightful AND productive posts. I am learning that SLLLLLOWWWWW is the way to go!! Last night I gave up my ornamentations…and just played slllloowww!! Probably not as slow as Bill told you to play Bloomfield…but I am getting there!! Hearing all those wonderful clips on Bro Steve’s and others sites makes me very impatient to sound like them…but I have to be patient.
I love playing the whistle…and I’m glad I stumbled across it…
I am going on vacation next week…camping out and traveling…while painting outdoors and playing my whistle in the great outdoors!!!
See you guys in two weeks!!!
Thank you for all your words of wisdom!! I will be a little easier on myself!!
An OTHER reason for having whistles in other keys is that you just may get good enough to choose to play a tune in the key of D on, say, an A whistle… the tone is a little different, you have access to different notes and you may just prefer one whistle to another. Personally, I’m lucky the fingering’s the same from one to the next, LOL! Seems not many people want to play their favorite tunes in my favorite whistle’s key (Bflat).
Remember that ornaments aren’t actual notes and should not be heard as actual notes.
For example a cut is a chirp in front of the main note and the downbeat is a great place to do that (along with possibly tounging).
A roll is just a quarter note cut into two pieces (short roll) or, more commonly dotted quarter note cut into 3 pieces (long roll). The notes used for the cut and pat aren’t that important, the rhythm of the roll is the key to a good roll. The cut and pat shouldn’t be heard as individual notes (if so, your cutting or patting finger isn’t fast enough “on the bounce”), but as “bumps” in the longer note. The cutting finger pops up and right back down, the bottom patting finger(s) pop down and right back up. Do that part fast, but play the tune at 1/2 to 2/3 of the speed you hear someone do it, but when you do rolls/ornaments, pop those ornamenting fingers fast.
Whenever possible, divide the work between both hands in rolls as it makes keeping time easier. Of course, that’s limited to the rolls on notes in the lower hand.
The top hand rolls are harder, because it all has to be done with one hand.
My son used to play heavy metal music. I played light metal. It is tin.
Regarding Madison, if you’re in town on Wednesday, you’ll want to be sure to go to Mickey’s Tavern, as they have a weekly session there. I won’t be able to attend (my entire week is booked), but if you want directions, feel free to ask.
Thanks Forest!! I will look it up on Mapquest and get directions!! Maybe next time I will be able to see you play!! We will definately try and get there!!
Ok, if you are anything like all the other beginners (including me), then your problem is not to speed up but to slow down. Practice your ornaments (I would only do cuts & taps at this point) slowly. No. Even sloooowwer. Like reaaaaalllllly slooooooooowwwwww. Get them clean and steady, without breaking up the rhythm. It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as your rhythms stays steady. Don’t tongue, but use your cuts & taps for rhythm (separating same-pitch notes, mostly). If your rhythm isn’t right, no one will care how fast you play: it won’t be good. Go slow. SLOW.
Very cool. Thank you.
I suppose I should introduce myself, since this is my first post after a month lurking. Vital statistics: Walton D, about two months playing now, 20-year obsession with Irish traditional music, spouse is actually encouraging me to buy more whistles. (I don’t think I need any right now–the Walton is getting a little tarnished but it still sounds fine.) I see there are a number of Hudson Valley whistlers here–brewerpaul, we live about five miles from each other. Hiya!
I’ve been teaching myself partly from my album collection, but I’m also working through L.E. McCullough’s Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor. I’d been concerned because I don’t seem to be able to play the introductory pieces at the speed he does on the CD–I can handle them slower, but at fast speeds my rhythm breaks and the song sounds like hell. I’d been waiting to seriously practice my ornaments until I could play the basic song at full speed.
After reading your post, it sounds like the thing to do is to get the basic tune up to a reasonable, fairly quick speed, with good rhythm, and then work in the ornaments. I’ve been having good luck with slower tunes I know by heart from my music collection–at any rate, I can play Si Bheag, Si Mhor at the speed the Chieftains do, with some simple ornaments, although I’m still a bit rough.
I’ve been playin bout the same length of time, and I found the “introductory” pieces in L.E McCullough’s book almost impossible to play up to speed. Apparently its worth sticking with, it’ll definately be a long time before i outgrow it!
Don’t worry about getting tunes up to speed (any speed). Only worry about nailing the rhythm and the swing. About ME McCullough’s tutor: I started with and it went too fast for me. It makes you feel like you ought do stuff you won’t be ready for and the result for me was that I took two steps at once and fell on my face. I had to go back and clean up the basics (like rolls). And now I am again going back to even more basic basics (cuts & taps). The book is good, just very advanced. I nowadays recommend Bill Ochs’ Clarke Tinwhistle tutor.
Get stuff steady, don’t worry about speed, and play along with (slowed down) recordings as much as possible.
Don’t worry about getting tunes up to speed (any speed). Only worry about nailing the rhythm and the swing. About ME McCullough’s tutor: I started with and it went too fast for me. It makes you feel like you ought do stuff you won’t be ready for and the result for me was that I took two steps at once and fell on my face.
Heh! That’s sort of what it felt like–like jamming a transmission into fourth gear from first. That’s why I’d been noodling around with some simpler songs I knew. Now that several other people have mentioned that he’s a pretty damn fast player, I feel less concerned.
I had to go back and clean up the basics (like rolls). And now I am again going back to even more basic basics (cuts & taps). The book is good, just very advanced. I nowadays recommend Bill Ochs’ Clarke Tinwhistle tutor.
Get stuff steady, don’t worry about speed, and play along with (slowed down) recordings as much as possible.
Thanks again. I think I have some shopping to do after all.
For Mac users, there’s a piece of shareware for OS X called “Transcribe!” http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/transcribe.html
Looks very promising. I’ve found a few variations in scores for favorite trad’ tunes but rarely find what I expect to hear. With this program, it looks like you can take your favorite variation and have it transcribed.
…now did I leave that Joanie Madden CD in the car or here in the house? Hmmm!
Hope this helps. I’ve only been playing for ~2 months. (Got burned out on L.E. McCollough’s book a long time ago. Get Bill Ochs book or The Low Whistle Book. Maybe in a year’s time, I can go back to L.E.'s book) I don’t even attempt ornamentation yet. I…uh…got delightfully sidetracked by a Kerry low D. Go figure!
Ok, well, I’ve been playing for about 3 days, and I am completely submerged in my whistle. I have been trying to add cuts and taps to a piece, but I’m not sure of where to put them, or how to make it “sound good”. Any ideas?
Yeah, I guess it might be kinda silly to be doing this, given my lvl of experience, but I feel compelled…
Oh and my whistle is a generation Eb, not the best to start out on I think. I’m getting a clarke original D in a few days.
annie