Well, I didn’t have a big audience or anything like that. It was just immediate family, but I’ve never played for other people before. (besides my wife)
My sister is a professional symphony violinist and her fiance is a professional trombonist but he plays all kinds of instruements & styles of music as well.
We played Christmas songs. My sis on violin, Her fiance on guitar, and me carrying melody on one of my Copeland Ds. I had never even played the songs before but I figured them out as we went along. I even played harmony on one. It was a lot of fun! Everybody thought I sounded good.
I wish I would have taken a few low whistles as well. Also, I could have played more songs with them if I’d had some different keys. Time to start saving up.
**Also, I’m thinking about changing my handle on the forum soon. Just giving y’all a heads-up.
I agree with mvhplank–I have always found playing with pros to be a wonderful experience. Real pros are almost always encouraging and helpful.
Playing for others can be a very frightening experience at first, but it is also a very satisfying one when it goes well. The more you do it, the easier it gets, and the better you’ll play.
We all enjoyed it and we’re going to get together and practice so we can do a show at the next get-together. They have never played with a Whistle player before. Maybe I’ll bring out the pipes next year.
Amen to that! Ive found that those who get to be the best in their fields usually remember when they were not even remotely so, are humble, in fact … and they do encourage others, taking time to share little tricks of the trade, so to speak. Also, those that are haughty and unfriendly are frequently not really as good as they think they are.
I say, friendly, sharing and not perfect is far better than absolute expert with cerebral/anal inversion.
I also played for a family gathering. There were 13 people one of whom was an acomplished musician. This was also the first time I had played for anyone other than my wife. It went much better than I expected. I will try to expand the groups of people that I play for to try and get over the nervousness and stagefright.
I still remember mine - a good mandolinist forgot to breathe! I am really glad people are “coming out” on the whistle at Christmas, with all this really bad tsunami news it is easy to carry the world on your shoulders. As long as we help these guys with money, communication, thought and love we don’t have to dishonour ourselves and them by being miserable.
Not having played anything for a week I am off to the pub to play for 3 hours with good friends (and JB) in an hour or so, and can recommend it. See you all New Year’s Eve?
Patrick of the Hundred Thousand Pints (Cead Mile Ginis)
