I’ve noticed that a few C&F’s members have mentioned other instruments that they play besides the whistle and I was just curious to hear what else everyone plays.
I have been teaching myself how to read music and also how to play the hammered dulcimer for about a year and a half. I have found that I can read the notes much easier when I am learning a new tune on the whistle than when I am learning it on the dulcimer. I also found that a lot of the fiddle tunes I have learned on the dulcimer are in my beginners whistle books. So, I have now started learning them on the whistle first and it saves me time learning them on the dulcimer.
I too am a hammered dulcimer player, as are at least two others on this board. I guess we have a fascination with ‘folky’ type instruments.
One problem I’ve found is that when someone says ‘Do you know XYZ?’ and I say yes, often it ends up that I know XYZ on the OTHER instrument, and there is no way I can play it up to speed (even bare of embellishments) on the other instrument. Sometimes, though, I don’t even remember which I learned it on, and it isn’t until midway through the tune that I figure out why my fingers won’t go for the notes, or my arms don’t seem to know the patterns needed. It was even worse when I tried playing recorder and whistle.
The nice thing is that you’ll find tunes that are nearly impossible to play nicely on one instrument, but are quite do-able on the other, such as (for me) Atholl Highlanders which I can’t manage on the whistle well, but can rip on the dulcimer!
Thanks >
Sorry, I should have know better.
I’ll check it out.
Maybe some of the other newbies would like to respond.
Don’t feel bad – I did the same thing a few weeks ago.
But – I’ll jump in with an answer anyway. Guitar, mandolin, whistle (beginner), fiddle (beginner). And I’m starting to drool over some Uilleann pipes – I think that’s what excessive whistling leads to…
[ This Message was edited by: douga on 2002-07-24 18:05 ]
I’m new, so I’ll answer… orchestral flute, trombone, recorder, a little clarinet, and am learning bassoon. Whistle, naturally. I’ve tried a few others, but not seriously. I played flute for years, started trombone a couple years ago, and discovered I really like low instruments. I also love most flute type instruments.
I never did answer to the last one, so I suppose I may as well do so now. The only other instrument I play is classical violin. I would try fiddiling, but I think that requires more creativity than I can ever hope to possess.
I started on clarinet, then a little trumpet. My weapon of choice for many years was lap dulcimer, then I started on folk harp. I made more progress on whistle in six months than in three years of harp, so I’m sticking with winds.
I recently bit and bought one of those flutes that Glenn Schultz made that have been talked about here. (It’s absolutely gorgeous, of course, and has a nice, round warm tone.) I really bought it for my wife, but she’s not as hot for the folk flute as I’d thought, so I’m learning it now.
I’m old, but I don’t mind answering again. I play guitar, a little jazz piano, and was recently given the loan of a fiddle. But my main instrument is my voice, as I’ve been singing all my life. Which is pretty long, since I’m old(not really so old).
Played French Horn in my youth. I bought a fiddle with the intent of getting into Trad, but I couldnt get the hang of it. Then I started the whistle, and after a few months of whistling and learning tunes I started up on the fiddle again and it’s been going great ever since.
For me, whistle was the entry drug and facilitator for getting into fiddle. Now my practice time is 75% fiddle and 25% whistle. Having tunes down by whistle allows me to play by ear on the fiddle, even from the start, which kinda amazed me.
Oh, and for me anyway, getting a fiddle was a very effective cure for WHOA. $67.00 fiddle on an ebay auction. With a SweeTone, a Meg and a Copeland as my playable whistles (lets not even talk about my buzzy Oak experiences, or my lips will go numb), I now focus so much on fiddling that I am happy with the whistles I have, and no longer crave a blackwood “" or a silver "” or a low “" in the keys of "" "" and "___”.
I still love to play my whistles, but I managed to find a more balanced perspective that focused on playing and practicing rather than evaluating and acquiring.
Of course, Loren, I might make an exception if you want to give up that ultrasweet ORiordan C for a song…
Kevin
No. 39 (come on, Blackhawk, post a few more and knock me out of the top 40
I suppose I may be one of the other hammer dulcimer players that Tyghress refers to in her post… Piano and French Horn were my youthful instruments. Gave up the French Horn after college, still play the piano and synth. Started hammer dulcimer about '89, and took up the whistle 3 or 4 years ago. I find the hammer dulcimer and whistle compliment each other well…Differences between them make for an interesting dichotomy…The dulcimer is both harmonic and percussive. It can, of course, play melody with a percussive quality to the sound. The whistle handles any kind of melody, with any kind of articulation. The two instruments are different enough to be interesting, and yet can be used on the same styles of music. Love 'em both.
Cheers to all.
Byll
Generation, Clarke, Walton’s, and Dixon whistles, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, air guitar, bodhran, cardboard box (using a bodhran tipper), tambourine, egg shaker, spiral-bound notebook and pencil (as a rasp), half-empty bottle of orange soda, half-full bottle of orange soda (don’t worry about it, just drink it). Might consider taking up fiddle, lap dulcimer, or bouzouki.
On 2002-07-24 21:15, DazedinLA wrote:
Kevin
No. 39 (come on, Blackhawk, post a few more and knock me out of the top 40 > >
You’ve been practicing that fiddle instead of posting. Yup, that’s me you hear breathing down your neck every time you stop practicing long enough to get on line. But you play the fiddle MUCH better than I do, which is not at all.
I also play hammered dulcimer (and clawhammer banjo). There is no way I can sight read music while playing the dulcimer as I must look at the strings to play. I have learned all my dulcimer tunes by ear but am learning to read music for the whistle. That way I can learn a tune on the whistle and then play it by ear on the dulcimer.
