Hi!
I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to play one-handed while driving? Also, what
songs can be played?
I know that several cities nationwide have
outlawed using cell phones while driving. I wonder if there is any legislation anywhere
regarding whistle playing?
From the vaults
Hope Dale doesn’t mind my reposting it here.
This little anecdote about whistles, airbags and medullae oblongatae scared me straight. 
Dale said:
Let me just take this opportunity, as a man who keeps a whistle in his own sun visor, to remind you people: IF YOU MUST DRIVE, DON’T WHISTLE. IF YOU MUST WHISTLE, DON’T DRIVE. If you find yourself tempted to “Knee Drive,” get your butt down to a local chapter of KNEE DRIVER’S ANONYMOUS and sit down and say, “I’m (insert your name here) and I’m a WhOA-disordered whistler struggling with knee-driving temptations.”Seriously, you may whistle in a PARKED car. You may even whistle at stoplights if you absolutely PROMISE to put the whistle down before you car starts to move again.
As I have said before, among the many other nightmarish consequences of operating a whistle while operating a motor vehicle is this: Your air bag deploys with tremendous pressure and velocity. If you have a whistle in your mouth, the thing will IMPALE YOU THROUGH THE FREAKING MEDULLA OBLONGATA AND/OR BRAIN STEM. I know something about brains. Trust me: You don’t want this. You use your medulla and your brain stem A LOT.
Signed,
Former knee driver
[ This Message was edited by: LittleMy on 2001-07-31 21:18 ]
Try turning a cheap whistle into a one handed tabor pipe.
Cover the top 3 holes with tape ( for test purposes, you can use your fingers for now).Ignore the lowest D,E,and F#. Start with the SECOND octave D ( all fingers down) then remove your right hand fingers one at a time to play E,F#,and G. Then ( this is really interesting) put your fingers back down and overblow even more. This will produce not a high D, but an A ( an overtone). Remove fingers again one at a time to play B,C# and very high D. In this way you can play one octave entirely one handed, leaving the other to dial your cell phone… 
BTW-- just triedthis on my Dixon, and it did NOT work well. Try different whistles.
I can only echo what Little my said above.
Don’t
Blaine
Don’t do it. Seriously.
Dale
On 2001-07-31 21:25, DaleWisely wrote:
Don’t do it. Seriously.Dale
Awe, Dale. You ruin all my fun. I was just going to release a new product called the steering whistle. By placing six holes and a fipple into an ordinary steering wheel, one can connect their automotive HVAC system to your steering wheel to serve as the wind supply. It would have provided hours of enjoyment for whistlers that drive on either side of the road.
Well, those “as seen on TV” folks didn’t get it so I’m still scrounging for capital. Maybe the Gates Foundation will support this as folk art. Thom L., can I send you fifty of these things to keep in stock. You’ll make a fortune. . .
settle down folks, its just a joke in poor taste.
This might be the time and place to offer a sneak preview of my own upcoming invention.
After seeing Trevor Wye’s Flutes Fantastic presentation, where some of the flutes he plays have all kinds of gismos attached to them, I decided to solve that age old problem, not of playing while driving, but playing while surfing … the internet that is.
I am working on attaching a couple of buttons (left click/right click) to either side of a whistle, and a small mini trackball (optical???) to the bottom. I have to work out how to attach the infra-red transmitting system to it, but once that is done, the whistle can be used as a wireless pointing device, ie, a mouse. Recorder players should have no problem adapting to the trackball on the bottom. This should relieve many of us of the guilt we feel about wasting time on the web when we should be playing our whistles.
I also have some property in southern Florida if anybody is interested.
Blaine
I agree with the DON’T recommendation too-- but try my one handed tabor instructions posted yesterday anyway, just not while you are driving
Sounds great Paul, but what do I do with my righthanded tabor whistle? I seriously want to learn Little Drummer Boy…
Thanks for the help. I don’t really play and drive at the same time, but I do keep my Chieftain gold low whistle on my lap and play at long stoplights. ( I have gotten some funny looks from fellow motorists.)
Just keep in mind that being stopped at a stoplight doesn’t prevent people from hitting you (presumably hard enough to fire the airbag, etc.)…
Isn’t that what Noah Herbison’s telescoping whistle for? Just make sure it doesn’t stick. What about a whistle made of safety glass? The airbag hits it, it disintegrates. Or a throat guard with gill-slits for blowing air out of. You put it in your mouth to keep the fipple from jamming your brainstem. I’m sure there’s a practical solution to this concern. Statistically, how many people have died in auto accidents by having a whistle impaled in their throat? I believe more people have been hit by lightning and meteors (simultaneously). Hmm, I wonder how many people have been electrocuted playing whistle in a thunder storm.
“Live free or die.”
On 2001-08-01 12:47, TonyHiggins wrote: Statistically, how many people have died in auto accidents by having a whistle impaled in their throat. . .
Ah, the misuses of statistics. Tony, a better question is “What percentage of the people who play whistles while at the wheel of the car have been injured? How does this compare the the percentage of people who DON’T?”
As a stoplight whistler, I think I just got cured by the post that mentions the possibility of someone hitting me while I’m innocently trying to practice a tune. Geez, just a minor rear-ender could break a tooth, even if the airbag doesn’t deploy! I think I’ll wait for the parking lot.
Many thanks for the voice of reason.
Years ago, when I had a car, and when I couldn’t execute rolls on A and B very convincingly, I used to play one-handed (only when stuck in traffic, please note) and practise these suckers ad nauseam (alone, so as not to nauseate companions).
Now I am doubly happy: 1) no car, 2) can now play rolls. Wouldn’t want to try it on a bike anyway. But back then, when nauseam set it, the lack of tunes that could be played one-handed frustrated me. I only know one, and here is one for your enjoyment. Packie Byrne, the composer, used to play it on two whistles simultaneously, with a simple harmony on the second one.
Anyone have any other one-handed tunes?
“Many thanks for the voice of reason.”
That was never my intention.
Tony
If I remember correctly, I once attached a piece of rubber tubing (maybe surgical tubing?) to the fipple of a whistle. This allowed me to play a tune with the whistle on my lap or where-ever. I was trying to imitate (and tease) a friend that played old-timey music with his fiddle in his lap I think that the longer the tube the less well this worked. This could work while driving in a car. But, I am NOT recommending doing anything in addition to driving a vehicle while driving a vehicle!
Neil
[ This Message was edited by: nbrock on 2001-08-01 14:14 ]
I’ve logged approximately 75,000 miles practicing session tunes, primarily on the high D whistle, but do a number on the low D and practice chanter. I have yet to touch the center line or white line along the road’s edge or to swerve. The section of road is straight and I don’t speed.
I am, however, very concerned about the airbag our Government required us to use that was developed to deploy at 200 mph rather than the 100 mph recommended by the safety folks (to prevent airbag injuries). As a result, their have been many deaths and many more injuries caused by the Government regulation. A few years ago, the airbags were stepped down to the 100 mph deployment because the orginal airbags were killing people. The Government failed to recall the millions of deadly airbags on older cars.
Did you know some handicapped folks legally drive without a stearing wheel? Did you know postal workers drive while sitting in the passenger seat?
I know we’ll have a dozen or two well-intentioned do-gooders with personal advice. Based upon the above, you’d be better off advising the Government to recall those deadly first-generation airbags which continue to kill people today.
Keep on whistling.
Stevie, thanks for the tune, I love it…brilliant!
As far as playing & driving, I agree with Dale and the others, not to mention knocking your teeth out going over pot-holes! A better idea might be to use the time to listen, listen, listen the recordings of the tunes you want to learn. The more you listen, the easier it is to learn by ear!!
Sue