For all the whistle students out there, please share details about your whistle practice habits.
I practice daily for at least an hour, usually a bit more. Tunes I know well I play at least once to refine details. Tunes I haven’t committed to muscle memory I repeat until I’ve improved a problem. Tunes I’m still learning I repeat until I can get all the way through the parts I’m working on that day without serious error–sometimes that’s only one part! I play with the metronome as much as possible, even on slow airs. If I think I sound pretty good on a tune finally, I record myself with the computer to find out where I need to improve. I record myself almost every day. I consider my routine a bit fanatical–my day feels empty without it. I figure the more tunes I learn, the longer my practice is going to be, until I get to a point where I can leave a tune alone for a few days and come back to it just as well as when I left it. I’m not at that point yet.
Lisa
One thing you didn’t mention in your practice regime is SCALES. It sounds boring, but I start each practice session by running scales up and down through both octaves. It’s amazing how hard it is to play “good” scales, and how much they help with breath control and hitting those high notes dead-on. Of course, I have yet to play a REALLY good scale - which is one reason I practice them
To break the monotony a bit, I will syncopate sometimes, play triplets, staccato a little here and there, tongue up and slur down, try to go as fast as I can accurately, etc. The scales warm-up both me and my whistles, too.
I practice anywhere from half an hour to an hour a day. I’m always learning a couple of new tunes, and I run through them each several times. After that I just play whatever I feel like, unless there’s a gig coming up. If there is, I will run through each song on the play list. Steve
I try to learn at least part of a new song every few days. Lately, I’ve been working with the “O’Neill’s 1001 Irish Tunes” book.
I can read music, but the problem with these tunes is that they’re meant to be played fast and my sight reading isn’t nearly fast enough to play them at the correct tempo. Consequently, when I play the song in the book, I don’t usually recognize the tune I’m playing. But occasionally, a light will come on and I’ll recognize the tune. That makes it worth the pain of reading music.
I also try to arrange old fiddle tunes I know, many of which are Irish, for the whistle. Since I’m an American who loves Irish music, I find my biggest challenge is developing an Irish playing style. I have to work toward learning the Irish style as opposed to the style I’m familiar with. For example, I had played “Soldier’s Joy” on the whistle for a while, and I was satisfied with the way I played it until I discovered the version in the O’Neill’s book. Although it was in the same key as I’d been playing it, it was a much better arrangement for the whistle and sounded more “Irish.”
[ This Message was edited by: Bartleby on 2002-04-12 13:45 ]
From 1-2 hrs a day dependent upon context… Sometimes on my days off I’ll play for as long as 4 hours broken up of course… Now that it’s nice outside I’ll probably be playing the tunes I know out downtown or at a park…
As far as practicing goes I focus on the tunes more than the scales, arpegios, etc… My primary instrument is guitar and I made the mistake of practicing scales & arpeggios to much to the point that I wasn’t learning tunes… All throughout highschool and then into college (Berklee College of Music) I would practice every day for 4 hrs a day… Then burnout came… I wasn’t playing for joy…
Now, playing the whistle is all about joy… I do focus however on interpretation, learning by ear, tricky passages, etc… But I use the tunes as vehicles for practicing arpeggios, scales, etc… And I do it slow and with a metronome (metronome.com when I’m by my computer) If I had a mantra it would be practice slow, you can always play fast when your not practicing…
So, as the question was asked in another thread…Is your goal to play in a session? Mine is… actually I do… I’ve got a little notebook that will fit in my pocket I got at walmart for like $.25 and I put a tune in there when I commit it to memory with all ornaments, etc… I’ve got about 45 tunes in there last time I checked… I’ve also got about a 100 tunes a year tune learning diet… which is easy to do especially if you’ve got friends teaching you tunes (which I need more of) and if you’re listening a lot…
Learn from the masters, practice slow, relax every muscle in your body - not just your fingers, let the tunes be the vehicles for improvement, play for joy…
That’s about it I guess…
Peace,
Blayne
P.S. Oh yeah, stomp your foot like you’re trying to kick the floor in!
[ This Message was edited by: McChastain on 2002-04-12 16:46 ]
Being new to the whistle, but not to music, I made the decision to learn new tunes primarily from recordings. I just don’t trust myself yet to play with a truly trad based swing or ornamentation style from tunes I haven’t heard played by someone who’s been fully immersed in the tradition for many years. I have this really great piece of digital technology, a Sabine BackTrac which enables one to slow tunes down to 1/3 the original tempo while retaining the same pitch. It is absolutely fantastic for working out precise ornamentation. For learning the intital tune I use it at 1/2 speed. For practice I click it up to 2/3 speed and work on that for about a week, maybe 40 minutes per day, before I’m even close to playing as fast and clean as Mary Bergin. Well actually after a week I’ll maybe play as clean as that one time out of twenty. I think that’s what separates amateurs like myself from the pros…they can nail it every time.
I agree that it’s best to play slowly with precision rather than fast and sloppy. If only I practiced what I preach.
Plus I just noodle, ideally in time. I have to improvise for twenty minutes or so to feel connected.
Oh yeah, and listen listen listen to a lot of good musicians playing great music.
For me playing scales on a diatonic whistle is time I could devote to a new tune.I,m a pretty fair to good reader and even when learning this craft I never ever played scales,not even on the fiddle.Your ear very quickly hears the keys your whistle is capable of and lots of tunes promote good finger memory.For some, 1 hour a day is more than sufficient playing/practice time,for others 4 or 5 hours a day is not enough time.The relative ease of whistle playing compared to other instruments means longer playing times are permitted without injury, although frequent rest times are advisable to maintain sanity. Peace,Mike
"For me playing scales on a diatonic whistle is time I could devote to a new tune."
Well, besides starting each practice session with scales, I do add two or three new tunes per week to my repertoire, which has grown now to some 20 songs I practice each time I play. Perhaps it’s my classical music training, or perhaps it’s my age, or - well, for whatever reason - I have a LOT of trouble getting clean second-octave a,b,c,d³ without some scale practice first.
I find the increase in breath pressure particularly difficult between a and b, and from b to c. All my whistles are either Generations or Waltons so far, and I have several keys in each - and each whistle and/or key has different breath requirements for those higher notes, it seems. By running through a scale or two, I can relax more and fight less
Kendra,
Have you tried a susato Dublin whistle?Although I do love the tone of Gen,s and Waltons,the chromatic possibilities of the Dublin, ease of playing and good tone is really something else.It would be inaccurate to lable it as diatonic,and scales do take on added dimensions due to the many fingering possibilities it offers.It,s ironic that Generations are produced as toys, but require the most advanced playing technique out of all whistles to truely make them work. Peace, Mike
It,s ironic that Generations are produced as toys, but require the most advanced playing technique out of all whistles to truely make them work.
Well, I’m glad it’s not just ME Sometimes I really do get frustrated because all my whistles (except the Walton C and Generation F) seem to be so “tempermental.” Thanks for the tip - I’m a little afraid of a Susato because they are so “loud,” but I think I’ll try the Dublin. My landlord has already told me I am going to have to move sooner or later, anyway, because he’s going to shut this place down
I don’t know why, but I personnally think that scales on a diatonic instrument are useless.
Scales on chromatic instruments are useful only because you need to get used to playing in other keys. On a whistle you really dont have many scales to practice, and only one chromatic note (the c natural) so why bother?
I’m with you about scales on diatonic instruments, Nico.
It was also mentioned in this thread that the tunes themselves offer lots of practice with arpeggios and other scale-related patterns. I want to get busy with the tunes!
I think I learn new tunes by ear as quickly as I do (not as quick as I would like!) because I have a little history of practicing scales in all seven modes on some chromatic instruments. I know my knowledge of scales and modes help me to recognize entire phrases of whistle music at a time–I think I developed a good sense of relative pitch because of work with scales and modes.
My fiddler friend has years of classical violin background, and he can learn new tunes more quickly than I can.
Some people think scales exercise their fingers, improve the smoothness of their playing. I prefer to break complex tunes into segments that put the spots that give my fingers trouble in the middle. I make sure I don’t always practice the exact same segment, instead adding and/or deleting notes on either side of it. I know this kind of practice is useful because once I learn a finger pattern for a tune, it will show up eventually in a future tune to learn.
Lisa
[ This Message was edited by: ysgwd on 2002-04-13 19:29 ]
On 2002-04-13 16:39, NicoMoreno wrote:
I don’t know why, but I personnally think that scales on a diatonic instrument are useless.
[bit elided here]
On a whistle you really dont have many scales to practice, and only one chromatic note (the c natural) so why bother?
I can’t say I understand the connection between “you don’t have many” and “don’t do it at all”, but if you find the C natural on all of your whistles to be as straightforward as the C#, you’re a better player than most, I think.
I can play A-B-C#-D-E-D-C#-B-A a lot faster and cleaner than I can play A-B-C-D-E-D-C-B-A, especially what with the latter being fingered differently on some of my whistles. Once I can do anything with a C as effortlessly as the same thing with a C#, then I’ll agree.
And “scales” don’t have to be d-e-f-g-a-b-c#-d, and probably shouldn’t if you’ve been playing more than a few weeks. How about d-f-e-g-f-a-g-b-a-c# … and back down the same way? Or if that’s too arpeggiated, d-e-f-e-f-g-f-g-a- … up and down, or d’-c#-b-a b-a-g-f g-f-e-d e-f-g-a g-a-b-#c b-c#-d’-e d’? I find the last one in sixteenth notes at mm=160 or so is a great warmup, too.
(While I’m here, my favorite arpeggio exercise, picked up from my jazz bass teacher, is
d-f-a-c# b-a-g-f
e-g-b-d’ c#-b-a-g
and so on up, and then
d’‘-b’-g’-e’ f’-g’-a’-b’
c#‘-a’-f’-d’ e’-f’-g’-a’
and so on down. Good on any instrument for covering every 7th arpeggio in the scale.
Of course, transpose into G as well..)
Thought of another useful variation on practice strategies based around boring old scales:
d cran
e cran or roll
f roll
g roll
and so on, up and down two octaves. Start off very slowly, playing the roll/cran grace notes as full notes, and then start speeding up next time, and more the time after, until you’re playing them like ornamentation, and then start slowing them back down. Never go so fast that they’re uneven.
This is one of several threads on technique that have been added to the Matrix recently. There are now a total of 14 threads indexed under Learning Techniques.
Peace,Mike