I have been pestering Jerry O’Sullivan to come out with a purely whistle CD. one with no accompaniment and for the sole purpose of giving those wishing to learn something to play along with. We have discussed that he do one for beginners and one for intermediates players.
If I can convince him to put the time and energy and expence in what tunes would you like to see on this type of CDs.
There are recoding and productions cost for a limited run like this but I personally think it is something the whistle community can really use.
Drowsy Maggie
Kesh Jig
Kid on the Mountain
King of the Fairies
Tam Lin
Shebeg Shemore
Siuil Aroon
Fields of Athenry
Boys of Ballisidare
Clumsy Lover
Devils Dead
Drops of Brandy
Foxhunters Jig
Lark in the Morning
Terry ‘cuz’ Teehans
Wind that shakes the barley
That should be a good start… 
Aodhan
Aodhan, I think three of your first four are on Cathal McConnell’s instruction CD. Other songbooks have accompanying CDs.
Just one request: please ask Jerry to employ a count in to each tune. I can’t believe how many instructional CDs of Irish music just launch unannounced into each tune as though the listener had a magical intuition into just when the tune was going to start. This doesn’t happen in other styles and is just plain amateurish. It isn’t ‘charming’ either, just stupid.
Oh, my list. Anything good will do.
Langstrom’s Pony at a reasonable speed. Everything I’ve got of it is too fast.
Great suggestions.
just keep in mind that we are discussing at least two levels and two different CDs. If Jerry can be convinced to put this together.
For a beginner Cd I think it would be mostly Airs leading into a few hornpipes.
This would allow for training on the basic and a few ornaments
The intermediate could be a collection of Jigs and reels with introduction to some more ornamentation.
Britches Full of Stitches
Swallowtail
Fill, Fill, A Run O
Southwind (good one for the beginner’s CD)
Denis Murphy’s Slide
O Keefe’s Slide
Redwolf
We have had 78 reads on the message so far but only a few suggestion.
Do the C & F people feel their is a need for this item or should the Idea be dropped.
I definitely feel there is a need, at least from the Beginner point of view. I didn’t make suggestions because I’m not far enough along. I like the idea of a Beginner’s CD featuring Airs and Hornpipes, however.
I truly hope you make this happen.
All the Best, Tom
Im with Tom on this one. We for sure need to have CDs like this. There are a million tunes out there and as a beginner I sometimes feel overwhelmed with what there is to learn. It is a real treat to have a tallented player take the time to help in this journey. Most of the songs I play I dont know the names of. They are just tunes I have heard some place or other and have stuck in my mind. Anything will do, I love it all.
Tom
I think there is a need for it. But it’s hard for me to make suggestions because I am a beginner as well. I would like to see:
A fig for a kiss
Inisheer (and other airs)
I’d like to hear from those more experienced players that can think back to when they were learning and tell what tunes they wished they had access to back then.
On 2003-02-05 15:22, Blackbeer wrote:
There are a million tunes out there and as a beginner I sometimes feel overwhelmed with what there is to learn
Just for that reason, if you don’t mind me saying so, maybe a CD like that shouldn’t be filled with the mostly unbelievably obvious tunes that were mentioned above but with a load of suitable but maybe somewhat lesser known ones so that you get introduced to a repertoire that has a somewhat wider horizon.
On 2003-02-05 16:24, Peter Laban wrote:
On 2003-02-05 15:22, Blackbeer wrote:
There are a million tunes out there and as a beginner I sometimes feel overwhelmed with what there is to learnJust for that reason, if you don’t mind me saying so, maybe a CD like that shouldn’t be filled with the mostly unbelievably obvious tunes that were mentioned above but with a load of suitable but maybe somewhat lesser known ones so that you get introduced to a repertoire that has a somewhat wider horizon.
This is a good idea.
I think if Jerry is going to record the CD, he should pick tunes that he thinks are good for beginners to learn, technically & stylistically, and that will represent what he, O’Sullivan, is interested in musically.
It shouldn’t matter how widely the tunes are played because those learning with the CD won’t be finished afterwards anyway: there will be more tunes to learn. It makes much more sense to me that such a CD tries to teach style, phrasing, expression: all the subtle things lost in the musical notation. A player who has developed a bit of an ear and good taste will have no problem picking up a tune he or she wants to learn. And who wants to add to the repertoire of a player who hasn’t learned good style & expression?
The feedback is going in the right direction IMO. I hope that he decides to make the CD. Hope you can talk him into it, Wizzer.
-Paul
I agree that the CD should teach style and the tunes should be up to the master. The tunes I want to learn are those that are played at my local session - which may not be the ones everyone else wants to learn. It’s a great idea, anyway.
If we can convince Jerry to do the project and it is successful for the students and for Jerry then their should be no reason why he would not continue to produce this type of CD.
It however would be useless to produce something that no one wants. So the feedback on the tunes is important. Tunes fall in and out of favor. The purpose I see behind this type of production is to help whistler develop there talents. We have been lamenting for month on this board about the lack of this type of teaching tool.
New and experienced whistlers are welcome to share their comments.
One more suggestion, could the whistle used for a given tune be listed? I think it’s really helpful to have at least a few different kinds of whistles in a CD like this, so people can get a feeling for how they sound.
Robin
This is a great idea. I’d love a whistle CD by him. I second Drowsy Maggie as a tune to be done, also add Gravel Walk, The Otter’s Holt, Dunmore Lasses to the list.
When it comes to whistles (or any other insturment for that matter) I am a complete beginner. I am a long way from being able to listen to any CD and reproduce what I hear on the whistle. Are you planning on including sheet music with the CD? If so, I think it sounds like a great idea.
Those of us who either didn’t give lists or suggested going for non-obvious choices might not have had exactly the same things in mind. (Eg, although I can guess, I don’t know exactly what Peter Laban’s reasons are.) But I thought I’d spell out mine a bit more fully.
There are a lot of tune books on the market and several of them include demonstration CDs of the tunes in the books. Quite a lot of the tunes suggested so far are already on these CDs. I can only assume that those who suggested them aren’t aware of this. If they had only been done badly before, then that would be a good reason to do them again. Otherwise, I don’t see the point. But there are lots of good tunes that haven’t had this treatment yet.
One good reason to repeat would be this. A certain well known tune is perfect for illustrating and practising this or that technique. Good then to include it at just the right point since you would want the lessons to be self contained. But this is the sort of thing Jerry would decide; no point in asking others who don’t know what the plans are, if any, for graded lessons.
But if you just want tune collections, better to avoid the tunes that have been done so often before.