Well, how to begin? I picked up the pennywhistle quite by accident. I had wandered around a Renaissance Faire a few months ago, and I heard a piper (a whistler?) playing a few tunes on his Irish whistles. I really liked the sound of it, and thought “hey I could learn how to do that”.
As I wandered down the road, just a little ways from where I saw the “piper”, there was a tent set up, selling a variety of pennywhistles… I’d already spent most of what I could spend at that faire, and didn’t want to spend so much of what I had left, so I picked up a Susato D.
Within a few weeks I could noodle a few tunes I picked up by ear.. not very well, but well enough that you could almost take them for a song. Almost.
Now, a few months later I can noodle tunes such as “Flower of Scotland”, “The Mermaid”, “The Parting Glass”, and a variety of other tunes… two or three that I’m certain I’ve never heard before, they just kind of “happened”.
But I don’t mean to rattle on… I actually have a question concerning this pennywhistle, taking care of it, rather. My husband thinks it’ll mildew inside (yuck) so when I’m done noodling for the day I’ll give it a few firm shakes and about once a week will put it underneath running water after a particularly long period of whistling. (Since it’s plastic I figure water couldn’t hurt…)
Am I doing anything right/wrong, or is there more I should be doing to keep it sounding its best?
welcome to the wonderful world of the whistle. your story reminds me of when i first picked up a penny whistle. many moons ago now. like you, just started noodling away.
but to your question. whistles are pretty low maintanence. i have a number of high-end-put-a-dent-in-your-credit-card whistles. but i don’t fully clean my whistles much. yeah, there’s a little mildew here and there (gives it character!), but i don’t get worried unless i notice the sound is somehow off, which usually means something is obstructing the airflow (usually in the whistle part of the instrument). shaking it out after you play and putting under running water, like, once a month sounds like it would be fine. susatos, being plastic, i would think are especially low maintenence.
A susato? Just throw it in the sink with the dishes. I havn’t played that long myself, but I don’t see much of anything building up in mine.
Oh, if you’r new, and looking for tunes, go to the Clips and Snips section of this site, listen to tunes, pick the ones you like, then look them up at a site like this http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/findtune.
Another site www.fingertrip.net has some really great tunes, and the sheet music to go along with it.
Or you can spend your money on tune books. (using money you could have spent on whistles.)
I imagine I’ll do a bit of wandering through this site, as well as the links you gave, Bunny. And I have to say…Thanks much!
There’s one song I’ve been trying to figure out, The Foggy Dew, but haven’t been able to successfully put it together because I couldn’t find all the notes I needed. I found it in the tune finder, though it took some trial and error to find what version I was looking for.
When I found it and started noodling, I quite accidentally discovered how to play an octave higher than I had been… My husband’s just going to love that–as well as the neighbors’ dogs!
Hehehe…did I mention I do nearly all of my playing when I’m home alone?
It may repay your time to get one of the fine tutors out there (book + CD) - I particularly recommend Bill Och’s “Clarke Tinwhistle Tutor” (works for any tinwhistle, not just Clarkes!).
“The Foggy Dew” - there is an Irish tune of that name, and another, quite unrelated, American folk song. If you want the American version, I can’t help you (this one starts out “When I was a young man/I lived by myself”); I know the words and can mouth-whistle the tune, but I don’t have it in notation.
If you mean the Irish tune, start it on lowest-octave B (top hole covered, all other holes open). This tune is widely available - I have it from “Walton’s 101 Best Tinwhistle Tunes”.
A good resource for all things whistle is The Whistle Shop, http://www.thewhistleshop.com - you can find the Clarke tutor, music books, CDs, whistles, t-shirts . . . (I have to limit my visits here - there are several hundred dollars worth of things I’d love to order).
I actually like playing my susato sometimes. And most of the recordings I’ve heard people using susato’s on don’t sound like a recorder. They do sound somewhat recorderish when one is playing them though. But most recordings I’ve heard using them have a rather nice whistle sound.
I do wish they would redisign the mouthpiece though. More than anything it FEELS like a recorder in your mouth. I think they would go over much better with most people if that were fixed.
Just my opinion.
Of course, I AM God.
So quit dissing susatos, or I’ll squish the planet under my thumb. Right here and now.
Ps. None of the religions got it right, so NOBODY goes to heaven.
PPs. That Native American religion that involves using peyote came closest, but they still didn’t get to go to heaven.
PPPs. Mel Gibson really really really doesn’t get to go. I’ve got some home movies I made over the years. They arn’t ANYTHING like that last picture he made.
Hi – Welcome to the mad world of whistling … and C&F. One good place to search for tunes – all as sheet music, most with sound clips, is www.tinwhistler.com. It’s the Wandering Whistler’s website and he has a huge selection of music … for free. And, as Dana said, The Whistle Shop is a wonderful place to indulge in the need for more whistles, plus a whole lot more!
