Seeking advice.

Whistle
1

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and i was hoping i may be able to get a bit of advice, i started playing the tin whistle about two years ago at the grand old age of 32, having never played any instrument before and unfortunately, not having a musical bone in my body.

I learnt alone without knowing anyone else that played any instrument at all, thanks to the wonders of the internet however i have been able to slowly plod along and learn some songs to play, but unfortunately i have hit a rut, i feel the lack of personal tutelage has finally caught up with me, and i sorely miss the opportunity to ask a fellow tin-whistler a few questions.

So if i may, i’d like to ask advice for the following questions :slight_smile:

  1. My fingers aren’t as quick as i would like, despite having definitely improved since i began i feel frustrated every now and again at their slowness, which lately doesn’t seem to have gotten better at all, is this something that will improve with more practice? are there any finger exercises that could help? or perhaps my age is against me? unfortunately i did not have a musical upbringing of any kind

  2. I feel comfortable playing and learning songs, but i definitely feel a lack of ability with regard to ornamentation, i can do the cut and roll, but i lack the musical know-how to really know where they should be used, unless i am hearing a song by ear and i copy that, i find i just don’t know enough ornamentation, is there anywhere online that covers some tips for ornamentation? is the cut and roll pretty much it? because that’s all i know.

When i hear other other people playing on youtube, their songs seem to have all sorts of ornamentations that i have no idea how they did.

  1. when i learn a song, it can take me quite a while to remember it before i can play it properly, and i probably know about 10 tunes now, but i notice that if i leave any of them for a while and i begin to learn a new one, i’m not as good once i return to it and i have to practice it a lot again, it’s almost as if the new tunes push the old ones out my head, not completely, but enough for me to have to re-practice them again, i very rarely feel that i could play an old tune perfectly without practicing it a little first.

Does this happen to anyone else? am i learning the songs the wrong way? or do i just have Homer Simpson’s brain? :slight_smile:

  1. lastly, i was just wondering if i should consider trying to find a tutor or not, i have a fear of displeasing or aggravating people, and having picked up the tin whistle alone over two years ago, perhaps i would just anger or frustrate a teacher if i have picked up many bad habits, perhaps i should continue learning alone since that is how i began? i’m not too sure.

Thank you very much for any answers received :slight_smile:

2

Welcome! You’re sure to find a lot of advice here.
My usual recommendation for people in your position is to get a copy of Bill Ochs’ The Clarke Tinwhistle.

http://www.pennywhistle.com/clarkepage.html

This book/CD combination will start you right out at zero, will teach you to read music notation if you don’t already know how and get you playing tunes very quickly. The CD lets you hear each exercise the way it’s supposed to sound. In a systematic and stepwise Bill keeps on adding bits to the puzzle so that by the time you finish the last lesson you’re playing ornamented jigs and reels.

My other recommendation is to try to get out to live sessions ASAP. Even if you’re not ready to play along, you’ll absorb a lot by osmosis. Enjoy-- you’re in for more fun than you can imagine.

3

If it’s of any consolation, I’ve been playing for a little over 6 years now, and I’m still learning. Learning if part of the fun. I would definitely agree with Paul - learn by example. I can’t tell you how many YouTube videos I’ve watched over the years of people playing.

Do you play any instruments? When I started “training”, I found myself playing music scales over and over 3 days later and over and over. Stuff like (bare in mind, I primarily play a C whistle):

CDEFGFEDCDEFGFDEC and repeat
CCCDCECFCGCFCECDCC and repeat
CEGCGECEGCGEC and repeat
CDEFGABCCBAGFEDC and repeat

That helped a lot with speed technique. As far as ornamentation, it’s all up to you. Irish traditional music (ITM) uses a lot of rolls and such. I play a lot on non-trad music; and so me, I tend to use a lot of vibrato. That all comes down to breath control, and can vary immensely from whistle to whistle (e.g. my Dixon is effortless, my Syn requires a lot of air).

I’m sure plenty musicians can tell stories of learning a piece of music for an occasion and forgetting it later. Again, that’s player-specific. For instance, I can always belt out the American Patrol, but have trouble remembering the Irish Washerwoman without the sheet music.

A new student could never aggravate a teacher, regardless of age or playing ability. If I had the opportunity of having had a tutor, I still don’t think I would have done so. I enjoyed the challenge too much of learning it myself.

The best of luck to your whistling. You’ll find a ton of enjoyment from it. :pint:

4

Congratulations on the progress so far! Taking up an instrument at any age can be a highly rewarding pursuit. The whistle is a very simple instrument to make a sound on, and a very complicated instrument to master.

I agree with both the other posts that playing with others is going to be your next step. Do some poking around and you’ll find what you need. Be prepared to be baffled when you start sitting in with others though. They will likely play through 10 tunes in the first 15 minutes of a session and may play only one that whole night that you know… much faster than you will be able to play it. That’s OK! Keep going. Listening to other players will start to develop a musical intuition as to where certain ornaments will go and I have never met a player who wouldn’t go through the trouble to show someone how they play a lick. Interaction with other players is going to be critical in learning the style and nuances of Irish Trad.

As far as the speed goes, I suggest playing with a metronome to build up speed. Use it slowly. Play the pieces and ornaments however slowly you must to be able to play them perfectly. NO MISTAKES 5 times in a row. No use in practicing mistakes. Then, increase the tempo by 3-5 beats per minute. Play it again this fast with NO MISTAKES 5 times in a row. Keep going until you are at the tempo you would like to be playing at and then continue to increase the speed by an additional 10-15 beats a minute. Otherwise where you want to be playing will be at the extreme range of your ability. Now that’s the first day… the next day you won’t be able to start at your final speed, but should be able to start faster than your original speed and if you can’t slow it down until you can play it perfectly and repeat that routine. In a month you will be amazed at the progress you will have made. There are some here who will disagree with the use of metronomes, however this is an excellent approach to develop the muscle memory necessary for clean playing at any speed. Try it and see.

Mental memory will improve when you start stringing individual tunes together into sets. This is another big reason to be playing with others. You will learn the sets they play and be able to participate much more fully by playing what they already know.

As far as getting a tutor, if you are paying for lessons, then I assure you a tutor will not find you irritating. If you wind up playing with someone else, then you will know soon enough if you are getting along. The long and short of it: Relax, man! It’s only music. As soon as you have played the note, it’s over. No sense in getting all worked up about it. It should be much more fun than work.

Good Luck!

5

I’m in a similar situation since I started beginning of this year. Here are some of my thoughts:

0 - Don’t bring age into it. Age is a psychological limitation. Your mind is what makes everything possible. Unless you have arthritis or a physical ailment with your hands, there is no limit to what you can do.

1 - Fingers get quicker with repetition. I am really surprised at how I can play some tunes really fast now after I practice them slowly over and over. It will come. Practice slowly and gradually increase the tempo.

I suggest getting a tunebook w/ CD and using Transcribe to slow it down, say to 50%. And then slowly increase it. Once you can play in time at 50% then go to 60% and once you can do that go to 65% etc. I find some songs I can only play at 75%. It’s ok. I personally don’t like them blazingly fast anyway. Good for showing off but I like the melodies more if they’re not so fast.

2 - ornamentation. this is where I’m at. What I do is listen to recordings (slowed down with Transcribe) and figure out the ornaments. If you do this for many tunes you’ll find similar ornaments used over and over. And then it becomes easy to work these into a song. I don’t worry about getting ornaments exactly right unless that’s a key part of the song (for example some double rolls on some jigs, it just doesn’t sound right without the double roll). I just do whatever I feel like, keeping in mind not to do too much. A few well placed ornaments sounds much better IMHO than having them all over the place.

When learning ornaments I find it easier to listen to slow tunes. Joannie Madden’s slow tunes are excellent for this.

3 - Since most of the tunes are fast, many only lasting 1minute, try warming up by cycling through the tunes you know. This way you can play them each once every day and then play new ones. Or every other day. Or whatever you have time for.

4 - I highly recommend Blayne Chastain’s online lessons. It’s about $15/month and he has a ton of tunes that he teaches with ornaments phrase by phrase. This was more helpful to me than any book. He’s a great teacher. With video you can go at your own pace and practice a phrase over and over if necessary (I had to pause, rewind, and replay each phrase many times before I got it).

This is advice from a newbie, which may differ from what the advanced players will say, but it has helped me considerably. And most importantly, have fun!

6

Thank you very much guys i really needed some fresh idea’s, lots of great ones there and i no longer feel lost about what to do next, i’l be taking all your advice and getting myself organised.

Much appreciated, thank you for taking the time to help me :slight_smile:

7

Yep, age ain’t in it.
I started the tin whistle at 47 earlier this year after not playing anything since high school. And I know that others here have started decades later, with sucsessful outcomes. No one is too old for the joy music brings.

You’ve got lots of good advice so far, here is mine.
There are teachers here on this board who offer lessons, one on one, via skype.
(Do a search, or PM if you want links.)
You may benefit from individual, targeted teaching.
A small investment in yourself may give you great returns in progress.

8

I am a 72 year old beginner. I started playing about 9 years ago. Yes all of these things other people have trouble with. Just keep working at it.

Ron

9

I’m just a newbie and don’t know much about playing tin whistle.
Just started with some cheap tin whistles and some easy to learn books.
Then I can play some tunes but it’s not what I wanted.
As I’m dutch and english is not my own language I start to look for a tin whistle book in my own language.
Now I find I real good book with all the tips and tricks [unfortunatly the only book in dutch !] and this is translated in english aswell !!
I think it’s a real good book, you learn everything you need to know about the tin whistle.
With the book a cd rom is coming so you can see and hear what you are supose to do.
The name of the book is whistle basics writtin by Jules Bitter.
If you want you can get more information on his website www.whistle-flute.com or www.fluitpraxis.com.
I dont get any thing from this regemendation, it’s just the book that I think you need to learn more about tin whistle playing, at least it helped me out !
good luck !!!

10

I am new to the forum and i was hoping i may be able to get a bit of advice, i started playing the tin whistle about two years ago at the grand old age of 32, having never played any instrument before and unfortunately, not having a musical bone in my body.

I’m 52 with not quite a year in - and other than that I can completely relate to this paragraph! I can see that probably at some point I should probably work with a teacher. As of now I’m self taught with some online instruction as well. This pace seems to fit well for the moment. I just want to have fun and expand my cultural horizons a little.

Good Luck!

:slight_smile:

11

Hi and welcome,

You’ve asked a lot of good questions, but instead of answering them, let me ask a few in return. :slight_smile:

  1. What’s your goal. Do you want to play in public, alone, or with others, or is this just for personal enjoyment?

  2. Which whistle are you playing?

  3. How much practice do you do in a typical day/week?

  4. what songs are you learning?

12

Thank you all very much for the answers and advice, it really is wonderful to hear from other people who play the tinwhistle too. :slight_smile:

I picked up the tin whistle at a rather difficult time in my life, it began as a method of coping with stress and turned very quickly into a genuine interest, (one which unfortunately i’m not yet very good at), i would say that for the time being partly because of my low level of skill, and partly because of my own shyness i think i i’l definitely be playing alone, at least for the short term future, it is in truth just for personal enjoyment.

Having said that however, there is a rather comical (comical because i am so amateur :slight_smile: ) burning desire in me to one day really play well, so that my budgie stops squawking at me angrily and my family end up opening the doors to hear me play, instead of closing them shut to get some peace :laughing:

I am playing a polymer, tony dixon, high whistle in D, although i began on a generation whistle i found that the one i have now has a much clearer sound to it especially in the higher register, although i prefered the way the generation felt in the hands.

This question has thrown me entirely, i’ve just realised that lately i have been practicing no more than an hour a day at best, and much more often only a half hour/45 minutes or so a day, i may well have just discovered that i haven’t been practicing enough, and that this alone may well be the reason i am not progressing, which is really rather embarrassing! :blush:

I haven’t sat down to learn a new song in possibly well over 6 months, i keep trying to improve the ones i know, which in no particular order are Inisheer, lord mayo, the blackbird, banish misfortune, the butterfly, king of the fairies, cooley’s reel, morrison jig, boys of bluehill, saddle the pony, the silver spear, and about 5-6 songs i heard on youtube that had either no name given to them, or more than one attributed to them which left me uncertain of their correct names.

Once again thanks to all of you who replied, i greatly appreciate your answers and the time you have taken to help me.

13

Good choice of tunes.

14

Thanks for your honest answers. It sounds to me like you’re making good progress with the choice of tunes and the amount of practice you’re doing, but it does depend on where you want to be and how much time you can spare. Perhaps having someone with more experience listen to a recording or to you playing “live” would help. Maybe it’ll be a confidence boost, and it could give a few pointers, but there are no short-cuts to becoming a great whistler (not that I’m anywhere close yet).

I’m hesitant to recommend a new whistle and open the floodgates with everyone chipping in with their favourites, but if you liked the feel of a Gen and the tone of the Dixon then maybe a Dixon trad would suit you. They are about £16 here in the UK (adding your location to your profile would be a good idea). But there are no magic whistles out there that play themselves :slight_smile:

Keep on keeping on.