It seems the best (and only?) way for me to progress with any endeavor is to get myself into a tidy fix about it. Introspection and philosophies aside, whistling is no exception.
So I’ve been playing (not often enough! stupid coursework!) for about two months now, and having a background in flute (concert and Irish) and piccolo, I’ve had a decent go of it so far. My one concern (at the moment) is speed.
In the exceedingly under-musical town in which I live, I have endeavored to join the pit orchestra for my college’s production of Brigadoon. I’ll play whatever they want me to, but I would LOVE to get up to snuff and bring a little Celtic flair to the score.
This is turning into a rant-- what I mean to ask is, are there any particular theories in how to build speed efficiently? Any particular exercises I could do? Tunes I could work on? (aside from the score itself)?
You run the metronome as fast as you can play the tune accurately. When you are comfortable playing at that speed increase the metronome one bpm. Repeat process until you are comfortable again and increase again.
Do not increase more than 1 bpm per day, and only increase when you can play the tune comfortably well at that speed.
This is what I have been doing, so take with a grain of salt, please…
I signed up for the Amazing SlowDowner.
I put in a CD (like WFO #2) and start with a tune I like at about 60 - 65 % speed.
When I get comfortable, I start increasing the speed incrementally.
It helps me keep the tempo, plus the swing etc.
Last night, I was able to play Roscommon/Sweet Flowers of Milltown at full speed (not, I might add, with all the ornamentation, but I’m workin’ on it)
That’s a good one for me to practice, because of the lift that tune has.
Lot’s of room for improvement, though!
I second the ASD comment and would like to add that, while physical memory certainly does require more time to learn and must be learned by playing the tune slower than you really want to repeatedly, I have had great success increasing the speed rather faster than 1 bpm per day.
(although I’m not exactly a beginner on whislte)
I learned Cooley’s Reel cold in 30 minutes - at speed.
ASD.
[Strict traditionalists be damned; in some areas of the world, it’s standard practice to be able to walk into a session several times per day.
I cannot; ASD affords me the ability to get the vast amount of repetition necessary to be able to handle the basic tune comfortably at a session-ready speed, allowing me to focus on ornamentation at a session.]
I played the tune a few times at 50% speed.
Then at 75%; then at 90%, then at 100%.
Worked quite well.
I always had a problem with the beat and breathing being thrown off when I sloooow down a tune.
Also, I dont like to learn a tune EXACTLY as played, necessarily. I like to add what I call the SmootStyle, if you wee-ill. I dont want to sound like Mary Bergin; I want to sound like Smoot.
Consequently I prefer to learn a tune in real-time, concentrating on finger-speed and beat and basic tune, and use a sloooow down tool to learn small passages.
Playing fast on the whistle is just so much fun! I call it “the electric typewriter of all wind instruments.” One way I’ve found to be helpful in practicing for speed is to take a tune and play one passage very fast, interspersed with holding out a note in the next passage. Yes–you are distorting the rhythm to double time–but it sounds OK if you do it evenly. Obviously, you could only do this when playing by yourself. And it’s not meant to take the place of the finished playing of the tune. You can repeat the tune, holding out different measures and playing different one fast. Pretty soon you’ll find that you can play the whole tune continuously fast.
Also, I find that it helps to think about kind of ripping your fingers off in a scale or arpeggio formation, rather than playing the notes one by one. I mean, you’ve got to be able to play every note clearly, or it just turns into a mess… I find that it’s true, practice slowly to play it fast. But you’ve also got to practice fast to play it fast, because it feels really different.
I know for a fact that there are judicious people out there getting heart attacks just reading this thread. Anyway, don’t forget the need to be able to rip off descending or ascending series of triplets at blinding speed.
Again, another glowing endorsment of “Transcribe!” by Seventh String Software. I’ve been using it for years, its the way I learn nearly all my tunes, and I highly highly highly recommend it. If I could force everyone on this board to use this program, I would.
I agree and a lot has to do with which whistle I play it on. I have a Freeman Tweaked E-flat Gen that is exceptionally responsive to playing along with Ms. Bergin.
I have a Freeman tweaked D Gen that I have tried to play along with Senor Nugent, but doesnt seem as responsive. Actually all of my whistles seemed muddy when playing along with Herr Nugent… Until I got a wood Busman. Holy Smoke, this Sucker has snap. I have a Delrin Busman and it is sweet and pure, but the wooden model I recently purchased is like a dance partner who knows all my steps naturally.
Hm. That brings up another interesting question…
This is probably just my WhOA speaking, but should I purchase another whistle to practice on that might yeild more pleasing results? I mean, I love my little Clarke, it’s my first-- but I was thinking about getting something tuneable, since I’m going to be playing with a group.
Any suggestions, bearing in mind that I am a very broke University student?
I’d get a Jerry Freeman Tweaked MellowDog D. For $36.50 you get a whistle as good as any you can buy. Then I’d get on the Sindt list and wait the 11 months for a John Sindt high D for $90.00. You won’t need any other whistles. I keep my Tweaked in the Suburban and my Sindt at my desk.
Strict traditionalist here. Oskan, do you care about the music you wish to play at sessions (which implies that you’re interested in playing Irish traditional)? If you do, then speed be damned until you’ve learned the music. I mean really learned it by listening, listening, and more listening… practicing, reading what you can about the background of Irish music, practicing, listening, listening, practicing, listening… Speed will come with time, but if you care only for playing notes fast, it will show in your music.
Susan
(edited to add: I combined a couple of the posts above and didn’t read your posts carefully enough–you aren’t the one who mentioned sessions. Sorry about that. IF you are interested in Irish music, my post applies, I believe. If not, then just go for the speed, I guess.)
I’ve been told this for years, and it still hasn’t arrived.
I think for some people (maybe quite a few) that you really do have to work on getting tunes up to speed or it will never happen. I guess it all depends on how much “natural talent” you have. Apparently I don’t have much!
I’ve been playing whistle for 6 years and still can’t play most tunes at the speed they’re played at local sessions. We do have a slow session but it’s mainly a learning session, not a playing session. Once we’ve ‘learned’ a tune it tends to be played at a pretty good clip.
If I ever find a group of similarly slow people to play with on a regular basis, I’ll just drop the whole pursuit of speed thing. The only reason I care is because playing faster would allow me to play with more people.
I think part of my problem is that I like to play slow enough to think about what I’m doing as I do it. …prolly thinking too much!
I’m still hoping I’ll someday be able to play faster but I’ve come to think of it like this.
In football, every time a quarterback moves to a higher level (ie college to pros) he struggles because of the ‘speed of the game.’ When he finally gets it, he usually says something like, “The game has finally slowed down for me…”
I think it’s the same with music. We can all play tunes by ourselves at our comfortable speed, but when we have to keep up with others, it’s like we’re riding a bike on a freeway of Porsches. I think it’s one of those things where we just have to 1) practice slowly and deliberately (ala james) and 2) throw ourselves into a session and pedal like hell.
I have found that in a session I’ve surprised myself by keeping up on a the tunes I was most familiar with (ie, the ones I’d practiced slow and deliberate).
As i said earlier, get the tune at the speed you can “think about what you’re doing” and be comfortable with and then just turn it up 1 bpm at a time getting comfortable each time before turning it up 1 bpm again.
If you would have read my initial post, the only reason I am concerning with building speed as quickly as possible is that I am in the pit orchestra for a University production of Brigadoon, and the piece that I’ve already wheedled out of the score to work on is pretty damned fast.
I do play traditional tunes, and always begin slowly, and listen like hell-- usually I don’t attempt to play a song until I can hum it at speed without mistakes. (I sang before I even played flute, so this makes it easier for my ear to comprehend, I think.)
I have a pretty discerning ear for all kinds of musical quality-- I can tell when someone’s just hammering and tweeting their way through something to impress, or whether they’ve actually had an intimate, thorough relationship with what they’re playing. A traditionalist in training?
But for the purposes of Brigadoon, (which doesn’t go up until March, but rehearsals begin in January and I’d like to have the music pretty buttoned up by then) I really need to get my chops and my fingers flying!
When I get home to my metronome, I will most likely try that method. I don’t have any of the software that’s been mentioned, and no means by which to purchase it. I also like to practice scales, arpeggios, and triplets slowly at first and then increase the speed until I can no longer keep them together, and I agree that playing fast does FEEL completely different.
I guess I’ll keep you all posted on my progress! I just wish my lazy roommate would wake up so I could practice…
I am not in a position to buy Slowdowner software, but I have been using Audacity with good results. And since it’s open source, it doesn’t cost me anything but the time to figure out the interface.
Mostly I use it to slow down tunes to about half speed or less so I can figure out the notes. But it’s also a good way to record and watch for mistakes. (Always a humbling experience.)
I also like to practice scales, arpeggios, and triplets slowly at first and then increase the speed until I can no longer keep them together, and I agree that playing fast does FEEL completely different.