A few days ago, I was attending stage workshops for the Arizona Ren Faire. We always have vocal warmups, accompanied by musicians.
One of my friends (An AWESOME violinist) shamed me into playing the whistle with them (She called me “CHICKEN”! We can’t have that!), so I played with them.
Played again last night for the warmups, and the person that runs them invited me to be a part of the closing gate show! Me and my little whistle!! (Which, by the way, is normally a beautiful D elfsong in summers eve. I can’t wait until my F/G set arrives, since most of the songs are in the key of G anyway…but I digress)
I still have a well, not a fear, but maybe a trepidation…no, that’s not right. Ok, call it a fear, of playing in front of other people, but maybe this will help me get rid of it!
WOOHOO!!!
Aodhan
Edit: It occurs to me that I have a “prototype” G pvc flute coming very soon…hmmm…
[ This Message was edited by: Aodhan on 2003-01-24 09:39 ]
Aodhan,
to battle stage fright, when you’re up on stage, just imagine that you are in your underwear and that everybody is looking at you. That’s why they’re laughing so loud that they can’t hear that you brought the wrong key whistle by mistake.
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2003-01-24 10:04 ]
On 2003-01-24 10:03, Bloomfield wrote:
Aodhan,
to battle stage fright, when you’re up on stage, just imagine that you are in your underwear and that everybody is looking at you. That’s why they’re laughing so loud that they can’t hear that you brought the wrong key whistle by mistake.
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2003-01-24 10:04 ]
Bloom-
It isn’t really stage fright. My primary part of everything is dancing (Which I do in a kilt, so I’m pretty close to in my underwear anyway), and I have no problem doing my whistle solo part on stage. It’s when I get around people I know (i.e. session) that I get nervous, mostly because I don’t think I can keep up, and I don’t know a lot of the songs yet.
However, I was able to play session Wed night (In between the two workshops), and had a blast! msheldon is pretty damned good on a whistle (I envy his collection of lows!), and I was able to copy/follow along by watching his fingers a lot, and playing on a pretty nice Seery that is on loan at the moment.
I also can’t wait until I have the money saved for the Busman whistle and the M&E R&R flute that I have in the works…
Hmmm…a G flute, the R&R, a Busman D, and an F/G set of Elfsongs also being made…WhOA has taken me! I better get some damn good busking in at the faire… (Unless of course, there are some people that need websites designed? Please? )
Aodhan
[ This Message was edited by: Aodhan on 2003-01-24 10:20 ]
On 2003-01-24 10:17, Aodhan wrote:
It’s when I get around people I know (i.e. session) that I get nervous
I have a problem with that whenever I’m having a really good time, I grin like a jackass eating cactus or I just laugh out loud a lot! So whenever I’m playing my whistle around other people, I’m usually so tickled that someone actually wants to hear me (very rare) that I can’t contain myself. It is very hard to whistle when you’re grinning so that your face might split!
It sounds like you had a lovely exciting time! I wish someone had taken pictures! Doesn’t anyone besides me think to haul a digital camera everywhere they go?
On 2003-01-24 10:17, Aodhan wrote:
It’s when I get around people I know (i.e. session) that I get nervous
I have a problem with that whenever I’m having a really good time, I grin like a jackass eating cactus or I just laugh out loud a lot! So whenever I’m playing my whistle around other people, I’m usually so tickled that someone actually wants to hear me (very rare) that I can’t contain myself. It is very hard to whistle when you’re grinning so that your face might split!
It sounds like you had a lovely exciting time! I wish someone had taken pictures! Doesn’t anyone besides me think to haul a digital camera everywhere they go?
K
Well, we should have a camera out at faire, so I’ll get some pictures then.
And I agree about the playing…someone said something at session and both msheldon and I laughed into our whistles…you get the most interesting honks that way…
However, I was able to play session Wed night (In between the two workshops), and had a blast! msheldon is pretty damned good on a whistle (I envy his collection of lows!), and I was able to copy/follow along by watching his fingers a lot, and playing on a pretty nice Seery that is on loan at the moment.
You really should play more at session. First, it’s a necessary skill to be able to match tempo with other instrumentalists. Second, the fear you have of screwing up in front of them is merely your motivation to practice more. It sure worked for me.
Oh, and while I certainly appreciate the compliment on my whistle playing, so be sure to specify low whistles. I’ve really been doing well on the lows, but I need a lot more mork on the higher-speed material on the high-d.
On 2003-01-24 23:31, elliott wrote:
If your Ren Faire is anything like the one I played at, you won’t be playing for humans anyway. Fairies can’t hurt you …
A wide variety of folks at the Arizona Ren Faire (The one Aodhan is playing at soon). A standard daily “gate” is 10,000 people, on President’s day weekend, it can reach 25,000 per day.
On 2003-01-24 10:03, Bloomfield wrote:
Aodhan,
to battle stage fright, when you’re up on stage, just imagine that you are in your underwear and that everybody is looking at you. That’s why they’re laughing so loud that they can’t hear that you brought the wrong key whistle by mistake.
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2003-01-24 10:04 ]
Be very careful if you try this one. A friend of mine tried it once. They kept on laughing. He checked his whistle and it was fine. They laughed even louder. Then he looked down and noticed that he actually was in his underwear.
), or as in drunk? (grrr…no more Guinness left!