…the less insanely fast she seems to be. Putting the effort in to listen to ITM on a daily basis helps, even if the only time it happens is before going to bed.
And this part of Brother Steve’s site has been helpful too lately: http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/relax.html
Relaxing is helping to improve a few things. For one, the playing experience is more fun, and I think that plus being relaxed is bound to show in the music. My phrasing isn’t quite so “stiff” now. Still a work in progress, and who knows how long it will be until I can loosen up when recording, but if it’s even a small movement in the right direction I’ll take it!
That’s about all I wanted to share really. Mainly wanted to let the experienced folks here know that their advice is appreciated…eventually. (I know I can be stubborn, but at least I admit it and work on it.)
I think the bit about relaxing is important for the playing, even some deep breathing exercises prior to playing. I’ve worked on my breathing for quite awhile and continue to try and increase my capacity. Not that I’m doing windsprints or anything.
As for listening to Mary Bergin’s whistling, after she visited here back in July 2013 (after CIAW) the tunes particularly inspiring to learn are ‘Over The Bridge’, ‘Skylark’, and ‘Roaring Mary’, three tunes thoroughly enjoyed.
I was putting way too much pressure on both sides of the tube. No wonder my playing sounded so stiff most of the time. Coming from a long background of playing an instrument that takes more use of the finger muscles to play, I think a good part of it was just an automatic reaction when picking up any instrument. It definitely wasn’t working well with ITM. There should be a fun and/or relaxed attitude when playing a lot of it.
And some recent video watching on YouTube made the light bulb come on. Two examples being Sean Potts and Paddy Moloney. Whether slow or fast, their hands look relaxed.
Speaking of breathing… a little research on breathing from the diaphragm has been a big help in relaxing and, it seems, more efficiently getting air in the lungs.
Something else I just noticed today when listening to Mary Bergin:
Her tonguing sounds to me like she uses the usual “tuh”, along with “hut” and “tut”. (That’s the best way I can describe it.) If memory serves, track 3 of Feadoga Stain features the “hut” articulation. Maybe some more experienced ears can chime in on that one.
For me, the glory of Mary Bergin has always been the jewel-like tone she got out of what had to be basic generation whistles. Back then nobody else was getting that sound.
