Our numbers were few, but our caterwaulin’ was fearsome…
First and foremost, my personal thanks to the Sweets for once again making their fine facilities available for the small group of us who showed up. The Red Barn, whose timbers more or less glow and echo with the fine music that has been played there over the years, was an especially cool, welcome and pleasant place to spend the day, compare whistles and play tunes.
Two individuals–Joseph Morneault and RamblDoc–also deserve special thanks for their expertise and instruction and for leading the music playing in general. Joseph brings to this event what appears to be a lifetime of involvement with and commitment to this music and its nearer and more distant cousins. In addition to his virtuosity on the whistle, Joseph also provided equally fine mandolin and other string instrument support–not to mention fine hands-on instruction on some passages I found particularly pesky.
True to his word, RamblDoc came with session book (and guitar) in hand and kept things moving nicely. It was kind of him to forego his fine whistle playing so that he could provide the chords on the six string.
Additional string support on 12 string, mando and octave mando as well as some fine whistle and flute playing were also provided by Lyn D. and Unseen122. Keith (aka Cranki on the Board) and Andy (aka Anglorfin on the Board) also provided fine flute and/or whistle work as well. For my part, I soaked up as much as I could.
All in all, it was a valuable and collegial get together. Just about everyone there threw out a new tune or two and it is likely that much sheet music and many MP3’s will be exchanged among those who attended. Get togethers such as yesterday’s play an important role in my own growth, such as it is, in this music. For sure, there were enough tunes played that I did not know to occupy me in the upcoming year and beyond.
I would like to thanks the Sweets for their generosity in providing us with a great place to gather. We played in the barn just in case the weather tried to dampen our spirits, but, as you would have it, it was a beautiful day, inside and out.
The Northeast Whistle Gathering was great! We were a small bunch but played with big heart. Not only was this my first Gathering, but it was the first time I ever played with anyone. Being pretty new, with 7 months on whistles, and 3 months on flute, I was in awe of these fine players. In the beginning, with the first 4 of us there, we were able to go slower, but as the rest arrived, all whistles, and other instruments, broke loose! There were many songs I didn’t know, or if I knew it, couldn’t keep up with it , so I played my 12 string guitar. I got to play one way or the other.
The other thing I really enjoyed was trying each others’ instruments -whistles, flutes, mandolins, bodhran, etc.. I think it’s safe to say we all enjoyed doing that. Where else would you be able to try so many instruments in one place? I was also very impressed by the respect everyone showed one another, whether it was letting someone else choose a song, or asking permission to try someone’s instrument. It was very nice to see.
I’d like to thank the other 6 Gatherers that were there with me:
Joseph; TomDowling; cranki (Keith); RamblDoc (Lloyd); Unseen122 (Avery); and Anglorfin (Andy). You are all incredibly talented and were an inspiration to me. Hopefully, next year, I’ll be able to play faster, but, I will bring my guitar, just in case.
Aye I had tons of fun. Whether I was playing or just listening it was a great experience for me. I now have a nice little list of tunes I want to learn based on that gathering. Working on Drumshanbo Jig right now. It was quite inspiring.
Special thanks to Joseph who gave me a demo and short history of French folk music on the aside.
Also thanks to everyone who let me try their whistles. I now have way too much things I want to buy.
LIVE MUSIC REPORT-----
Traffic delays again caused my late arrival. When I did arrive the music session was well underway. I’d like to ask those who were present to post for the record the tunes which were played during this early part of the gathering. The notable, good ones, especially.
NEWG SESSION LIST-------
Can it be that our WhistleFest tradition is becoming so well established that we’ll have an official NEWG Tune List ?? This idea occurred to more than just a couple of us. Let’s try to collectively post a list of those tunes, as completely as our memories allow, which were played on Sunday. That’ll be a good start. I remember hearing some good music, specifically some very good individual playing as well as a pretty full ensemble sound thanks to LynD’s unexpected 12-string guitar contribution, Avery’s octave mandolin switching off with Joe’s mandolin, and a several husky flutes to fatten up the support for the whistles. As a whistle player, I appreciate such accompaniment very much. Makes it more exciting.
Cooley’s Reel really rocked; great playing by Avery and Joe.
Tom did a masterful whistle lead on Man of the House and Dunmore Lasses; I love those two together. MOTH part B soared !
The Carolan pieces, Fanny Power and Sheebeg Sheemore, were good warm-up tunes for me and invited broad group participation.
Give Me Your Hand was easy to do because Tom gave me the chord charts. Because we prepared for it, The Halting March experiment was smoothly executed. Nothing helps like being prepared. It was suggested to me that we should expand that to a dozen or more pieces for next time.
Drumshambo Jig was a great new find for me. The Baker’s Buck (?) is a terrific composition introduced by Joe, I think. Gotta get the black dots for that one.
More tunes I can remember doing: The Maid Behind the Bar, The Rights of Man, Off She Goes, The Boys of Blue Hill, Off To California, Saddle the Pony, Loch Lomond, The Harvest Home, The Silver Spear, The Boston Reel, The Kesh jig, Donnybrook Fair (Joy of my LIfe), The Blackthorne Stick. Unseen122 requested to do The Sally Gardens, but we never got around to it. King of The Fairies we did, thanks for the sheets on that, Tom.
Joe led The Otter’s Holt. Unseen played wonderfully The Maids of Mt. Kisco on my beloved vintage 1980’s E-flat Gen, a $2 instrument older than he is (during a whistle try-out).
ANGLORFIN’S EXAMPLE-----
Sounds like a great title for a novel. I was pleased to meet Andy from north Jersey who carpooled with Unseen (greater Philly). They get the prize for the most arduous traveling distance. Andy’s whole collection of tin whstles amounted to two, both Clarke originals, I believe. The cost of gas and tolls spent on the day’s trip may have exceeded the amount invested in his collection !!! This observation is not intended to make our newcomer feel inferior; quite the opposite. It served as a reminder to me of how pleasing it is to be able to do great things with so little investment.
Let’s not belittle the Clarke. Andy had tweaked his D so as to make the air volume demands reasonable. At the first NEWG I was amazed at Robin’s (Spittin in the Wind) tweaked Clarke, how easy it was for me to play, and how beautiful it sounded when she played it. Andy seemed to be able to keep up with the group’s tempo when he joined in on the tunes he knew. I was impressed with how nice his whistle sounded. During one of his whistle try-out efforts, I heard his very competent playing of Rolling in the Ryegrass and wished we had featured him on lead whistle during our group session on that and perhaps other pieces familiar to him.
MORE TO COME------
That’ll have to do it for Part 1 of my report. Stay tuned for The Whistle Report. Attenders brought with them a total of (82) tin whistles. I’ll be posting a list of just the D soprano whistles that were there for all to try.
TRYING OUT WHISTLES-------Unstructured good fun, but very On-Topic
This is the most important activity at these parties, in most respects. You can have picnics, socialize, and play music with people many other times during the year. You can share information, opinions, photos, and sound clips on-line on the Chiff & Fipple Boards, among others any old time. But you cannot examine hands-on and play a large number of tin whistles, expensive, mid-priced, cheapies, metal, wood, plastic, high and low etc. like you can at a Gathering.
If you’d like to compare side-by-side a Burke Session with a Narrow Bore, you can do that here. Hear the difference between a Burke Enat soprano Brass and Aluminum model ? Yup. Not only try an Abell Blackwood D, but compare an early model with a recent one ! Water Weasels are not being made anymore; like to try a couple ? You can do that here. Curious about just temperment vs. the conventional equal temperment; you can try a Humphrey Stealth D/Eb/E NB set in just temperment tuning, and hear what it sounds like when YOU play it. You can compare the new Sweetheart Pro (wood laminates) with the older blackwood Kilhoury model. Very few places you can go and try aHudson Winds Whistle; you can even do that here. You can try on Overton and see what that “back pressure “ thing is all about. Economy minded? Try a sweet little Hoover White-capped Oak; less than forty bucks. Tully, Silkstone PVC. Sindt.
And these were just the soprano D models. Save some time for all the low whistles, too.
The NEWG is just like the Chiff & Fipple Whistle Forum, only it’s in real life, and you can play the whistles as well as talk about them.
NEWG 2007 D Soprano Whistle List------- brought by the attenders
Sweetheart Pro
Sindt
Tully
Hoover
Hoover
Hudson Winds
Silkstone PVC
Burke
Burke
Humphrey
Sweetheart
Overton (Goldie)
Clarke original
Burke DBSBT
Sweetheart Kilhoury
Dixon Solid Brass
Feadog
Susato S-series
Susato V-series
Abell
Water Weasel
Feadog
Abell
Sweetheart Pro
Burke Brass Session Wide Bore
Burke DBNBT
Water Weasel
Humphrey Stealth NB just
Hoover WhiteCap / Oak
Feadog Unseen tweaked
Soodlum’s Mellow D
Pocket Companion (Mel Bay)
Grand Total Whistles in all keys: (82) brought by attenders
Note: This year was a relatively small party with no makers or large individual collections present. Prior years have always included displays of new Busmans and / or Sweetheart high and low whistles. Some large individual collections were often brought, with lots of Overtons, Copelands, etc. No record of the actual numbers were gathered for those events.
