Tin, low and Irish flute v/s Tobacco...

Whistle
1

Hi all!!


A few days ago playing my whistle to rutine, stop a while and smoking a cigarette, smoke and then return to play, but when he played the melody (Bachelor’s walk) that I feel short of breath, and I had to change the points where they took air, felt a pressure in the chest and felt very reached… I was missing the air…!!!

This me his thinking if it is compatible snuff smoking and playing wind instruments, in this case is: Tin whistle, Low whistle and Irish flute?


what do you think?

Many people smoking and can play quietly in spite of years of tobacco?

What legendary players for example: Matt Molloy, Mary Bergin, Donncha, etc.. have this habit?

I want to play my whistles and a future irish flute and low whistles for the rest of my life, I do not want to take 40 years old and just blowing a whistle in G. :laughing:

Thanks!!



Worried Man. :stuck_out_tongue:

2

I cannot say what other players have experienced and I don’t smoke, but my guess is that any activity that decreases lung function cannot be good for playing the whistle.

Decreased lung function from smoking, caused by inflammation or whatever may have two or more detrimental effects - decreased lung volume capacity (due to inflammation, mucus, etc.); increased feeling of beathlessness. Of course, I am not a medical doctor, so my above explanation is only a guess.

Either way, I expect that should you give-up smoking, then you’ll not only get better lungs, but also be less prone to smoking-related health issues, but I am sure you know all this.

Charlie

3

Hi, AlonE:

In the US, the tobacco industry worked very hard to present the idea that smoking wasn’t dangerous, or at least to create doubt in people’s minds. They were very successful in delaying the development of a consensus that smoking was very bad for health.

In a marketing class I remember reading that the US tobacco industry was focusing on new markets in developing countries. The industry had created a cynical model to guide their business. In the first stage, poor people begin smoking as a way to appear glamorous (i.e. to appear to be richer than they really are). The number of smokers increases as the disposable income increases in these developing countries. After decades of smoking, people begin dying of cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and other health problems. Eventually, everyone will know someone who has died or gotten very sick from tobacco use. This bad news creates a slow shift toward increasing awareness of the grotesque consequences of tobacco use. The public is slow to acknowledge these risks, in part because of tobacco industry attempts to confuse the public. Finally, however, the level of smoking slowly declines. Of course, there will be some who continue to smoke and some new smokers who begin smoking, but the industry needs more smokers to maintain itself. So the industry must then move to other developing countries in order to find a new generation of customers.

The US is now in the tail end of this progression. The tobacco industry still targets young people here in order to maintain a flow of US income, but for the most part it’s looking to South Americans, Chinese, Indians, etc. to keep the profits flowing.

Short version: The tobacco industry knows that you’re killing yourself and they’re doing their best to obscure that fact. They’re grateful for your patronage and hope you’ll live to be a 90-year-old smoker. But they know that’s very unlikely, so they’re already making plans to move on to find new victims!

4

There were flute players that I had contacted to be on the Wooden Flute Obsession CDs that could no longer play flute (or at least not up to their own expectation), due to Emphysema, asthma, or allergies. Matt Molloy was sidelined in the late 1970’s with tuberculosis. He had essentially diagnosed himself because his phrasing was different, and had to insist his Doctor get X-rays. So, I’d say smoking, and anything else that impairs breathing, is not a wonderful thing for flute players. Despite this “theory”, I’d say there are plenty of great flute players who smoke, or have been around heavy smoking.

Kevin Krell

5

A while ago I saw a little bit of film of Seamus Ennis playing the whistle from one side of his mouth, fag hanging from the other. Also try find the clip of Michael Dwyer playing the whistle, his fingers brown with nicotine stains.

6

The amount of air I had to work with greatly increased when I quit smoking. When I went back to smoking, it immediately dropped back down. Hmm… maybe I need to think about quitting again. By the way, I smoke cigars, not cigarettes, but I don’t think what you smoke makes a difference.

7

Smoking has no compatibility with wind instruments playing.

Not only that smoking is bad, but I’d say that it’d be good that people who play wind instruments do some physical excercises, mainly cardiovascular (running, hiking, jumping the rope, riding bicicle, etc.), to increase cardiorespiratory capacity.

8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_vLk1I6G4

Michael

9

I’d love to find that, albeit not for the nicotine stains, but a Google search turns up nothing, and the TG4 archive clip I found referenced elsewhere no longer seems to be on their site. :frowning:

10

Tobacco smoke damages wind blown instruments period, no matter whether they be bellows blown or mouth blown. It, smoke, will also damage acoustic stringed instruments as well.

11

I was smoking cigarettes when I first started playing whistle, but I quit smoking around 18 years ago.

I can’t tell a great difference in lung capacity, but while I was smoking, my doctor was surprised at how clear my lungs were and after a surgery, I could peg the breathing exercise gadget after about 4 days of practice.

I feel that I may have just a bit more lung capacity now, but I don’t currently peg the gadget. I haven’t practiced using it.

12

But where would you be now if hadn’t quit smoking 18 years ago?

Jason

13

It was on Come West along the Road/Siar an Bothar, possibly the fourth season, I thought it was lovely.

14

I had left a year ago just to be able to play my whistles better than, but because of a woman I return to fall into vice, which is now committed a mistake …

Thanks!

15

AlonE

Stop smoking. Stop now. Run away from this woman if you have to. No matter what they tell you, 90 percent of smokers die from it if they keep at it long enough. I have seen smokers carrying around oxygen bottles and still lighting up. They don’t live long after it reaches that point.

The problem is that you don’t notice a problem until it may be too late to do something about it. And don’t let somebody tell you “We all have to die of something.” That is pure crap. It is the worst form of death you can imagine. I have seen it up close and personal, and there is NOTHING good about it. You can live well without tobacco. You really can’t live with it. :angry:

16

AlonE

I second, third and fourth any suggestions to stop smoking. I used to smoke and I quit 18 years ago. I probably would be long dead if I hadn’t stopped. BTW, I watched my grandfather die from emphysema; he was a Luckies smoker. It ain’t pretty. Plus, you’ll be able to play better. How do I know? Besides whistle, I also play Highland bagpipes.

With best regards,

Steve Mack

17

It helps you hit those high notes. (Ooh, what a bad, bad pun. I’m ever so sorry. I tried to stop myself from posting it, but, inexplicably, I just couldn’t. Something deep inside compelled me to do it. :blush: )

18

I smoke and play the whistle, and some of my whistles have quite high air requirements. My Chieftain high D, for example, has amazed many people at its air requirements. The two ARE compatible, although you may have to work harder at it. I’ve also smoked out of one side of my mouth while playing out the other, although I don’t do that at sessions since it’d annoy the non-smokers wink

It’s true that smoking reduces your lung capacity; your lungs aren’t able to process oxygen as efficiently, especially after smoking a cigarette. Best thing to do is not smoke while you’re playing. On the other hand, forcing yourself to breathe in different spots can be a good exercise.

And for all of you people taking advantage of the topic to spout your non-researched propaganda-founded “facts” and “statistics” about how horrible and evil tobacco smoke is, shame on you. It’s bad for you, but not nearly as bad as the people telling you want you to think. An EPA study on the effects of smoking on health found that the amount of people who die from effects directly linked to smoking is statistically insignificant. That means there’s not very many of them compared to the total amount of smokers.

Fact of the matter is, the people telling you how evil and horrible smoking is are nearly as bad as the tobacco companies. They’re willing to lie and inflate statistics to no end because the worse they can make smoking look, the more money they can get from the tobacco companies, and the fatter their paychecks are. People eagerly pick up their message that smoking is all that is evil and deadly because of something called the “altruism trick.” People hear the message, say “wow, I should pass that on because I’ll be helping people,” and rarely take the time to do any of their own research. Other people are more receptive to the message because, really, the other person is just trying to help you.

A lot of emphasis is placed on the marketing campaigns of the cigarette companies when, let’s face it, they’re no worse than any other company in their marketing, and quite possibly more responsible than most. Look at the marketing tactics of companies that focus specifically on children, and the way they carelessly manipulate the children to get at their parents’ wallets. Do you think the candy companies care if the children they market to have severe dental problems down the road?

Yes, smoking is bad for you. Yes, it increases the risk of certain health problems. It may or may not take time off your life, depending on how heavily you smoke and your other health habits. No, it will not NEARLY certainly kill you, and no it is not the single, or even major, cause of lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, asthma, or any of the other health problems it’s attributed to.

19

Holy Cow! Philip Morris! :astonished: It will damage your instruments, check with any instrument repair specialists who deals with instruments played by smokers or played in smoke filled venues. A standard used to assess the resale value of any good used instrument should always consider whether or not it was used by a smoker or played in smoke filled venues. And might I suggest perusing the CDC and NIH for some accurate information about the health risks associated with smoking.

20

And might I suggest perusing the CDC and NIH for some accurate information about the health risks associated with smoking.

That depends on how “accurate” you consider skewed statistics created by people who have a vested interest in proving that smoking is bad. What’s the CDC’s vested interest? Funding. The more they can show that smoking is bad, the more funding they can get in the name of “educating” the public.

For example, the mortality rates are the most frequently skewed statistic. The CDC reports that 1 in every 5 deaths is caused by smoking. Wait, what? 20% of all deaths are caused by smoking? Strikes me as a little bit high. Where do they come up with that number?

Here’s where they come up with it: Anybody that smokes or is regularly exposed to smoke who dies of a cause that can be attributed to smoking is assumed to have died from smoking. If somebody eats nothing but McDonald’s their entire life, and has one cigarette every day, then dies of a heart attack, their study says it was the cigarette that killed them.[/b]