**disclaimer - anyone who is of the opinion that people learning whistle can’t teach it to others, go away! **
I’ve agreed to give beginner whistle lessons to a 9 year old girl. A store down the road sells sweetones so she will probably be getting one of those. I plan to show her the basic notes, how to play tunes that she already knows (ie christmas tunes, happy birthday, things like that), and show her whistle tablature so she can use it as reference for tunes. I also want to find some simple irish tunes she can learn and not get frustrated on. She doesn’t read music.
Any suggestions on tunes, or anything else? Also, for those who have given basic lessons, what is a fair rate per half hour? We are doing an exchange-of-lessons thing rather than money, but I need to know the general value I should state…
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-07-31 21:25 ]
OK, so then she can teach ME to Joust, and I’ll teach her how to whistle, and you can show us both how to instant messgae on the chat site, and then we can all eat peanut butter and pickle sandwiches on the swings, unless it’s a full moon of course and then…on no, my eyes are crossed!!!
“Star of the County Down” is an easy, pleasant, and relatively well-known Irish tune. It might make a good piece for a beginner. (I think there’s music for it somewhere on Brother Steve’s site.)
Start her on easy songs/tunes that she already can hum, then a couple of airs, like the Sally Gardens (the song, not the reel) or Fáinnne geal an lae (the dawning of the day).
I think I would incorporate some basic music-reading lessons as well (you read music, yes?). You could pick up one of the basic whistle tutors, which usually teach music reading right along with simple tunes and tablature, and use that as the basis for lessons. Nine is a great age to begin music reading, and doing so in conjunction with learning an instrument makes it easier.
As far as rates go, my daughter’s piano teacher charges $15 for a 1/2 hour lesson (she charges the same for voice lessons). It’s a pretty low rate for this area (this is something she does as a sideline to her regular job) but would probably be in-line for a less costly area. That’s for a private lesson. Her swimming teacher charges $9 for a 1/2 hour lesson, but that’s for groups of three children. I’d say anything between $10 and $15 would be fair.
And as far as a beginner teaching goes, one of my favorite mottos is “qui docet discet” (who teaches learns). You probably know enough to give her the basics, and you’ll learn a lot in the process, so it sounds like a good deal all around to me.
One good, simple and readily available whistle tutor is Mel Bay’s “Fun With the Tin Whistle.” It introduces basic note reading right along with simple tunes. You could use something like that as a “blueprint” for your lessons. A nice companion to this book is “The Whistler’s Pocket Companion” (also from Mel Bay), which also includes some basic music lessons and exercises along with LOTS of tunes from all over (including several that can be played as duets).
Only to show correct fingering of a given note (for example, when G is introduced, the book will show the fingering and the note on the staff). The goal is to lead the student into music reading (a pretty important skill for acquiring new tunes).
I taught basic stuff to adults who don’t read music. What I do is put numbers under the notes on the sheet music. These numbers tell the student which note to play, without having to learn to read music. For music in the key of d…6 is d, 5 is e, 4 is F#, 3 is g, etc. For the upper octave I add a plus sign to the number. For music in the key of G, I need something special to designate c. For c natural, rather than a number, I put either “c” or “c+” for the upper octave. (this is the only situation where my marking system doesn’t naturally lead one to the correct fingering, but hey, they gotta memorize SOMETHING!)
Obviously the student will have to know the song by ear and then follow the numbers system to help in getting the right notes. I came up with this numbers system to avoid the tedious job of writing out whistle tabelature.
Of course, this basically helps someone to learn by ear, which, by the way, some strongly advocate over sight reading. It’s of little help in learning to read music.
Later, the student can be taught to mark the music this way for himself.
When I’m using slow-down software to decipher a song I like, I use this system to write down the notes.
With a kid, however, I really think it makes a lot of sense to teach music reading along with teaching an instrument. It’s a useful skill that they can easily pick up as they learn to play…one that will stand them in good stead later, if they want to learn another instrument, or to play with others, or to pick up new tunes for their whistles from other sources.
I’m an advocate of learning to play by ear as well (that is, in addition to learning to read music)…too many people are overly reliant on having sheet music for even a simple tune. Being able to read music, however, will expand a child’s musical horizons considerably…she won’t be limited to tunes she’s able to hear often enough to learn them by ear. Adults are often resistant to learning new things, but children are remarkably open to learning, and will pick up note reading quickly if it’s packaged with instrument learning.
Hope it goes well! Here’s another question about teaching whistle, if anyone has any advice: How do you teach someone to get a good SOUND out of the whistle? Or does it just come naturally with time. I’ve been helping a few people learn the whistle, and even though they are getting fingerings and rhythms and everything fine, it just doesn’t sound like a whistle should sound. I don’t quite know how to describe it. There is no strength to the tone, and it is breathy and wobbly. Sort of like when 3rd graders learn to play the recorder. I don’t know if it is lack of air control, something that will improve with practice or what. Any advice?
She likes it! I’m very impressed with her, although not as impressed with her sweetone.
But we ran into a problem. Her fingers are too small to reach the holes at times! In particular she has trouble keeping the A hole closed when playing a G. suggestions? I tried a modified pipers grip but she didn’t like that, said she couldn’t feel where the holes were.
I considered finding her a G or F whistle but her father has many swords and I decided not to risk it!
She might need to curve her fingers just a little. Or it may just be a matter of practice, rather than too-small fingers…I know it took my daughter (who’s nine) a while to be able to cover all the holes on her soprano recorder completely (they tended to shift position when she changed fingerings), and that’s a bit bigger than a D whistle.
Might help to just have her work on the top three holes at first…wait until she can cover those consistently, then add the bottom holes. That’s what they do in the beginner’s recorder class.
To The Instrument Player…the only thing I can suggest regarding helping beginners get a good sound out of the whistle (other than lots of practice, which tends to smooth out most ills) is make sure they’re sitting up well, so they can get enough breath to support the tone. Teach them to drop their diaphragms when they inhale (pushing out their stomachs) as singers do, so they’ll always have enough air to let the tone sing out. Have them practice “underblowing” and “overblowing” slightly, so they get a feel for what the “right” air pressure is. It also might help to have them practice on a singable song (something they know well)…have them sing it first, and then play it, so they get a sense of how the song should flow.
Redwolf
[ This Message was edited by: Redwolf on 2002-08-07 02:29 ]
Yeah, I wanted to do more scales with her but as soon as she saw my tab sheet for Mary Had a Little Lamb she was hooked, hehe. Fortunately that’s all B-A-G and a high D. The only problems she has with high D are using enough air and making the B-D transition, but that’s just practice.
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), and Believe me if all those endearing young charms is another good one.