Hi, I would like to know if there are other good whistle players who use a lot of tonguing, apart from Sean Ryan, Brian Finnegan and Alex Green.
As an old trumpet player, I tongue a lot. I don’t play much ITrad, so at least it’s not stylistically inappropriate.
Oh, wait… you said good players.
Never mind…
What’s “a lot”?
How about Mary Bergin?
When I say a lot I really mean a lot, most of the notes.
Mary Bergin doesn’t use it that much, she is more legato.
Packie Manus Byrne.
A friend just lent me a tune book, “A Dossan of Heather,” which is a collection of tunes all gleaned from this one man. He grew up in Donegal. Don’t know if he’s still alive. He’s said to have a style which uses more tonguing than many modern players. That said, I don’t know whether it’s “a lot” of tonguing. More than I’ve heard recently, though.
He doesn’t play in the recording that goes with the book, but those who transcribed the tunes play in his style. Except for his fabled triple-tonguing, which is something he was known for.
I think there was some discussion of this book a while back here. I’d recommend it. Some really nice tunes, though they’re mostly not well known now.
Jennie
Now, that sounds interesting!
Any idea of where i can get that book and tape?
Mel Bay.
The title: “A Dossan of Heather”
compiled and edited by Jean Duval and Stephen Jones
MB98635BCD
There are lots of jigs, my favorite, in this collection. As well as marches, polkas, highlands, a few reels, hornpipes, waltzes, airs. Eighty-five all told, each with a description or story. I’m really enjoying some of these tunes.
Fortunately I’m in a small and very open community of traditional musicians. When someone finds a tune we all like, we just decide to learn it. Takes a few weeks or months, but then we’ve all learned a new favorite. Several of the tunes are Packie’s originals, but very traditional sounding. For someone born in 1917 and playing most of his life, that makes his tunes possible “traditional” tunes in another generation, right?
Also, relating to the tonguing question, I’m enjoying the freedom this recording takes with it, and it’s helped me relax a little… I’d come from classical music, which uses lots of tonguing, and just learned how to slur absolutely everything. Now I’m tonguing a little bit again, and not worrying so much.
Jennie
http://www.folkmusician.com/fiddle-98635bcd.html
$25.00 new + shipping
I would probably let you have mine for 20 + shipping.
I haven’t really used it, and it’s been languishing on a shelf.
Tounging presents so many options. With a whistle you get such articulation. It’s not like your having to spit the notes out of a brass instrument or through a reed. Just have to adapt for a much lighter touch. Particulalry on double and triple touging. (it really rattles fiddle when you play thier tripplets back at them).
I had to forget ta ka ta ta ka and use da da la da da la and so on. Tu du la tu du la dut. And so forth.
If you like throwing in double and tripple tounging on a high d, try a low d. You can almost speak languages through the thing.
I have A Dossan of Heather, and agree with Jennie - it’s one of my favorite tunebooks, though as she says many of the tunes are (undeservedly) little-known.
I’m far from the best whistler around (I’m sure any of the SF Bay gang would second that!) but I find double and triple tonguing reasonably easy - takes a bit of practice, but far easier than doing properly timed rolls. It seems to be easier on some whistles than others, though - moderate level of air demand and/or backpressure seems to help.
My tuppence worth -
Dana
Jennie: Thanks a lot for all the information.
The reason I ask about the tonguing is because I use it all the time myself, and I don’t care what some people say, I think it sounds better, as long as you know what you’re doing. So don’t let them put you off about that.
Vomitbunny: Your opinion isn’t either stupid or wrong, you are very right: tonguing gives you many different options and adds a lot of variety and interest to the music. By the way, I like your nickname a lot.
Thanks to all of you. I’ll try to get a hold of that book.
Any other “tonguers” around there?
Bunny is right, it takes a much lighter touch to make a whistle sound good. More of a ‘d’ than a ‘t’. Double-tonguing is more of da-ga-da-ga than tu-ku-tu-ku.
When we are doing something jazzy, though, I occasionally throw in something like a Spanish trilled “rr” to get some real sass out of the whistle. Must be that lingering inspiration from the Moody Blues and Jethro Tull…
I might add, while backpressure helps a lot in the double and triple tounging, sometimes your playing a whistle that has none, or you are in the low register. I find perching the mouthpiece on the very end of my lips helps. So it’s just barely in your mouth. Since you wind up just using the very tip of your toung, it seems to give your toung more room to move. Or maybe I’m creating some internal backpressure in my mouth when I do that. Not sure, but it does help.
What do you think is the best whistle for the tonguing style?
I don’t think there is a bad one. But I like the way tounging comes out on gen style whistles with a strong tubular chiff sound. Since most of the chiff is on the beginning of the note, a lot of tricky tounging allows for more chiffy goodness to come out.
Of course, you can almost speak in toungs on a low whistle. But they get covered up by the fiddles too easily.