I’d like to say how fortunate I am to have found this marvelous forum. I’ve spent quite a bit of time combing through the archives just absorbing all the wonderful information herein.
The first thing I should confess is that I’m a complete musical neophyte. Never took band in high school (or grade school, for that matter). Never heard an instrument that would compel me to learn music, until I first heard the tin whistle.
Preamble over. Two questions (for now..heh):
What exactly is “backpressure,” and why are instruments that have some measure of it not recommended for beginning players?
The song I was seduced by is called “John of the Glen” – anyone heard of this, and, if so, where I might find the sheet for it?
Again, thanks for being experienced whistle players (and answering these annoying questions!)
I neither care nor know what backpressure is and I never heard of that tune (pronounced "chune’).
Just kidding; welcome aboard. The backpressure response should come from one of the Overton afficionados on the Board. All I know is, Overtons and Chieftains, acknowledged generally as having lot of backpressure, respond noticeably differently than most other whistles (Copelands, Sindts, Burkes, assorted cheapies, etc.) and do take some getting used to especially for beginners. It takes a good volume of air to sound the notes and to transition to the upper octave; however, there is not really a high air requirement in that one does not get out of breath easily as a lot of notes get played by the volume of air (Copelands while not requiring great volumes of air, tend to have high air requirements to keep playing notes.)
The air somehow gets dispersed but comes back…
Now you know why I shouldn’t have tried to answer the question. Bloomfield, where are you when we need you?
Sean O Duibhir a Gleanna or John O Dwyer of the Glen appears both as a set dance and as a song. It is often sung to the same air as Sliabh gael gua na feile.
The tune you are looking for might be “Seán Ó Duibhir an Ghleanna” or, in English, “John O Dwyer of the Glen”.
It exists both as a set dance (hornpipe rhythm) and a slow air. Try going to John Chamber’s ABC tune finder at http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/FindTune.html and entering either “Dwyer” or “Duibhir” into the search box. It can probably be found in printed collections too.
To pick up a slow air from sheet music is very difficult, by the way. If you really are a complete musical neophyte, my advice (I know you’re not asking for it, but still…) would be to start with simpler things and tackle this tune (if indeed this is the tune you are talking about) a little way down the line.
would have been my answer too, then again, there are people that make a distinction between resistance and backpressure, that however goes beyond my knowledge.
Welcome. If you haven’t discovered abc notation yet, visit the ABC Homepage, http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/. Its a way of transcribing tunes using the alphabet. Almost any traditional tune can be found on one of the abc lists then transcibed by software into sheet music.
As for learning on your own, go for it. While I would dearly love to walk down to the pub and sip a pint of Killian’s before joining the local session each evening, that just ain’t gonna happen in North Texas. Those of us in the far-flung reaches of the Irish Empire must make do with cds, the Net, C&F forum and abc tunes on our computer screen. I picked up the Irish whistle after hearing Joanie Madden’s Songs of the Irish Whistle cd. I’ve can play an almost recognizable rendition of Roisin Dubh now. The gods smile when I play, prefering I play badly rather than not at all!
Scroll up and see Peter’s spelling of it, then look for it in Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland by O’Canain and also in Ireland’s Best 110 Slow Airs (Walton’s). It’s in both.
Wow! Thanks to everyone who posted, both for the great answers and for making me feel welcome!
I should have noted in my first post that I work nights – thus the late rejoinder.
John of the Glen (I won’t try the Irish spelling of it just yet – I’m a neophyte student of that esteemed language as well) is a song that I only aspire to play. Best I can do so far is London Bridge!
But I’ll keep you folks posted on my progress – thanks again!
It’s one version, Vomit. And a fine one. I only mentioned this to Susan because she’s been around whistles for some time, and I’m reasonably certain she has one of those tune books. I’m sure she’s looked through them in the past, looking for that title but didn’t recognize it in Gaelic, and I was just pointing out that she most likely already had it, but wasn’t recognizing it.
