I was asked by my wife to accompany her and two other singers at church today. They were singing a simple childrens song for a small class. This was my first performance by the way.
Well, before and after the time I was doing this I had my whistle with me. Several people asked what I had so I showed them. I would pull out my Overton Low D and inveriably the comment would be that it was a very nice looking re#$%*er! I tried explaining the difference to them, but most did not seem convinced.
What do YOU say when you run into this situation? Whistle of Mass Destruction brought blank, dumbfounded stares. When I changed to Irish Tin Whistle I got what appeared to be some sort of intelligent response from some.
The best comment came from one of our church leaders. āWhen will you play it for us in service?ā
It doesnāt bother me, and I usually donāt bother to correct people. In my case, people usually refer to it as a flute.
Actually, since this usually comes up when someone compliments my playing (as in ānice job on that little flute!ā), Iām way too tickled to do anything but say āthanks!ā
My experience pretty much accords with that of Redwolf. People say, āwas that you playing the flute?ā After confession, I just take the compliments and thank them.
Whistles are fipple flutes so this isnāt even deceipt. So are re***ders, but weād better just let that pass. Donāt try to educate them unless they explicitly ask you for more precise information. Pointing to Irish music is helpful for these people, especially for locating low whistles on their map.
If you think you have problems think of my situation. People think my bouzoukis are guitars, my concertinas are accordions and my singing is the sound track to the death throws of a tone-deaf hyena.
I am sure this is a very common problem. I usually just say something along the lines of āThank you very muchā (if they are complimenting me) and then say, āthis is actually a (tin/penny/irish) whistleā. I leave it at that unless they ask more questions. (Usually, they do). When they ask to know more they get the full spiel. I donāt know if people care or not, but most are polite enough to at least listen and there are some who express interest and want to know more (which is my cue to say, "thereās this great websiteā¦).
If I sense that itās just a casual, polite compliment, I say, āThank you,ā and donāt bother correcting them. If I sense that thereās a genuine interest in the isntrument, I will, of course, explain what it is.
