As a violin player, you already have some feel for the strings (some of them steel) pressing into your fingers, so those comments are perhaps not as important for you.

Jeri   --- there's only one place I could put tampons... (from another thread...) :-)

"Learn the basics from a teacher. Personally, I would strongly recommend this." The core of the best advice so far I think...

"Learn to hear yourself critically." If you can't do that, you haven't got much chance of improving like the poor enthusistic guy I mentioned - if he had had any sort of regular teacher for the other 50 weeks of the year, he might have learned to do that...

There is an oriental saying: "When the student is ready to learn, the teacher will appear" - refer previous paragraph... "hear yourself critically"...

Must tell of another related incident. I was in the Valley Mall, and this guy (have no idea who it was - couldn't see him) was playing whistle (D) - something was sounding wrong... I thought I vagely recognised the tunes, but they sounded wrong too somehow.. this guy was undoubtedly ken, and I had seen him at sessions playing along with the general din...

It took about 20 mins (I was getting a Shaitsu Massage - which is why I couldn't see him) before the penny dropped!

He would play all the correct notes, but dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada (ahhhhhhh - big breath) dadadadadadadadadadaddadadadadadaddadadadadadada (ahhhhhhhh) dadadadadadaddadadadadadadada...

No phrasing, just an endless run of notes, (and not much difference in timing of the notes!) no pauses, even for musical phrases, so the 'tune' just sorta stopped and started at random (when he ran out of breath), and it was all run together... sad really, that none of his "friends" at the sessions helping him to "learn tunes" had told him one of the most basic music concepts about BREATHING WHEN PLAYING THE WHISTLE .... or had tried to correct his phrasing, etc - makes you really (and I'm not being nasty!) wonder how well all the others in the sessions played, doesn't it... was ANYBODY listening to ANYBODY there (let alone themselves)?

Robin O-> :-)
(a Low Whistle player at odd times...)