a good whistlers album

Subject: a good whistlers album
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 06:27 PM

I've been playing the whistle for a few years now (on and off like) and feel ready to play amongst others. But there are no sessions going in my area so I feel a good album to play along with would be the next best thing. Any suggestions folks?

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 06:42 PM

I've just noticed. I'm posting sans cookie. Now I don't feel such a pillock.

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Shields Folk
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 12:14 PM

No response anyone?

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Ernest
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 12:40 PM

How about one that contains tunes you can play? Choose any band you like - that is important! Otherwise there are collections with cd`s like "100 favourite session tunes" or something like that...
Good luck and have fun!
Ernest

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Leadfingers
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 02:53 PM

As Ernest said - ANY album - and if the tunes arent in an 'easy' key , its just better practice !!

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: jimmyt
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 03:04 PM

For Leadfingers, a good key is whichever whistle he picks up off the bar and plays, REGARDLESS of the key ths tune is in! he is the best!

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Leadfingers
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 06:20 PM

Jimmy - You are TOO kind !!

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 07:58 PM

If you want just whistle playing, you could go for the two more-or-less definitive albums by Mary Bergin, Feadoga Stain and Feadoga Stain 2 or anything by Micho Russell or Willy Clancy (better whistle player than piper in my view).

If you want to play along with other instruments, any of the first several Chieftains albums might be a good place to start, as they mostly play at a steady pace - a bit slower than you'd normally get at a session. If you want to get your whistle smoking, try playing along with Flook. Or Finbar Furey.

You'll probably find it useful to have whistles in C and Eflat as well as D because some instruments prefer other keys, pipes can be in concert C or Eflat and bands like Stockton's Wing like to mix up the keys a bit. Also scope for fine-tuning your whistles is useful, as some recordings don't faithfully reproduce the original pitch.

Notwithstanding what Leadfingers says, you can't really stray far beyond a whistle's home key and a few related keys. Thus a D whistle is OK for tunes in D, G and their related minors and modes, and A. After that you need really another whistle.

Before spending anything on recordings, you could try playing along with BBC Radio 2's virtual session. It's excellent - just a pity they've never replaced or added to the tunes.

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Leadfingers
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 08:23 PM

Peter - I would be prepared for an argument !! D whistle works in D , G , Bm , Em , C ,Am , A ,F#m and E especially Blues !! This is what I teach at whistle workshops ! Transpose for other whistles ! But Mary Bergin does use Eflat whistle on her recordings as well !

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Mooh
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 08:45 PM

Loretto Reid. Mooh.

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Oct 05 - 09:36 PM

LF, to get some of those keys requires hard work involving cross fingering or half holing - oh - you're more talented than I, sorry forgot... :-)

The Lazy Guy with lots of whistles in different jeys...
:-P

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Paul Burke
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 04:06 AM

I'd like to see Leadfingers do a double roll on f sharp playing a G tune on a B flat whistle. Always prepared to be impressed...


You don't say what style you want to play. I'm assuming post- seventies Irish.

What do you want out of the recordings? Technique: get the Bergin Mary, Michael McGoldrick, Wille Clancy, and stuff like that. Tunes: almost anything, though you might find it "interesting" to try to arrange some fiddle tunes for whistle. Treatments: the usual suspects, Planxty and so on.

Maybe when bandwidths get a bit bigger, we can arrange internet sessions for those out on a limb.

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 07:14 AM

Paltalk, and Yahoo Message rooms allow a bunch to hear one player at a time.

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 08:09 AM

Leadfingers, the question was about session tunes, not putting all your effort into a couple of party showpieces. There's nothing wrong with showing off, but if you imply something is easy when it's nearly impossible (eg playing at session speed in E on a D whistle) you're likely to discourage anyone that's at an earlier point than you along the learning curve.

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 08:29 AM

Peter - If something is possible , why not try it ? I was simply suggesting that trying to play in difficult keys is good for developing an ear for a tune and getting better at finding the accidentals (half covering , usually) .
And Paul Burke - Even I would not be too happy at trying to play in G on a Bflat whistle . For G I would tend to use G ,D or C , though an A is not too much of a problem , nor an F .

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 09:05 AM

Packie Byrne's style has more tonguing and less of the fingered ornamentation which used to flummox me when I started. Mind you, this may only be helpful to those of us who learned the recorder first, but give him a go. It's a good excuse to acquire his albums!
Richard

Subject: RE: a good whistlers album
From: Brían
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 12:38 PM

I would reccomend Bríd O'Donoghue as an extremely talented player who plays a nice range of rare, common, difficult and simple tunes. there are samples on her website. She succeeds in presenting a collection of tunes in a charming, listenable format with absolutely no accompaniment. She even tells you what whistles she is playing. Let's see someone top that.

Brían