So today I enter the Whistler Bard realm and... there it was! The 100th visitor! Never thought it would come to this, cause it's the number of unique visitors (I bet you Chiff and Fipple forum guys are the responsible for this :P)!
I do this mainly for fun, but if someone follows it and has a laugh or two on my account, I gladly appreciate it!
As for today, I almost have "Road To Lisdoonvarna" until the end, just needs some ending notes to finish memorizing it. Tomorow or the day after I expect to receive Clarke's book, and then I'll just follow that lead, with the occasional wander off to some tune I really want to learn.
This week will also be the one I get my first Low D :D (hopefully) just waiting for it in the mailbox! I don't make a comparison with my bass days for a long time, so here's another one: for 1/100000000000000 of the price I spent in bass gear, I have a Tin Whistle, an Irish Flute and a Low Whistle (and this one is hanmade!) of course they're not the "state of the art" or the top notch ones, but sound great and will last forever.
That's it for today folks! As a side note let me tell you I'm trying to "make" the Whistler Bard character (since I work with some cool software :P) come alive...it will take long, and might never be done, but I'll try!
Cheers!
Showing posts with label irish flute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label irish flute. Show all posts
Monday, 13 April 2009
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Flute improvements
Back from half the weekend, and happy! :D
As for the Whistle, I didn't practise much, but I went trying the Flute, and I finally got some technique in being able to produce sweet, soft notes. I even got goosebumps playing "Scarborough Fair" in the flute for the first time!
It's a bit tought on weekends, as I said in a previous post, but I'll try to pratise a bit until monday. Maybe I can go and play in my car or in a remote place so I don't bother anyone. It's a hard life, a bard's one! :)
Cheers, and have fun in your weekend!
As for the Whistle, I didn't practise much, but I went trying the Flute, and I finally got some technique in being able to produce sweet, soft notes. I even got goosebumps playing "Scarborough Fair" in the flute for the first time!
It's a bit tought on weekends, as I said in a previous post, but I'll try to pratise a bit until monday. Maybe I can go and play in my car or in a remote place so I don't bother anyone. It's a hard life, a bard's one! :)
Cheers, and have fun in your weekend!
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
TWP - Tin Whistle Portable
I realized one thing today: the whistle "portability" is a great thing! More than once I've played it in my car, when I'm waiting for something or someone. Something that would be a bit difficult (to say the least) with my bass guitar :P (I even thought of playing in the traffic jam, but I quited that idea...maybe someday, heheheh)
As for the flute, today I just stared at it, little to no time this week to give some attention to my new hobbie, unfortunatly.
On the weekend I expect to post a video of me playing something in the Whistle, just for you people to have something to laugh at :P
Cheers!
Monday, 30 March 2009
The flute and the breathless whistler
Today I picked up my Irish Flute...and I'm gasping for air! The damn thing is hard to blow into, and I still didn't manage to make it sound like it should, except for some accidental notes :)
As for the whistle I can already play "Down by the Sally Gardens" from begining to end. Tomorow I'll start working and learning some embelishments.
Not much for today, I know.
Cheers, and thank you for following the blog (or by accidentaly passing by).
Sunday, 29 March 2009
A weekend day
Another day of little to no whistling, its harder when everybody's home! People just don't understand music! (or maybe I still suck a lot playing, hehehe)
Anyway I'm still around with scales and "Down by the Sally Gardens".
Meanwhile I leave you with some nice videos from amateur whistlers/flute players:
Ryan's / Farewell To Whalley Range / The Ashplant (Irish Flute + Tin Whistle + Guitar)
Road to Lisdoonvarna / Swallowtail jig (Tin Whistle + Guitar)
That's it for today, tomorow I'll probably get my flute and practise a bit
more on the Whistle.
Cheers!
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Good news, bad news... and links!
Ok, so today I arrive from work and what do I have in my mailbox? A post office ticket so I could get my whistle! So far so good... but unfortunatly I wasn't able to pick it up! :(
So tonight is the frustration of knowing it is so close, and the antecipation of knowing i'll have it tomorow! :D
I was going to post some sites that I am checking for Whistle and Flutes tomorow, but I said it would be in "the next post" so here it goes:
Great site to start with: www.whistletutor.com , it has free lessons, tips, and a forum which is growing. Register and be a part of it (the master of the place is Sean, a guy that is willing to help whistlers to start and develop their skills).
The Whistle I bought was a Clarke's "Celtic Tinwhistle" for £9,65 (11€) at www.clarke-tin-whistle.com , my choice because I wanted one made in the UK or Ireland, where I consider the heart of Celtic music is. They have free shipping worldwide too.
The Irish Flute was a Tony Dixon's "Polymer Tenor Flute" for £24 + £8 shipping (35€) at www.tonydixonmusic.co.uk , I chose this one because Irish Flutes are expensive, and I didn't want to spend that much for a start. This one was the cheapeast and I read good things about it.
For now it's all, really hope I'll have readers one day...
A New bard in town...
Hello there, and welcome to The Whistler Bard Blog!
I'm a newcomer to playing the Tin Whistle and the Irish flute, and i decided to make this blog as a way to post my progress concerning the learning of these two instruments.
I play electric bass (not too well, honestly), but i wanted to move to something simpler, easier to carry and that i could practice and play everywere...since i love Celtic music, what better to start than the whistle? About the flute i just love the sound, and since it's pretty similar to the whistle, i though i should give it a try too.
For me it's a new world, no hard-cases that don't fit the trunk of my car, no cables, no amps weighting a ton... Let's see how i'll manage!
So i searched the net for whistles, saw videos, read articles and i finaly bought a Tin Whistle and an Irish flute. This all happened in a couple of days, and i'm still anxiously waiting for them in my mail box. After that being done, i decided to learn how to read music sheets. First of all it's a thing i wanted to learn since a long time ago, just never tried really hard. Second of all is that most of the songs for the whistle are in that format, so if i want to try it, i should know how to read the sheets.
For the first post this is huge, and i sincerely doubt anyone will ever see it, but anyway... next post i'll give you some sites to start from if you want to learn the whistle and flute magic.
Cheers!
I'm a newcomer to playing the Tin Whistle and the Irish flute, and i decided to make this blog as a way to post my progress concerning the learning of these two instruments.
I play electric bass (not too well, honestly), but i wanted to move to something simpler, easier to carry and that i could practice and play everywere...since i love Celtic music, what better to start than the whistle? About the flute i just love the sound, and since it's pretty similar to the whistle, i though i should give it a try too.
For me it's a new world, no hard-cases that don't fit the trunk of my car, no cables, no amps weighting a ton... Let's see how i'll manage!
So i searched the net for whistles, saw videos, read articles and i finaly bought a Tin Whistle and an Irish flute. This all happened in a couple of days, and i'm still anxiously waiting for them in my mail box. After that being done, i decided to learn how to read music sheets. First of all it's a thing i wanted to learn since a long time ago, just never tried really hard. Second of all is that most of the songs for the whistle are in that format, so if i want to try it, i should know how to read the sheets.
For the first post this is huge, and i sincerely doubt anyone will ever see it, but anyway... next post i'll give you some sites to start from if you want to learn the whistle and flute magic.
Cheers!
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