Forum Activity for @strumelia

Larry I have only bought whistles online. I don't think a music shop is likely to let you try out whistles anyway, especially with the pandemic going on. It's not safe.
My experience is good in buying online. I usually look for several youtube videos first that show someone playing the whistle i'm interested in. That gives a general idea of the tone before I buy.

Just wanted to wish folks everywhere a merry Christmas happy Hanukkuh happy holidays and festive Festivus! May your week be cozy, safe, and lovely. 🎄

I find I've gotten more used to wearing masks. Of course I think though it must be hard to wear one for many hours. A well fitting one does make a difference in comfort. I bet as more and more folks get vaccinated and protected, the risk and numbers of sick will continue to drop until we can all be relatively safe again. Here's hoping!

My favorite whistle brand to play is probably the Jerry Freeman-tweaked 'Blackbird'. It does not require a lot of huffing and puffing to play, and has a very sweet sound to it.

I can say my favorite key is probably Bb, it seems the best of both worlds and is easier on my ears than high D.

Michael, that's checked yes by default, though you can uncheck it before posting something. It makes it so the post or comment you make will appear in the activity feed on the site's main/home page, visible to all who go to the home page. Having comments appear there makes it easy to see what been happening lately on the site when you just go check the main home page. :)

If the harp is chromatic (it can play in any key), then if the harpist plays one tune in G and then plays the next tune in Bb... you will have to change whistles even though they don't need to change harps. (I don't know anything about harps specifically, but this would apply to all chromatic instruments)

Well, don't you have to just play in the same key as whatever other musician you are playing with?

What materials and/or brands are you looking for in a low G?

Good resource for tunes from interesting regions- thanks!

That sounds pretty!  Looks like you can use one side for a drone note while playing the melody on the other side- but you can switch those back and forth sometimes. Cool.

I have one of these wooden double ocarinas from New Zealand... they are beautiful and not cheap. Sadly, I have not gotten beyond playing a few unstructured spooky note pairings on mine. It sounds lovely, but requires more breath force than I am good at:
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZylfsDGOOo&ab_channel=StefanDollak"

Tell us what whistles that are higher pitched than the usual D.

Even better- why did you get them and do you find them useful for what situations?

You must go to the particular Group, and on the particular Group's main page you will see a Join button. 
Once you have joined a certain group, you can post in it and see all the replies to any threads there. If you want to 'unjoin' a group, you just click the same button again, it will say "leave group" if you are a group member.
Let me know if that works for you!   :)

You can start a new thread/discussion in an existing forum, but you can't start a new forum. There can be many separate discussions/threads in any forum. Hope that clarifies?

Hmmm, well you responded to my last post ok.

Do you want to create a new forum thread?  

I'm wondering if you are looking in one of the GROUPS here- each Group has its own forum too. But you must JOIN a group before you can post in it or create any threads in it.  Go to the group's home page and look for the JOIN button. Once joined you can read other people's replies there and also post yourself in the group.

Keith- The garden end-of-season cleanup is taking my attention this month. Still doing a trampoline session every couple of days though. I sure miss not being able to go to contra dances!

That Kickbike- it really is a scooter, isn't it? I mean not electric?  Looks really cool! Did you get the white one? Is is somewhat flat where you live?  Coooool!

This happens to me a lot too. Moving through phases of enjoying different types of instruments that I have at home. I think certain people are just more naturally prone to doing this. Variety can keep us motivated, that's how i see it. 

That is a sweet little simple tune with a bit of added interest in the second part. Thanks for sharing it with us!

@ltwhistle , I'm particularly liking that "Empty Wallet Waltz" on that site you recommended. I saw a couple of Youtube videos of musicians who play it, so it's cool to hear the tune before working it out in the whistle tab. What a lovely tune!  I like it on my Bb polymer whistle right now. Thank you for linking us to that site- lots to explore!

Just wondering if folks have been finding online ways to join jams or workshops etc...

Hey @ltwhistle , that's a really nice site!  I'm looking through the waltzes right now. Thanks!

Good for you Keith!  It's hard to get exercise during these trying times. I got a mini indoor trampoline, and I've been starting out real slow on it ..but it gets my aerobic activity up!

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, so maybe you only own one inexpensive  beat-up whistle ...but it's the apple of your eye!
Regardless of what others might think and regardless of how it plays or sounds, post a picture here (use the 'embed local media' button OR the 'attach files' button to upload a pic, OR else just post a link to a picture) of the whistle you own that is beautiful to you.     :)   We could all use a little shared beauty in our lives these days! 

My neighbor sits on his deck and quietly plays O'Carolan tunes on his mandolin sometimes. It's kind of peaceful to listen to.  I'm sure glad he doesn't blast rock from some boombox!

I've finished week 6 of the virus lockdown. Only leaving the house to either go for a quick fitness walk in a lonely location, and once a week to pick up a few fresh food items like milk/eggs/bread/produce (using no-contact store pickup, yay!)

I thought when this started that I'd have lots of time to play music. But as it's turning out, I'm keeping plenty busy with work (we work at home on computer), cooking, gardening, and paperwork.  In the evenings I just want to veg out and watch a movie to get away from the bad news. 

@bookman46 , that looks great!  Like the jazzy colors.

If you are considering getting a whistle made of a material other than brass or tin (plastic, aluminum, polymer, wood, etc), then be sure to do some searches within Youtube to get a preview of players playing these types of whistles before you order one. There are lots of great videos there comparing various whistles in different materials and brands.  Though not quite as good or as accurate as playing them all in person, it's still a great (and free!) way to listen before you buy. It'll get you a little closer to narrowing down your preferences.  It's how I wound up getting the whistles that have become my favorites.

Hi Bookman!  I find I have collected favorite simple tunes that fall in certain genres... oldtime or 1800s American. and medieval or Renaissance era European folk/dance tunes are my two fave genres.  And i tend to try to play those same tunes on whatever instruments I'm fancying on a particular day.  That might be a day when I grab a banjo off the wall, or take out my langspil, or a mountain dulcimer, or reach for a pennywhistle in my 'vase' of whistles. Not saying I'm skilled on any of this, but it brings me so much joy to just make some pretty notes and play simple tunes at home, mistakes and all. 

I have that same 'malady' Keith.  It's hard to break the habit of checking Ebay for instruments I certainly have enough of and no longer need to keep buying. And it really is just a habit... I can't stand the idea that I might miss something wonderful... despite having enough wonderful examples already.
This is true for some various instruments I own or play... not just penny whistles.  It seems I have finally broken my need to seek more whistles though.  I've disabled a few of the 'saved searches' I've set up on ebay over the years- that seems to be the key to breaking the habit, for me anyway. 

Sounds to me like you need a polymer one though. 

Keith, that's amazing that you resisted that one!   I'm impressed.

(did you not already have a susato in A, though?)

Keith: If I post in this thread my whistle aquisition won't look so bad.

So you think you're fooling us?

My thoughts on this: Non-whistle players tend to be squeamish about putting their mouths on used whistles.  But whistle players don't have such qualms.  So if i were you i'd just work up a nice cheap price and bundle them together as one sale on chiff&fipple.  Someone there will like them for throwing in the car of giving to their grandchildren.  If you bundle them you'll only have to ship one package, too... thus keep the price more accessible.

I'm impressed by folks who can play whistles, flutes, piccolos, and recorders!   They are similar enough so as to make it confusing to switch around, I imagine.  I find it's easier to play multiple instruments IF they are substantially different from each other so it doesn't trip me up.

If you have a goodly set of nice whistles that you like and play well, I see no reason to keep buying more indefinitely anyway. 

The high F seems unusual to add in among the rest of those you listed.  Those things are tiny! 

Larry that's a really pretty little tune!  I like the trills you are doing.  You must name this tune, it has a forest/bird feel to it.  Maybe something lalong the lines of "Thrush in the Brambles" ...?

I find that improvising in the minor (in this Em on a D whistle) seems to flow more naturally than improvising in the major scale.

Yes, chromatically fretted. 3 steel strings- two of them open drones, and only the melody string with frets under it.  Thanks, I'm really enjoying it!

I just got a custom langspil (a traditional Icelandic zither) a couple weeks ago and have been really enjoying playing it.  The biggest struggle is with my bowing- bowing is always the hardest thing on bowed instruments, needless to say).  But the struggle is fun and I'm slowly making progress.

This "Three Ravens" is the first tune I've managed to play more than one time through without too many horrible 'dying cat' bow squeaks:

It's actually a wonderful thing to even be able to talk about one's 'favorite' whistles... it not only means you have multiple whistles, but it also means you have more than one favorite whistle! 

Keith, I have Generation high F and a high G.

You've inspired me to pull them out again and revisit.

Though I like their handy 'pocket size' (more like purse size really) they are a bit hard on the ears, but that could simply have been my first impression. At the time I was also getting some low G and and A whistle in polymer, so the sound contrast was pretty drastic.

I'll try the little ones out again, just to be fair.  :)