Music Opinions

I have trouble with tin whistles. They play all right for a bit; then they don’t. I don’t think it’s a water problem. Maybe an air volume problem. I have a couple that don’t do it, but I don’t like them much. I don’t play my whistles much because thet’re such a pain.

I enjoy playing different instruments too, but I think maybe I have too many. ld:

I often times think about the concertina, but in the end I convince myself that I still have a lot to learn on the ukulele and it is probably better that I don't try to divide what time I have between two instruments. I'm really afraid that once I started on the concertina I would not play my ukulele anymore.

I do also play a hand drum, but it is specific to Plena music. I've been doing that for five years. Plena is a Puerto Rican folk music. There is generally a group that is the nucleus, but roving Plenaros often times come along and join in. On the weekends in parts of the island you will hear bands playing and migrate to them with your drum. In Plena there are three drums, each with its own beat. Together the three sound pretty cool, but individually they don't do much. The trick is for the three drums to stay in rhythm with each other. There are lots of stops and starts that have to be right on the beat. If one gets off, it takes everything down with it and the offender is told to leave. Not for the faint of heart, getting publicly ejected I mean. You pretty much practice by playing with the other two drums, it is an OJT thing, so not something you sit in your basement and do. To learn Plena, they teach you the beat for one of the drums. Then they pair you up with an experienced player. You watch the hands of the person you are paired with and use them as your guide until you learn to feel the rhythm. If you get lost or off, it isn't all that bad really, the leader will nod at you, call you out and give you the stink eye if you are not paying attention, and then you sit out for a while and try to get a feel for what everyone else is doing and how you fit into it. Then you do a couple of years where you are an apprentice and you just learn to keep the beat and don't do anything fancy. Then after a few years you really get to feel the music and start doing a little free style within your beat. You know that you've made it when the leader starts calling you up and telling you where they are playing. Kind of like you get a personal invitation and you're a part of the nuclear group. No more roving. But I love playing Plena and play every weekend in PR.

Well, Rollie, if you wanna sing, a concertina would work well for you. One of the things that bothers me, though, is that it deals with chords. I’m not exactly sure how one plays ‘em, but chords and I don’t seem to get along well. Anyway, I think concertinas are neat too.

My new tenor guitar is a lotta fun and very easy to play. It’s tuned to CGDA though, and most of its music seems to be in F. I’m usta playing in G and D, so it makes things a little different. I might just play it by ear, and that’ll solve the problem. I’d almost be a finger picker if it wasn’t for all the darned chords.

I guess it’ll all come out in the wash. ld:

I really want to play bluegrass. The easiest route would be to learn to play my wife's guitar. I have also thought about the fiddle, as I had one of them as well, but it self destructed and I had to glue it back together. I'm not sure that it is playable after I got through with it. But fiddles are cheap at the pawn shop.

I have a couple Bluegrass books for banjo, and I could play the rolls, but I just couldn’t hear the melodies. So I decided to go back to clawhammer.

The rolls are easy enough and fun to play though. ld:

Down Up Dick said:

I have trouble with tin whistles. They play all right for a bit; then they don’t. I don’t think it’s a water problem. Maybe an air volume problem. I have a couple that don’t do it, but I don’t like them much. I don’t play my whistles much because thet’re such a pain.

I enjoy playing different instruments too, but I think maybe I have too many. ld:

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Put a finger over the fipple hole & blow, that should clear any clogging.

Yeah, I do that all the time but no help. I’ve tried different air volumes too. I dunno . . . ld:

Maybe a bit of plastic flashing in the airway(?).

Have you ever played wooden or plastic whistles? The wooden ones are expensive I think. I have a coupla Sweetones (a D and a C) that play all right, but I don’t like how they sound.

It’s really too bad. Tin whistles are a lotta fun to play. ld:

I've got a bunch of Generations, nickel, & brass, plus a Feadog brass, a Waltons aluminium, a Tony Dixon ABS, & two Trad brass altos.

All of mine seem to play OK, but I don't play for hours at a time, maybe half an hour or so.

(I read about the plastic flashing causing some people problems on another forum - they filed it, or cut it carefully off.)

I have a nickel Gen Bb and 2 brasses - D and Hi F. The tone goes bad on the D but not the F. I also have a Clarke C, but it’s difficult to play. It’s very windy.

They seem like such simple instruments . . . It’s very frustrating that I can’t play ‘em. ld:

I just had a quick blow on some of mine, the Trad alto A, ABS D piccolo, ABS high D, Trad alto A, Trad alto G, & back to the Trad alto A........it's my latest acquisition, & has a slightly muffled kind of sound, but I quite like it.

Edit: Maybe try taking off the fipple head of your high D & have a good look at it.

I've heard the Clarkes are easy blowers, but a little quiet, I don't have one, at least, not yet.

Well, Keith, I think I got it figgered out. I’m blowin’ too hard on the low octave and pushin’ some wind (and noise)into the second octave. Actually, the second octave works some better than the first,

Soooo, how hard do you blow on the low notes? I thought the guys on the CDs were blowin’ ta beat the band, but apparently they were amplified.

Let me know; I’m waiting with bated breath. (Ha!) ld:

Just blow easy on the low octave, & give it a sharper attack & a little bit more pressure for the second.

By God, I think I’ve got it! (My Fair Lady). Anyway, although I’ve tried it before without success, less air on the bottom octave and a bit more on the top is the ticket. Also I’ve gotta remember to lift the index finger on the middle D.

I played pretty well yesterday, and amazingly, I remembered many of the tunes I usta play! Thanks for the help. ld:

I'm glad you seem to have worked it out now, Dick - they may not be the best musical instrument, but I'm certainly having some fun with mine.

Croaky Keith said:

I'm glad you seem to have worked it out now, Dick - they may not be the best musical instrument, but I'm certainly having some fun with mine.

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Yeah, they are fun like harps. Now if I could only remember stuff. ld:

Remembering stuff isn't my forte either, I think I've just about remembered two tunes since I started, I have to use notation, or my shorthand version.

Good music today. Life is so much better when my music’s good. :cheers: ld:

I only had a very short session with my Tenor Guitar yesterday. I wasn’t feeling tip-top. But I think it’s good to take a day or two off once in awhile.

It seems to make me feel relaxed when I next have a regular session. I dunno. Whadayathink? ld: