Forum Activity for @strumelia

People still do this dance today, so cool:  

Here is a little French tune I practice with, called Branle de L'ours (Dance of the Bears).  

 I've been now playing pennywhistle for about a month... still a rank beginner with almost no 'technique' as yet, but it's waaay fun.   I have compiled a bunch of simple very old tunes to practice with.  I'm typically practicing about 30 to 40 minutes per day...that's kind of a lot for me actually.  

 Alan Ginsberg...good times... lol   

From a 1984 edition of the "CoEvolution" magazine published by the Whole Earth Catalog...an ad for Dulcimer Players News.  We just happened upon it in some of my husband's old Whole Earth items he had stashed away, i thought I'd share it:

Just a little update on my penny whistle adventure, which I started about a month ago now.

I've been progressing pretty well lately, and am actually enjoying it more and more.    I can't wait to steal some time to practice every day, and I have a few favorite simple tunes under my belt now- though I can rarely play any tune without a note mistake or two still.  Will try to make a little 'practice time' video and post it here soon.

Finding I like both the polymer whistles and the brass whistles- they have two different sounds and both are real nice.  In general, the polymer plastic ones sound more warm and breath-y a bit like a recorder (great for haunting or ethereal melodies, or for playing while alone), while the brass ones sound more clear and sweet- more useful for playing with other instruments and fiddles for sure.  

Additionally, the lower/larger the whistle, the more mellow and breathy it sounds no matter what it's made from.  I think the lowest/largest whistle is usually a low C, which is an octave plus one note below the standard high D whistle.  I don't see many whistles higher then high E - a note above the standard D whistle.  I do have a high E whistle (rather than Eflat) because it will enable me to play in A ionian on it easily. The lowest whistle I now have is a low G.  Lower than that and the finger stretches get quite difficult, even if using the "piper's grip" as they refer to it.

I can really envision playing the whistle as one of my standard go-to instruments, for several reasons:

1) It seems it's quite do-able for me to play and I'm progressing fairly quickly (when you're over 60 this is a big thing, lol)

2) Is not a huge investment, money wise  -Yay for that!

3) Like the Bones, whistles are easy to take along and carry, especially when having to haul around a large minstrel banjo.

4) The whistle is well adapted to play ALL the genres of music I happen to like playing: old-time/Appalachian music, traditional early/minstrel American, traditional European folk/dance tunes, and medieval/renaissance. This is a huge plus.

Terry, I like to think of you carrying a harmonica with you everywhere you go.  I know how you love to play music for people and spread the happiness music brings to us all.  

Jennifer- the colors you chose for that woven flute bag are just beautiful- and perfect now for the coming Autumn.  Did you make a drawstring closure? or so other closure system?

Agreed-  a very well deserved honor.  

.

Well pretty much the only time I actually hear current 'pop' music is when it's inflicted on me against my will-  while pumping gas, in an airport, waiting at the car dealership or doctor's office, in a restaurant.  So most of the time I don't have to hear any 'whoops'.  

This is so weird- YES I hear it everywhere now!  Should never have watched this video...now it'll bug me to no end...lol

http://qz.com/767812/millennial-whoop/

Fingerpick garters?....oh my, my laugh of the day!  

That's good advice from Ken.  I don't drink, so I just have to remind myself to not tense up.  Even after many years of playing on various instruments, I still catch myself tensing now and then in some area.  Being aware of it however really does help us to 'check in' on what we're doing regularly.  Like any bad habit, simply becoming more acutely aware of it is half the way towards correcting it.

I wrote about this and included some videos here on beginner strumming habits: tips, posture, shoulder pain, etc:

http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/01/video-tips-for-beginners-strumming.html

http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/01/video-tips-for-beginners-strumming_08.html

We also have a dedicated Group here on FOTMD where UK members can stay updated on local events and make new friend and local jamming connections! :   http://fotmd.com/john-henry/group/41/uk-and-european-mountain-dulcimers          

I use two different foot rhythm devices- both are 'low tech' though:

I made an ankle percussion strap that closes with Velcro. I sewed various rattling/jangling things on it.  When I tap my foot with my heel, it works well but obviously does not sound like a drum, more like rattles.  But when combined with the stomp of a hard heel on my shoe, it works nicely.  This doesn't work as well if you are a toe-tapper rather than a heel tapper.

Same thing with putting a tambourine under my foot-  I put the tambo on the floor with the skin side down.  Then I put my toe into it and that lets my heel rest on the rim edge that's nearest me.  I then tap my heel down on the tambo rim and that creates the rhythm.  There's a percussive quality if you use your heel assertively.

I actually first trim the string length so there's only about 2 inches of slack, then thread in the peg and wrap it around a couple times.  Then I lay the string in the nut slot and put my middle finger of my left hand on top of that slot to hold the string in place (a capo would work too, as Dusty said).  At this point there's still enough slack to hook the other end of the string on the tail end pin... and I use the thumb of my nut slot hand to pull up the slack as i start tightening so the string doesn't pop off the tail pin.  I then use my right hand to turn the peg a couple more times to tighten it up.  When it's snugging up enough I remove my left left hand from the nut area and make sure the string is in both nut and bridge slots as I finish tightening.  Sounds more complicated than it is- once you've done it a few times it's no big deal.

I once changed a whole banjo skin without taking the strings off the peghead end by using a capo to keep them in place on the neck while changing out the head skin.   lol...talk about wanting to save a couple bucks...

Ken makes a great point.  It's not desirable to go around the post or peg eight or ten times.  
I approach it a little differently than Ken, but we both get the same results.  I trim the string before I even put it on-  holding it over the instrument and trimming it to leave only about 2.5 inches for winding.  Typically this means I'm trimming off about 6" from the original string length.  The length from tailpiece to cut end will vary by an inch or two depending on which peg you are going to.
Once the string is on and tuned, I trim the little end at the peg to a short length and then I take a pocket-sized needle nose pliers and kink the cut end back on itself so it can't prick my fingers...or you can leave a half inch and with the pliers just tuck the cut end back into the hole out of the way.  I hate getting stabbed while restringing!  

Well I am of course a beginner to all this pipe/whistle stuff which makes it a challenge, but I found the metal pennywhistles to be very difficult for me to get clear notes on, and not so at all on my plastic tabor pipe, which has a nice clear warm tone.

So as an experiment I ordered two plastic/polymer Dixon penny whistles instead to try- in the keys of high D and low A. (there's a substantial size difference between the two keys).

They arrived today and I am finding them much easier to get good notes on than the metal PWs.  Not sure why but the plastic ones make clearer notes and warmer tones for me.  Perhaps when i get better I can make the metal ones sound better, who knows.

I was delighted to discover that all my diligent tabor pipe practice is helping me here-  the learning curve for these new pennywhistles is way less steep than when i first started tabor pipe.  I can already play some of my favorite simple tunes, with only a few mistakes here and there.... so fun!!

I'm not one for playing lots of Irish tunes, but I can play my favorite renaissance and medieval tunes on these, and also some early folk/country dances from various European countries.  I'm working on some simple French branles, also things like Nonesuch.

Thanks John, I will remove both videos as you suggested.  I agree with your conclusion.

Perhaps you can follow Salt Springs' link above and use the Reinhardt tune from 1754 for the hymn instead, and then repost a new video of it for everyone if possible.  :)

Here's a website by Bates' great grandaughter:

http://www.abbiebetinis.com/writings_burtcarols.html

You could ask her.  But I imagine the tune cannot be freely used by others for their own compositions.

Well, it's really cool (and challenging!) to practice on both tabor pipe and penny whistle, I gotta say.  

Though they have different fingering patterns to play the same tunes, there is a sort of common thread of logic between the two.  A recorder on the other would be completely different fingering learning curve.  But tabor pipe and PW do follow the same 'increment hole/pressure logic'.  That's is a very inadequate way to try and describe it, sorry.

But what it comes down to is that I think this is do-able.  When I can play a real simple tune on the tabor pipe, I can 'sort of' stumble through it on the pennywhistle, which has more holes available before blowing up into a higher register.  Very fun to compare the two.  I have the plastic G tabor pipe and the metal G pw (both 17" long), and a metal C pw.

I'm finding it easier to get clearer tones on the plastic tabor pipe, but not really sure why yet.  Less holes to worry about leaking air from maybe? 

It's a bear to wrestle through all this and sooo many wrong and squeaky notes.  But I really look forward to my practice sessions and that's the true test- am I having fun? ... yes!

Sheryl... you seem to know me too well.  heheh

hmmm

Here are a few instruments I will probably never ever play:

piano or organ

Highland bagpipes

hammered dulcimer

autoharp

standup bass

guitar

trumpet

marimba

Jim, that's so clever to 'trick' the kids into helping work the limberjack.      

You need a one-handed concertina & tabor.

Fun to see a little mini flurry of posts here       Terry , the vision of you marching around your house with pipe and tabor while your wife perhaps takes cover someplace gives me a good chuckle.      I try to take full advantage when Brian goes out to mow the grass or on an errand... I rush to do a practice session as soon as he's out the door!   lolol   The notes of these pipes and whistles are pretty good at traveling through walls and even floors.  The high notes are piercing indoors, and my neighbors are too close for me to practice in my yard.  At this point in my playing i wouldn't want to cause suffering for wild birds either.  Or I might attract the unwanted attention of chicken hawks.  ;)

Jim , I can't believe how you did that to make a penny whistle into a tabor pipe!  Very inventive!!

Did you calculate where to position the thumb hole?  Because the thumb hole placement is very specific to give certain notes, and your thumb hole looks to me to be much closer to the mouthpiece than my tabor pipe's thumb hole is located in relation to the two top holes.  But the proof of the pudding is- are you able to play tunes on it, like Mary had a little lamb etc?  Does it jump into the higher register where you need it to go to the next note?  I would 'think' that by design a PW would not be able to behave the same way as a tabor pipe, but if it works then I am amazed and very impressed!

I think you could easily use that frame drum as your tabor.  You could either drill a couple of holes in the rim and hang it over your arm (don't make the strap too long), or sit to play and hold it vertically on your lap using your arms and legs somehow.  I recommend a short drumstick with a padded tip, especially if practicing indoors.  If you want to beat the drum with your right hand, then you'll need to hold and play the pipe with your left hand.  While it might be good at some outdoor festival, I hate the sound of my snare while practicing alone indoors, so I beat on the other side of my two-sided tabor drum, and I tucked a little folded piece of chamois under the snare thread to keep it quiet.

I might be wrong, but I 'think' that on either a PW or tabor pipe, if you have a D pipe you can play in G, or D, or E minor.  I have a G tabor pipe only so far, and mostly I've been playing medieval and renaissance simple tunes in A minor.  But if I know the tune by ear, I can base it on the A minor key and work it out without having to find actual sheet music in the key my pipe is in.  Some accidentals (a sharp here and there in the minor key) I have found i can get by half covering a hole.  Using half holes gives you the ability to play in some other keys since you can then create sharps and flats as needed.  But this is mostly beyond my current level.  I do this stuff by hearing rather than by knowing music theory- I hear when I need a note to be a sharp in a certain part of a tune, and I experiment to see if I can make a sharped note with my fingering somehow. If there are several 'missing' notes I know I need to start the tune in a different key or home note (or else get a pipe in another key)...it feels kind of like the mountain dulcimer noter style playing that way!- find where the tune 'fits' on your fret board and start it there so you'll have the needed notes for that tune.   

One other thing I noticed-   I tend to practice for about 45 minutes or so.  When I practice every day I don't notice my progress as much.  When I skip a day or two once a week, when I pick up the pipe again I can actually see and feel the progress since the last session.  hmm...I like that!  lol

Terry, thanks!  As my fotmd "Tabor Pipe Buddy" I know you understand and know first hand about the wacky learning curve on this crazy instrument duo...    Your moral support and feedback have helped keep me moving forward on this pipe & tabor project.

My mother hen kicks in:  Terry please keep your practice sessions very short - like maybe just 10 minutes for any one practice- I don't want you to aggravate your hand pain!

I couldn't resist and I have a couple of penny whistles coming in a day or two now as well.  Guess I'm just nuts but oh well.   I have to wait a month anyway before that tabor pipe maker gets back from his trip and then he can make me my second tabor pipe- a wooden one this time in high D probably.  Meanwhile I can continue on my plastic G tabor pipe & drum, and see if I can figure out these penny whistles as well.  I think the wait will do me good actually- it'll test my commitment. 

fun fun fun.....     

Lots of great info coming up here- thanks everyone!

I did order a couple of pennywhistles, since I'm learning the tabor pipe which seems to have a somewhat similar setup (in some ways).  Maybe taking on more than I can manage, but at least I won't go broke doing it.     

Sandi, I'm sensing two different issues in your question:

1) the ability to memorize how to play the tune with your fingers, and/or to memorize the lyrics,
and
2) the ability to play the music with your fingers if it's dark and you cannot see the fretboard at all.

I find it impossible to play either dulcimer or banjo in the dark without being able to see my fretboard at all...even if I have the tune memorized.  I think if I were playing solely chords on a guitar it might be easier and more automatic, but when playing melody notes that go all over the place it's proven to be more than I can handle when playing in dark campsites.  Some folks say you can get good at it by practicing at home with a blindfold etc, but that's something I myself am not going to devote practice time to.   This said, you might find you have few problems with playing in the dark, so you might want to experiment a bit with it.

Thanks friends!  
The people on this site are so great in encouraging beginners!  

Friends, any discussion about buying/selling and prices etc should be done either via Private Notes or in the For Sale Forum.  To send private messages, you'll need to first 'follow' each other by clicking 'follow' on the other person's profile page.

Thanks!

Thanks Lexie!  I should have included the description I wrote for the video on Youtube, which has the info about the holes as well as other info:

This is a French 'branle'/dance tune composed by Thoinot Arbeau (real name Jehan Tabourot) in the late 1500s.  It's called Branle des Lavandieres, or Washerwoman's Branle. You can easily find sheet music for it online in various keys. Branles (braules, brawls) were simple folk dances each paired with their specific tune.  You can see youtube examples of dancers today who still enjoy them.  I'm finding traditional old branles to be particularly well suited to beginner tabor pipe, because they tend to have a limited range of notes and thus accessible for a beginner.  I also find them to be pretty tunes, from a period in musical history that I enjoy.

At this point I've been learning the pipe and tabor for only about six weeks, so lots of squeaks and notes out of tune- I have no 'technique' at all yet. It's quite a challenge, especially when paired with a drum- feels like a lot going on at the same time.  But I wanted to put up a beginner level example of where i am so far.  If I get better at it, it'll be fun to look back on this video. 

The pipe here is a 17" long Susato brand plastic low G tabor pipe- my first pipe.  Like pennywhistles, most tabor pipes are in higher keys and are shorter- the commonest being in high D, just as the most common tin/penny whistle is in high D.  The longer the pipe, the further apart the holes are, so it does get a bit harder to make the stretches if you have small hands.  There is what's called the 'piper's grip' for low pipes where you alter your hand position to make it easier.

The 'tabor' is a 9" sized two-sided tabor drum easily found online. It's made to be lightweight so as to hang on the arm.

Tabor pipes have only 3 holes- one is a bottom thumb hole, and two others on top.  Your ring and pinky fingers are then used simply to hold the bottom of the pipe so as not to drop it.  To rise to the next higher notes one after you run out of finger holes (which happens pretty quickly), one uses more air pressure to make the next higher jump for more notes.  

The reason for all this is to be able to play a pipe with only one hand, which allows you to also play a drum (a 'tabor') at the same time with your other hand. This pipe and tabor combo was very common in medieval/renaissance times.  After almost disappearing altogether, the pipe and tabor has been revived somewhat in modern times by English Morris dancers and musicians.

I suspect if you are familiar with playing the pennywhistle you can pick up the tabor pipe without too much trouble.  The tabor pipe being the first woodwind/flute/whistle/pipe instrument I've ever tried, I feel like a real beginner.   =8-*  But I'm definitely having fun!

Ok, so today I bowed under pressure and forced myself to record a simple tune I've been working on with my pipe & tabor.  I'm not posting it 'officially' or publicly...it makes me cringe...lol.  But it should show up here in this thread and be watchable when you click it.  If not, let me know.

Squeaks and painful intonation and all... here is Washerwoman's Branle, a dance tune from the 1500s:

John, do you mean in high D? (not low D)

John, can you outline the differences between Native American flutes and pennywhistles, assuming two that are in the same or similar key/size ?

Hellooooo.....  Anybody here still active and playing their pennywhistles?  

I suggest you have him just cut to the chase and build four of these 3-flute stands.  

Yeah I've been applying some of that there Coordinate Cream on my face every evening, but not sure if it's helping.

I think  blowing Aunt Rhodie on my thumb and patting my belly at the same time would be a piece of cake compared to this tabor pipe/drum stuff.  It's tough!       But I'm still making progress and practicing almost every day.  I never thought that in my 60s I could take up a woodwind instrument at ALL...so I'm pretty pleased that it seems like a do-able thing with enough work if I keep at it. The main thing is that i'm really enjoying the learning process, struggle and all.  

I have no idea why they say that recorders and penny whistles are easy instruments to learn.   Nuts , I say!

I have a friend who is a jeweler/metalsmith who is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism as well...he goes to their medieval events with the 14th century pendulum clocks he made completely by hand.  Very cool.

Very cool, Ken.  I love these old types of folk instruments.  Did you make these for yourself to play?

Is that fiddle-ish instrument intended to be played while fretting it with the fingers?  If so, how are you going to deal with the silk-wrapped string ends spilling over into the first and second fret range?  Or maybe you just didn't have long enough strings on hand for the moment and these are temporary strings?

I'm sad to hear that my pipe&tabor buddy Terry has been experiencing sever arthritis pain in his hands, and thus has to back off quite a bit.  Terry, you admit you were overdoing your practice sessions, so I hope things will improve if you cut back a great deal.  

I've had to skip my pipe/tabor practice on some days, depending on whether my schedule is real busy or not.  But I have to admit I really look forward to my more or less forty minute sessions now, because I'm slowly improving in playing the little simple folk tunes I've pulled together to practice on.  This weekend I dreaded picking it up because I had skipped 3 days in a row, but I was so delighted when I picked it up again to notice that I had slightly improved from my last time, rather than getting worse as I had feared.      Pretty soon I guess i'll make a little informal video demo with mistakes and all, and just post it here rather than publicly...no sense broadcasting my wrong notes to the whole world!  

I am thinking of getting a shorter/higher pipe soon, like Terry has.  My low G pipe is 17" long and thus the finger holes are pretty far apart and it's quite tricky to cover the holes cleanly while stretching my hand.

I'm really enjoying the learning process and struggle...the reward is great when hearing a passage come out prettily, and the drum is a perfect companion accompaniment when playing alone.  It's such a clever instrument pairing- the drum with the one-handed pipe!

Wow, no self control in this bunch!  

I still just have and play the two mountain dulcimers I bought like 19 and 17 years ago or so. 

I do have 9 banjos though.  Six of those are fretless. I occasionally buy or sell a banjo, but I've almost always floated somewhere in the 6-10 banjo range.  I do play them all and they serve a wide variety of different musical applications.