Jake and Carolyn

I do not really know when I started to like the whistle.  It was probably when we were living with Carolyn’s cousin Amy.  They had an Irish Tin Whistle that I picked up and started messing around on.  I thought it was a lot of fun and Carolyn can put up with my practicing okay so I figured it was a good small instrument to learn that could do solo pieces (The trombone is only fun, not practical).  Oh right, I just remember the real reason I want to learn to play.  I want to learn to play because there was this episode of Star Trek the Next Generation where Captain Picard has one of his many run-ins with Q and he is given a different life where he gets married and has a child, well this other life of his plays a cute little whistle.  I have never actually seen that episode, but the whistle pops up in various other episodes.

So I lerned to keep an even-ish tone and how to get the higher octave on that Irish whistle and I learned the scale.  I did some fingering exercises and what not, but we moved away and I was obliged to leave the whistle behind.

I missed just having the whistle in my mouth so I looked at some ways to make my own since I did not really want to go buy a cheap one for $7.  I bought a 10 ft length of PVC pipe and have made a few whistles and a flute.  They are mediocre at best which is a shame because I still want to play.  I found a place online and purchased a native american flute.  It is very nice and sounds beautiful.  I wish there was music for it though.  I don’t know what to play because most of the time people just make stuff up.  I will keep practicing for a while, but I will probably also invest in another whistle soon.