NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO look back at everything you've done since
starting to learn the whistle and assess how you're getting on and what areas need more practice. Use the previous lessons as a guide to make sure you're comfortable with all the techniques.
Practice Routines
WE'RE NOW AT THE STAGE where we've got a small repertoire of tunes,
but it's important to keep that repertoire "alive". If you stop playing tunes, they're more likely to be forgotten and drop away. This is why I recommend keeping lists of the tunes in your repertoire, and introducing an element of discipline into your practice routines.
My method is to have three lists, which are constantly changing. The first list is made up of your "A" tunes - that is, tunes that you would like to learn or have just started learning. Next list is your "B" tunes - tunes that you have started learning but need a bit of work before you can play them without problems. Your next list is your "C" tunes - tunes you can play well without too many mistakes.
OK. Say you've allocated a certain time for practice - say four
sessions a week. However long you've allocated, whether it's 10 minutes or 40; divide that time into four. Start with your basic scales, arpeggios, loosening-up exercises and so on. You could look through the exercises in the previous lessons.
Next, look at your "A" list and start on a tune - just the beginning - be gentle on yourself!
Next, look at the "B" list and start going over one or two of the tunes there. Finally, play tunes from your "A" list. Mark where you stop on the list, so that next session you can start where you left off.
As you practice the "B" list, there will be tunes which get promoted to the "C" list, and similarly "A" tunes will eventually become "B" tunes. This is how your repertoire will expand.
Johnny McIljohn
This is a great Irish reel composed by a man called Johnny McIljohn
about whom I know nothing, except that he wrote another tune called,
erm, Johnny McIljohn's No.2! Look out for the repetitions, for example the four notes in the second half of the first bar. These four notes are repeated twice again in the A part, and twice in the B part.
