And whistle goes on...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, readers! I realized today that for the past two years, I've honored this occasion with some enjoyable (well, for me anyway) jigs and reels on the tin whistle. Unfortunately, I've mostly stopped playing the tin whistle. The trouble began when my original teacher moved on from the Irish Arts Center, and I wasn't a fan of the new teacher. Even as I decided not to continue taking classes, I vowed to myself I would continue practicing. I even bought a 3-ring binder to organize all of my sheet music in. Fast forward a year (and a couple of months...) and the 3-ring binder with all my music crammed in it (not in the holes mind you, just stuck inside in no particular order) is under my bed gathering dust and cat hair. My tin whistle itself has somehow found its home at the bottom of my underwear drawer like some dirty secret I'm hiding from my non-existent maid.

Dinah was never displeased by my tin whistle drop-out status. 

Seeing as it is St. Patrick's Day though, and seeing as I have no other St. Patrick's Day related plans, I decided to dust off the ole binder and see if I couldn't still play a tune. Since the tin whistle is one of the easier instruments out there, it wasn't hard to get back up to speed...or maybe not up to speed, but at least a slow plod. I even decided to make a video this year, so as not to falter tradition. Unfortunately, the only song I could still remember (reading sheet music feels like a cheat somehow) is a simple polka "Maggie in the Woods." And I use "remember" pretty loosely.

Here's this year's video. You may note the pained expression on my face and think this is perhaps not a celebratory St. Patty's video at all, but trust that that is merely my frantically-trying-to-remember-the-next-note face, and not indicative of any repressed holiday hatred. Also, I did mess up a number of times, but I have a conference call in a bit, so I can't do a second take. Another reason to not do another take is that Dinah seems less than pleased that the tin whistle has found its resurgence.  All that naysaying aside, if you still want to check it out, feel
free! If anything I think it can serve as a cautionary tale: stay in (tin whistle) school, kids. You'll only embarrass yourself later.

As further St. Patrick's Day cheer and a precursor to Macaron Day later in the week (who could forget Macaron Day?), I might attempt to make some green macarons later in the day. Also because I made ice cream over the weekend and have a ton of egg whites to get rid of. If this does, in fact, happen, I'll make sure to post about it tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy your St. Patrick's Day plans, whatever they may be!