I was at work the other day and passed a colleague in the corridor who was whistling a tune to herself. It struck me as odd because most of the female ceolteori that I know tend to hum their tunes and blokes like to whistle as they saunter along the annals of power. Is this something that I need to hang up on the washing line or am I being an...
Tunes just usually be going round in my head. I do whistle sometimes, quietly in a breathy sort of way to myself, like the equivalent of whispering, if I'm learning a tune and trying to sort out some little phrase. Sad, isn't it?
The tunes going round in the head bit fascinates me though. I've wondered if this perpetual invasion by tunes is some kind of benign form of a schizophrenia type symptom. Or rather, scz is when that normal process goes wrong. Because the equivalent symptom in scz is hearing malign voices in the third person talking about the patient, I believe, something like "look at that w@nker crossing the road, isn't he such a tosser..." and so on, apparently without let up.
Just a thought.
I lilt, I hum, I whistle breathily, I clatter my teeth together, I rub my teeth together, I tap my foot, I tap out rhythms to tunes in my head (if I played the bodhran I'd be brilliant...), I play air fiddle (admittedly and thankfully, in public, in a very inhibited way), and air flute. All the time for as long as I can remember. There's always a tune of some sort in my head, but not always one I want to be there (eg the theme tune to 'Balamory') and I always seem to need to respond to it with some physical expression. I know it's obsessive but it's a happy obsession, and if it is a benign form of schizophrenia it seems harmless enough and I would miss it terribly if it ever went.
colleague: JK will you stop it please.
JK: what?
Colleague: that infernal constant whistling.
JK: whistling?
Colleague: you were whistling, again.
JK: eh?
colleague: doesn't even know you're doing it do you?
JK: whistling? whistling?
colleague: if it's not whistling it's humming and singing. Don't know you're doing it.
JK: silence (embarrased)
Actually they were very nice about it, not insulting at all. They are just treating me as someone who isn't going to get better!
....good question JK. Leads me to thinking, there's probably many many "non-playing" musicians out there. Imelda Roland composer of eponymous reel , didn't play anything but got her brother Raymond to play it for her.
Just a thought pt. II
When you realise that other people are listening/having to put with you diddling, singing, whatever do you come over all embarrassed? or do you sing out?
and to respond to the original post...
The only other person, where I work, to make a musical noise of any sort is a Consultant Radioligist (almost retired) who can lilt out the various parts for a quartet or the melody for an operatic aria. However, he, being of the male persuasion, eschews whistling as a 'Barbaric Practice' and you can hear the capitals when he says it!
Sadly there seems to be a reliance on radio or pre-recorded music for ambience; I can't think of anybody else who does the whistling or singing male or female.
When I worked on building sites many of the lads would sing out quite merrily and uninhibited. Undoubtedly the best singers were Irish fellas, who would boldly and sweetly sing out Irish songs, Rose of Tralee, Fields of Athenry and the like. Not all of them, of course, but enough to make a noticeable presence. Those songs would not exactly be my first choice but it would lighten the otherwise heavy, testosterone and sweat-filled industrial murky atmosphere somewhat.
The Scottish chippies went in for Hank Williams, Matt Munroe and country & western songs, while the older generation of Cockneys tended to do stuff like "Strangers in the Night".
In my younger days most tradesmen whistled while they worked. I remember standing near a guy painting the front of a shop just to listen to him whistle. 'Drago's Serenade' was one of his favourites and boy couldn't he whistle it. Playing the box in a pub at the Fleadh in Listowel, a guy asked me to play some tunes so that he could whistle along. He whistled the reels and jigs note for note and in the key I played them in. Best whistler I heard in a long time.
Believe it or not Danny, when working offshore where the roughnecks would be working hard around the rotary table, noise, weather, danger, heavy lifting, speed and co-ordination all required, yet we would occasionally break into Four Tops and Temptations song and dance routines.
That was a great crew for the crack.
We had a derrickman from Kerry whose rendition of "Peggy Gordon" could reduce a pub to silence (for good reasons)
I remember one afternoon session just after coming ashore, in The Spider's Web near Aberdeen heliport where most of the crew were singing or playing an instrument.
The bar manager said "D'yiz all work the gither offshore or something?"
"Aye"
Gives a quizzical look - "and di yiz ever dee ony work oot there?"
Isn'tt the word for extemporized whistling or humming : "SPYOONING" or "Spewning". (That's how one says it, I 'm not sure of the proper spelling!)
It's also those people who nrevously sing "blinky bingo bongo diddley thrip blinky blonky" to themselves or "Bmmm-chack-ch-boom-boom-chack-zhzzzzzzzzz-zhmmm-chack-chack-wah" as their vocal interpretation of rock music.
I do neither. But I listen to tunes on my iPod at work, sometimes at a fairly high volume. Mostly it's solo fiddle recordings.
One day my co-workers started complaining about this noise they kept hearing. They said things like "What's that damn beeping noise? Is that your cell phone? Are the UPSs going off?"
Turns out it was my iPod...they couldn't hear the tunes but every time the fiddle went up to the E string, from the outside it sounded like a serious of rapid beeps.
Of course, I still listen to tunes at work, and as loud as ever. My co-workers make far more annoying noises than I do, so I think it's fair.
I seem to have lucked out at my job; I work in the little back office of a lovely used bookstore, wherein I play whatever music I want on the computer whilst I slave away. No whistling or humming needed!
Do you hum or do you whistle
Do you hum or do you whistle
I was at work the other day and passed a colleague in the corridor who was whistling a tune to herself. It struck me as odd because most of the female ceolteori that I know tend to hum their tunes and blokes like to whistle as they saunter along the annals of power. Is this something that I need to hang up on the washing line or am I being an...
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
dude...
you obviously missed this thread:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/17552
imho neither go over well in the workplace
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by airport
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
Man, no humming *or* whistling for me... It's always lilting...
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Reverend
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
that was quick
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I chatter my teeth from side to side.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I do what nicholas does
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by camwebby
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I do both - I like to connect with the inner woman and identify with the outer man - is that PC enough?
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by the wounded hussar
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
Tunes just usually be going round in my head. I do whistle sometimes, quietly in a breathy sort of way to myself, like the equivalent of whispering, if I'm learning a tune and trying to sort out some little phrase. Sad, isn't it?
The tunes going round in the head bit fascinates me though. I've wondered if this perpetual invasion by tunes is some kind of benign form of a schizophrenia type symptom. Or rather, scz is when that normal process goes wrong. Because the equivalent symptom in scz is hearing malign voices in the third person talking about the patient, I believe, something like "look at that w@nker crossing the road, isn't he such a tosser..." and so on, apparently without let up.
Just a thought.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I lilt, I hum, I whistle breathily, I clatter my teeth together, I rub my teeth together, I tap my foot, I tap out rhythms to tunes in my head (if I played the bodhran I'd be brilliant...), I play air fiddle (admittedly and thankfully, in public, in a very inhibited way), and air flute. All the time for as long as I can remember. There's always a tune of some sort in my head, but not always one I want to be there (eg the theme tune to 'Balamory') and I always seem to need to respond to it with some physical expression. I know it's obsessive but it's a happy obsession, and if it is a benign form of schizophrenia it seems harmless enough and I would miss it terribly if it ever went.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by west-coaster
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I am female, by the way, if that signifies anything in relation to this discussion.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by west-coaster
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
At work the other day...
colleague: JK will you stop it please.
JK: what?
Colleague: that infernal constant whistling.
JK: whistling?
Colleague: you were whistling, again.
JK: eh?
colleague: doesn't even know you're doing it do you?
JK: whistling? whistling?
colleague: if it's not whistling it's humming and singing. Don't know you're doing it.
JK: silence (embarrased)
Actually they were very nice about it, not insulting at all. They are just treating me as someone who isn't going to get better!
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by john knoss
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
Just a thought,
becuase you play traditional music/sing whatever, does the attitude or behaviour of colleagues differ from that of a non-musician?
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by john knoss
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
....good question JK. Leads me to thinking, there's probably many many "non-playing" musicians out there. Imelda Roland composer of eponymous reel , didn't play anything but got her brother Raymond to play it for her.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
Wow, wouldn't it be sad not to have a tune always playing in your head? I feel so badly for those poor people.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
Just a thought pt. II
When you realise that other people are listening/having to put with you diddling, singing, whatever do you come over all embarrassed? or do you sing out?
I say, GO FOR IT!
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by john knoss
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I'm with REVEREND.
And if people give me funny looks I just sing louder.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by mehitabel23
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
and to respond to the original post...
The only other person, where I work, to make a musical noise of any sort is a Consultant Radioligist (almost retired) who can lilt out the various parts for a quartet or the melody for an operatic aria. However, he, being of the male persuasion, eschews whistling as a 'Barbaric Practice' and you can hear the capitals when he says it!
Sadly there seems to be a reliance on radio or pre-recorded music for ambience; I can't think of anybody else who does the whistling or singing male or female.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by john knoss
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
When I worked on building sites many of the lads would sing out quite merrily and uninhibited. Undoubtedly the best singers were Irish fellas, who would boldly and sweetly sing out Irish songs, Rose of Tralee, Fields of Athenry and the like. Not all of them, of course, but enough to make a noticeable presence. Those songs would not exactly be my first choice but it would lighten the otherwise heavy, testosterone and sweat-filled industrial murky atmosphere somewhat.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
The Scottish chippies went in for Hank Williams, Matt Munroe and country & western songs, while the older generation of Cockneys tended to do stuff like "Strangers in the Night".
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
In my younger days most tradesmen whistled while they worked. I remember standing near a guy painting the front of a shop just to listen to him whistle. 'Drago's Serenade' was one of his favourites and boy couldn't he whistle it. Playing the box in a pub at the Fleadh in Listowel, a guy asked me to play some tunes so that he could whistle along. He whistled the reels and jigs note for note and in the key I played them in. Best whistler I heard in a long time.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Free Reed
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
Believe it or not Danny, when working offshore where the roughnecks would be working hard around the rotary table, noise, weather, danger, heavy lifting, speed and co-ordination all required, yet we would occasionally break into Four Tops and Temptations song and dance routines.
That was a great crew for the crack.
We had a derrickman from Kerry whose rendition of "Peggy Gordon" could reduce a pub to silence (for good reasons)
I remember one afternoon session just after coming ashore, in The Spider's Web near Aberdeen heliport where most of the crew were singing or playing an instrument.
The bar manager said "D'yiz all work the gither offshore or something?"
"Aye"
Gives a quizzical look - "and di yiz ever dee ony work oot there?"
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Bren
SPEWNING?
YHAALHOUSE SPEELLING CORECTOIN:
Matt Monro
Isn'tt the word for extemporized whistling or humming : "SPYOONING" or "Spewning". (That's how one says it, I 'm not sure of the proper spelling!)
It's also those people who nrevously sing "blinky bingo bongo diddley thrip blinky blonky" to themselves or "Bmmm-chack-ch-boom-boom-chack-zhzzzzzzzzz-zhmmm-chack-chack-wah" as their vocal interpretation of rock music.
Bon chance...
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by yhaalhouse
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
erm, right, yah louse, missed our dose of clozapine again have we?
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I do neither. But I listen to tunes on my iPod at work, sometimes at a fairly high volume. Mostly it's solo fiddle recordings.
One day my co-workers started complaining about this noise they kept hearing. They said things like "What's that damn beeping noise? Is that your cell phone? Are the UPSs going off?"
Turns out it was my iPod...they couldn't hear the tunes but every time the fiddle went up to the E string, from the outside it sounded like a serious of rapid beeps.
Of course, I still listen to tunes at work, and as loud as ever. My co-workers make far more annoying noises than I do, so I think it's fair.
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Marklar
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I seem to have lucked out at my job; I work in the little back office of a lovely used bookstore, wherein I play whatever music I want on the computer whilst I slave away. No whistling or humming needed!
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Glass of Beer
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
urg, "series" not "serious." Strange typo.
Hey Jeremy, any hope for an edit function sometime in the future?
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by Marklar
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
It must be time for newbies to consider this subject. Let's hear your views. Go on, spit it all out!
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/9463/comments#comment200785
# Posted on April 26th 2008 by oldstrings
Re: Do you hum or do you whistle
I just make noises. With whistling, humming, singing, teeth, or spit, I make a tune. : D
# Posted on April 27th 2008 by Chloë