Playing the whistle post surgery

[rge3]

I am new to Chiff and Fipple, though I knew it in its younger days, when Dale had first ascended the throne.

I had hand surgery last spring to repair arthritis damage to my left thumb, after 3 months of convalescence I was able to hold, and play, a whistle for the first time in years. It comes back quickly, but I did have a curve as I reaquainted myself with unused muscle memory.

I am anticipating surgery on right thumb in November. The cast leaves the fingers quite free, but immobilizes the thumb at a right angle. The recovery period should be the same. I currently play a d Kerry Optima, an aged Burke d Session, and I am beginning to play in a brand new Oz Cocobolo and would rather not lose the three to four months I will be without an opposable thumb on my lower hand (This will lump me with the great apes, who cannot play the whistle to annoy the public, and are, sadly reduced to throwing feces).

Does anyone have experience with some sort of rig which would allow for a one handed hold on the whistle, large or small?

Thanks

r

[ytliek]

Sorry to hear of your condition. I do not have any experience with such a condition, but, I have followed these forums for quite some time and similar situations have been mentioned. Some suggestions that may help include a neck strap, recorder strap, saxophone strap or some such strap. Read thru Feadoggie's response in this thread and look for MTGuru's solution with a paperclip.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=100154

https://www.google.com/search?q=recorde ... 27&bih=581

If budget is an issue try a long shoe lace. And be extra careful with that Oz whistle it is a beauty I'm sure, love cocobolo wood.

Where's Feadoggie when he's needed?

[rge3]

Thank you. I've had a few ideas of my own, but felt sure that someone else must have already invented this particular wheel.

The cocobolo is incredible, and, with just a few minutes for the first playing-in session, the whistle is incredible. As to taking care, I feel like I have a new baby in the house.

This is my second wooden whistle. The first was one an Indian friend picked up on a visit home to Madras. Very tough, still around 30 or more years later with no special care, but it plays in its own peculiar key.

[brewerpaul]

We're not supposed to give medical advice here, but I don't think the moderators would take issue with my recommendation to talk to your surgeon first. Even though that thumb is immobilized in a splint or cast, trying to hold and play a whistle might trigger involuntary contractions of the muscles normally used for that purpose. Ask first. Moderators, delete this paragraph if you think it's an issue....

As long as your surgeon is OK with you playing a whistle post op, you might consider McGuyvering a chunk of some soft material like styrofoam to take up the space between the whistle and the part of your cast that's immobilizing the thumb. The whistle could rest on that and support it for the notes that take all of the left hand fingers off the whistle. Another option might be using a rubber band to hold the whistle in place on your left thumb. With luck you might be able to place it such that it doesn't interfere with the finger holes. You might want to do either of these with a cheapie whistle rather than a good wooden whistle in case you drop it.

[jadphoto]

Beginning Highland pipers use a practice chanter, and usually rest the bell end on a table. Perhaps you could fabricate a temporary extension for the whistle so a table or some such could support the lower end.

I second the idea of conferring with your surgeon before you do anything however.

Good luck with it all...

JD

[rge3]

Based on the first surgery, they encourage wiggling the fingers, but no load bearing to speak of. The hand itself does a pretty good job of leetting. you know what you can and can't do. I will check it out when i set the surgery up with the doc.

[brewerpaul]

Resting the bell end of any instrument that puts the other end into your mouth makes me nervous. One wrong move and you could lose a tooth.

[rge3]

Thanks for the warning. I was unsure when I read that too. But I live alone and am thinking of a minimal level of practice at home, just to keep my hand(s) in.

Placing the bell of the Kerry Optima on my knee seems to work without doing great violence to posture, and, in the unlikely event of a bump, the bell would just slide off. None of that sort of propping will work for a high d.

Thanks to all for your the use of your imaginations.

r

[jadphoto]

Attend any pipe band's chanter practice, usually held before the piping/marching practice, and you'll see lots of chanters propped up on tables. And those people will probably be drinking beer besides. It's a wonder any of them have any teeth at all...

Actually, after 50+ years of piping I'm only missing one tooth, and that one was due to an olive pit. Guess I'll have to give up martinis.

Seriously, best of luck with the surgery and hope the recovery is very short indeed.

JD

[ickabod]

Does anyone have experience with some sort of rig which would allow for a one handed hold on the whistle, large or small?

Thanks

r

The only thing I've heard of remotely similar to what you looking for is a Harmonica Holder. I'm sure you've seen folk musicians use these holders to play the guitar and harmonica at the same time. I imagine with a little ingenuity one of those (or something similar) could fashioned or adapted to your needs.

https://www.amazon.com/HOHNER-HH01-Hohn ... ica+holder

[jadphoto]

Another suggestion...

A recorder or sax neck strap, just put the hook in the bell. The come in several different lengths depending on the instrument so you might need to do some shopping around. It'll probably need to be shortened and I'm guessing it'll affect the tone/pitch a bit, but for keeping the fingers loose might be just the thing.

JD

[Nanohedron]

A recorder or sax neck strap, just put the hook in the bell.

Sticking things in the bell will flatten that note. I've done it with whistles that had sharp bell notes.

The practice is well-known to uilleann pipers who call the inserted objects "rushes". The degree of flatness and what gets flattened will depend on the overall configuration of the rush. Tonal quality and note volume may be affected too, depending.

[jadphoto]

A recorder or sax neck strap, just put the hook in the bell.

Sticking things in the bell will flatten that note. I've done it with whistles that had sharp bell notes.

The practice is well-known to uilleann pipers who call the inserted objects "rushes". The degree of flatness and what gets flattened will depend on the overall configuration of the rush. Tonal quality and note volume may be affected too, depending.

As I believe I pointed out. He's not going to be playing at sessions, just keeping his fingers limber while recuperating. It could work quite nicely for that.

But the hook on most neck straps is not that large. He could even use a paper clip and some string.

JD

[brewerpaul]

Another offbeat idea is to play a D whistle with one hand, like a tabor pipe. Cover the top three holes with tape (NOT on a wooden whistle!).
Put the first three fingers of your left hand on the bottom three holes. Ignore the low octave, and overblow, removing one finger at a time to play D,E,F#G in the second register. Put your fingers back down and overblow even more. Remove fingers as above and play A,B,C#D. It ain't pretty but you can play one octave tunes with only one hand.

[rge3]

Thanks to all of you, you have certainly helped my planning on this.

I've done some experimentation and the key difficulty is support from under the lower half of the whistle. Getting a good seal on any of the holes depends on thumb support. My own current thinking revovles finding a way to support the whistle from below, a "sled" made of wood or pvc that would either be attached to a support which would either be strapped around the cast, or extended down to a pad on the chest.

It may seem like a lot of trouble to go to, but over the last decade arthritis had robbed me of the whistle, the fiddle and even writing. The miracle of the repairs done on my left thumb last Spring is that I've got two out of three back (the fiddle will take a bit more recovery time). I've taken the opportunity to return to basics, unlearning bad habits, and I want to lose as little time as possible as I move forward.