HELP ! Newbie Needs Guidance ! :)

[jiminos]

I think I'd just play a B whistle... Or maybe an F#...

Lot less work for my tired old brain

[Tunborough]

Color me intrigued.... It occurs to me that playing in C# Major (7 sharps) on a C whistle could be a pretty serious challenge...

A lot easier than playing in C# major on a D whistle! C# on a C whistle is like Eb on a D whistle... tricky (especially at speed), but not impossible. C# on a D whistle, however....

Easier (on a C whistle, here), if you think of it as Db major. That way, you don't have to get your head around E# as XXXOOO and B# as XXXXXX or OXXXXX.

[whistlecollector]

You can play in any key you want on any whistle.

Color me intrigued.... It occurs to me that playing in C# Major (7 sharps) on a C whistle could be a pretty serious challenge...

I think I need some popcorn while I contemplate this one...

Alright, I've got a tune.

I guess now I'll have a go at (pretending to) play it!

[yankees1]

With my limited experience with a tin whistle, my only complaint is how often I have to run a cleaning rod through it to eliminate moisture/saliva so it can be played ! I'm sure this varies with each individual however.

[fatmac]

There are 'wet' players, & there are 'dry' players - but it could just be that you are holding it & your head down low, or maybe not locating the fipple properly in your mouth - I'm sure you will adjust as you get more relaxed in your playing.

[yankees1]

The slide is for fine tuning. If you have a Iphone or android you can get an app for tuning. I use Cleartune. They used to sell a lot of stand alone tuners, but you don't see them around that much any more. If you don't have a phone you could pick one of those up. The Korg is pretty inexpensive I think. Play your a or g into the tuner and get it to register with the needle straight up and down. Then you are good to go. Some tuner apps have a series of red lines that turn green when you hit the note. Your whistle will go flatter when it is longer, and sharper when it is shortened. If you have perfect pitch you can just match yourself to an a or g played on another instrument. If you are playing completely alone it is not critical right away. But it is good to get an idea what the note actually is supposed to sound like. This will help you in the long run if your goal is to play with other people or recordings. As you progress you will learn that some notes go a bit sharp or flat when all the air pressure is consistent. Over time you will be able to make minute adjustments to your air flow to perfect these notes, but that doesn't need to be your focus yet.

As for squeaking, there are lots of reasons for this which will go away as you practice. Sometimes you might not be closing the note holes completely as you move from note to note. This will improve. You don't want to use your fingertips on the whistle holes, but rather the flat pad of your finger between the first knuckle and the tip. This gives you a larger surface and fewer leaks. Also remember you don't need to hold your whistle in a death grip. It will make practice easier if you start out with just enough of a grip not to drop your whistle into your lap. Spreading out the work of holding your whistle up to your mouth to all the fingers is a trick you will pick up gradually.

Sometimes a loud screech will be the result of pushing too much air through the mouthpiece too fast. You will get the a sense of the pressure you need to sound a note over time. Sometimes practicing sounding one note at a time will help with this.

You will be able to play all the tunes in key signatures that contain one or two sharps after you master the c natural pb+j illustrated. Eventually you will be able to add key signatures with an f natural and an a# aka Bb by half holing, but don't worry about that yet. Actually the only note that it is impossible to play on a d whistle is Eb I think, but most of us don't need to hit a G# very often.

Another thing you may find as a newbie is that your whistle clogs a bit more than it will when you are more experienced. It is not uncommon for a new player to be concentrating so hard on the music and the fingers and the instrument's details that they end up making more saliva than usual. A wet fipple might warble a bit before it clogs. With a killarney just swallow hard, cover the fipple hole with your finger and blow hard into the mouthpiece to clear a damp whistle. I've also seen people cover the mouthpiece and blow into the fipple hole to clear a clog.

Have fun! Slow and steady wins the race in the beginning.

Thank you as you make sense !

[whistlecollector]

You can play in any key you want on any whistle.

Color me intrigued.... It occurs to me that playing in C# Major (7 sharps) on a C whistle could be a pretty serious challenge...

I think I need some popcorn while I contemplate this one...

Okay, here's the tune:

The Puffing Devil

I am by admission no whistle player! I can get through most of it quite slowly. There is certainly a lot of fine digital dexterity that needs practice to make this work. I feel confident that sometime within the next thirty or forty years of constant practice I could probably play this at least quarter speed!

I also feel confident there whistlers here who could do this in the proper key on a D whistle (all fingers off = c#) without transposing it or rewriting it or using technology to mess with it.

[jiminos]

Interesting find. Still doesn't change what I said.

Anyway. Sounds like a fun tune. Have fun with it.

[Tunborough]

I also feel confident there whistlers here who could do this in the proper key on a D whistle (all fingers off = c#) without transposing it or rewriting it or using technology to mess with it.

I'm skeptical. Real nice tune, but it goes from C# (Db) up to F# (Gb) over an octave above. On a D whistle, it would range from the top of the first octave, through the second, to halfway up the third. Not many whistles will be well-behaved up there.

[jiminos]

Hmmm... Did the transpose today. Moved it to D. Up half a step. Lowest note is D. Highest is second octave B.... Unless I'm missing something.

After I finish the dots, I will convert it to abc and run it through my player. It'll be fun to see how close I can get on the first go through.

[Peter Duggan]

Hmmm... Did the transpose today. Moved it to D. Up half a step. Lowest note is D. Highest is second octave B.... Unless I'm missing something.

No low C# on a D whistle, therefore not really thought through even for its declared purpose 'for the brave & intrepid tin whistler!' Surely not intended to be folded or octave-transposed en bloc as Tunborough suggests, and not going to take idiomatic ornamentation in that key anyway...

[jiminos]

I apologize. I failed to be clear again.

As written, the tune at the link is in C# and cannot be played on a D whistle because of the low C#.

I don't own a C# whistle. I transposed it to D.

Was responding to the post that said the tune went halfway into third octave. Unless I've completely messed up, it appears to go no higher than B in second octave after transposing. Moving it up half a step brings the lowest note up to the bell note of a D whistle.

Whether or not I can play it is an entirely different story.

I didn't mean to be confused or confusing.

[jiminos]

Also did some looking around about the tune. It appears that the tune may have been written for a recorder, or at least the part shown was.

[Peter Duggan]

As written, the tune at the link is in C# and cannot be played on a D whistle because of the low C#.

Which is why Tunborough's assuming the octave transposition.

Also did some looking around about the tune. It appears that the tune may have been written for a recorder, or at least the part shown was.

Since the description says 'for the brave & intrepid tin whistler!', I'd guess that MuseScore simply didn't have an automatic option for tin whistle.

[whistlecollector]

Hmmm... Did the transpose today. Moved it to D. Up half a step. Lowest note is D. Highest is second octave B.... Unless I'm missing something.

No low C# on a D whistle, therefore not really thought through even for its declared purpose 'for the brave & intrepid tin whistler!' Surely not intended to be folded or octave-transposed en bloc as Tunborough suggests, and not going to take idiomatic ornamentation in that key anyway...

Well, low C# can be obtained by half holing the seventh finger hole. I.e., the end of the whistle. I'm using a Sindt in D. Trivially easy. Harder on a Shaw, that probably because the end of the whistle is so tiny to begin with.

I'd argue, also, that the tune was thought through in that respect. The point being to play in the key of C# rather than transpose into D. One supposes it could have just as easily been written in D which would in fact defeat the purpose of the exercise as I see it. The low C# rings nicely, too.

Hmmm... Did the transpose today. Moved it to D. Up half a step. Lowest note is D. Highest is second octave B.... Unless I'm missing something.

After I finish the dots, I will convert it to abc and run it through my player. It'll be fun to see how close I can get on the first go through.

Let us know how it goes!

Also, do try it in C#. I'd really be interested to learn how whistlers better than myself fare with it.