How do I not get this weird sound + other q

[Narzog]

Hey guys. I've been noticing this weird sound I get when I cover a notice able amount of holes (so example, all open to all or mostly all closed overblown). I tried to record it. Its really hard to hear so you need to listen closely if you don't already know what I'm talking about. Its this slight weird bassy sound. You can also get it by covering all but either the second or 3rd hole and then covering it to make all covered, especially if u slap ur finger down. And sometimes I can get it to not do it but I'm not 100% how. If I gently and slowly put all my fingers down it wont but when I'm trying to play fast I slap them down hard and it always does it and it sounds bad.
I intentionally did it as loudly as possible and practically touched the whistle to my mic to record the specific sound lol.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mEDNlu ... sp=sharing

Also bonus question while I haev a thread. How come this guy (and I've seen it before, this is jsut an example), covers the last hole when he has open ones before it.
Link is timestamped to an example section
https://youtu.be/wL88r7nw8hM?t=432

Thanks guys. I'm trying to figure out some of my errors and notice propper playing techniques when I can haha.

[Mr.Gumby]

How come this guy (and I've seen it before, this is jsut an example), covers the last hole when he has open ones before it.

Because he doesn't lift the finger?

Seriously though, he keeps the bottom finger down to support the whistle. Fingering charts aren't set in stone you know, your ear is your guide. It is pretty common to use 'lazy fingering', only lifting the fingers necessary to play a note or just to leave fingers down to retain a better grip on the whistle. And there's a few things that affect the tone and tuning of certain notes, leaving fingers down, forked fingerings and shading of holes, that are useful.

[pancelticpiper]

How come this guy (and I've seen it before, this is jsut an example), covers the last hole when he has open ones before it.

I see, you mean how he's keeping his lower-hand ring finger down on Hole 6 when playing upper-hand notes?

I do that, many whistle players do that. It's called an "anchor finger".

With the mouthpiece to the left and the open bottom of the metal tube to the right, here's an example of fingering up the scale using the lower-hand ring finger as the anchor finger:

xxx xxx D
xxx xxo E
xxx xoo F#
xxx oox G
xxo oox A
xoo oox B
oxx oox c
ooo oox c#
oxx xxx d

It's not a fixed thing, but a general habit I and many whistle players do. It depends on what notes precede and follow, so often I'll be playing G fully open, it just depends on the surrounding notes.

Many other players never use that lower ring finger anchor, instead they use the lower-hand little finger as their anchor. That has the advantage of not being on a hole.

There are players who keep that little finger down for every note, fulltime. A fingering chart for that would be

xxx xxx|x D
xxx xxo|x E
xxx xoo|x F#
xxx ooo|x G
xxo ooo|x A
xoo ooo|x B
oxx ooo|x c
ooo ooo|x c#
oxx xxx|x d

I do use that lower-hand little finger anchor quite a bit on Low Whistles, though I leave it off for the lowest few notes, like this:

xxx xxx|o D
xxx xxo|o E
xxx xoo|o F#
xxx ooo|x G
xxo ooo|x A
xoo ooo|x B
oxx ooo|x c
ooo ooo|x c#
oxx xxx|o d

though it's not a rigid system but rather tendencies based on the situation.

[Narzog]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll try it out and see how it feels. Which will prob be awkward at first haha.

[Peter Duggan]

Hey guys. I've been noticing this weird sound I get when I cover a notice able amount of holes (so example, all open to all or mostly all closed overblown). I tried to record it. Its really hard to hear so you need to listen closely if you don't already know what I'm talking about. Its this slight weird bassy sound. You can also get it by covering all but either the second or 3rd hole and then covering it to make all covered, especially if u slap ur finger down. And sometimes I can get it to not do it but I'm not 100% how. If I gently and slowly put all my fingers down it wont but when I'm trying to play fast I slap them down hard and it always does it and it sounds bad.
I intentionally did it as loudly as possible and practically touched the whistle to my mic to record the specific sound lol.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mEDNlu ... sp=sharing

This is a C whistle, right?

Your 'slight weird bassy sound' is exactly that: a hint of the lower octave (in this case the bell note, which suggests that you're going from all open to all closed and not quite synchronising the finger and pressure changes). If you're getting similar effects going to OXXXXX, it's still likely to be a synchronisation problem; see also the parallel discussion on crossing noises.

[Narzog]

This is a C whistle, right?

Your 'slight weird bassy sound' is exactly that: a hint of the lower octave (in this case the bell note, which suggests that you're going from all open to all closed and not quite synchronising the finger and pressure changes). If you're getting similar effects going to OXXXXX, it's still likely to be a synchronisation problem; see also the parallel discussion on crossing noises.

Ya its a C whistle. I read that post, had some good info in it. With some experimentation this is definitely my problem.

Whats some weird whistle science, is that it doesnt seem to matter what order they are put down in, as long as its not all at the same time. You would think that if you put your fingers down first on the holes farthest away from the mouth piece and then connected them with the final hole in between it wouldnt do the weird bass jump because you never played an accidental lower note. But it still does. When accidentally covering a few holes on my way to covering them all playing a lower note makes perfect sense, because I'm not blowing hard enough to do that note second octave (going from like xooooo first octave to xxxxxx second, im not blowing hard enough to do higher ones second octave). But its super strange that it does it even if you do it backwards.

But now at least I know what to work on, so thanks.

[Peter Duggan]

You would think that if you put your fingers down first on the holes farthest away from the mouth piece and then connected them with the final hole in between it wouldnt do the weird bass jump because you never played an accidental lower note. But it still does.

It will. Try adding fingers from the bottom up and blowing gently and you'll see. It won't be the bell note*, but the pitch will drop slightly as you add the lower-hand fingers, more noticeably with OOXXXX, and significantly with OXXXXX if you're still blowing gently enough. It's also obvious from your recording that you're moving your fingers before you increase your breath pressure for the higher octave, which seems to tally with your statement that it's more common when you 'slap them down hard'.

*Of course, if you're starting from XOOOOO, XXOOOO etc. and working backwards, 'connecting them with the final hole in between' will produce the bell note if the pressure's insufficient to overblow the resulting XXXXXX. But playing the second-octave (fingered) D OXXXXX should help here.

[Narzog]

It's also obvious from your recording that you're moving your fingers before you increase your breath pressure for the higher octave, which seems to tally with your statement that it's more common when you 'slap them down hard'.

*Of course, if you're starting from XOOOOO, XXOOOO etc. and working backwards, 'connecting them with the final hole in between' will produce the bell note if the pressure's insufficient to overblow the resulting XXXXXX. But playing the second-octave (fingered) D OXXXXX should help here.

I didnt even think about if my breath timing was off, I'll pay extra attention to that. I think normally at least I overblow at the same time that I change note but I also thought my finger timign was good and its not so it wouldnt surprise me haha.

I noticed I can partially solve this problem with the oxxxxx fingering but then its harder to do cuts so it depends on the song. And things like xxxxxo, xxxxoo, etc I just need to get good I guess haha. Cuz I do the bell note more than I dont when I play those fast. Some songs I have it worse than others. I've been learning to play Isara and that ones really bad, I do it like every note that its possible to do it on lol. Which is a lot of the notes lol.