In my mind any player of wind instruments plays by ear and uses ear/had/breath coordination vs as an ongoing process that comstantly corrects and adjusts what is going on.


Anyhow, earlier in this thread I said:



In the light of several comments complaining about the sharp C I felt I had to test my notion that the Sindt doesn't present me with a problem in that regard. Playing into a tuner I got a result similar to other whistles I play a Cnat around 25 cents flat of equal temperament, pretty much spot on a C in just intonation that I would also use on the pipes.

I make no conscious effort to achieve this, as far as I am aware.

Make of that what you will.

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My brain hurts

An interesting observation. I've commented in the past (as have others, it's not an original thought) that through listening and practice you should develop your relative pitch, but not to overthink it. Intonation becomes an unconscious process through practice.

Personally, as a child I don't think I was aware a cross-fingered C even existed. I just half-holed, and mostly still do. It was only pointed out to me that some people thought what I was doing was odd when I played with another tin whistle player on a recording and she wondered how I was sometimes sliding into or out of a C natural (it was the English tune "Ladies Pleasure").

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Andrew Wigglesworth
http://www.greenmanrising.co.uk

Do people shade the top hole? I realised some time ago that on flute I was often holding the pitch of the C natural down by not raising my top finger as much. Haven't played much whistle recently but I just tried a few tunes where I knew I did it and I'm sure I would do the same without thinking. The C natural pitch issue just goes away - apart from the hard part of getting the aesthetics right.

I think that is pretty much what it is. I remember posting here at some point during the first year with the sindt I was put off a little bit by its equal tempred scale. Some time later I found I had settled into the wistle and had softened some of the notes (notably F and B).

I remember one of the old fiddlers aropund here who maintained all the music and all the tunes were already held within the fiddle, it was your job to 'bring them out'.




Yes, I know I use a fair amount of shading ion several holes to control tone and intonation. I do it extensively on the pipes but have brought it over to the whistle. It has become second nature.

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My brain hurts

That fiddler quote must have been inspired by Michaelangelo:
The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.

And perhaps Michelangelo’s quote was inspired by a similar thought he’d read or heard from a musician.

who knows...