Chiff and Fipple Forums

Thanks everyone! It's nice. to know I'm not the only one who's faced this situation!

I have a favorite old Oak whose under-beak cavity I long, long ago filled in with poster putty. That was so very long ago that that putty has deteriorated and now emits an unpleasant rotting rubber odor. Plus I've developed a mild latex allergy, so I should probably get that stuff out of all my old ...

Thanks, everyone. I found an ABC transcription of Concerning Hobbits that MTGuru did a while back, and I've ordered the flute play-along book, since that seems like fun. I decided I'm allowed to splurge on sheet music this week, since I'm waiting on a biopsy on what's probably just a minor bit of sk...

Re-reading your question, maybe what I wrote didn't quite address your needs, so I'm going to try to do better here. Keep in mind that there are two issues with this kind of slur: the fingering, and the breath. In this case, the fingering problem might seem to be the insurmountable issue, and indeed...

I was totally chuffed when the neighbor adjacent to the porch where I practice brought up, totally out of the blue, that he really enjoyed hearing me play the whistle, and said that I was improving fast. But then he went on to make a request: the whistle tunes from LOTR and The Hobbit movies (yeah s...

Some thoughts: 1) The Dixon Trad is a great choice if you want something reliable right now while you decide on your high-end whistle 2) I love Jerry's whistles and quality-wise recommend them without reservation, but I feel compelled to mention that he has a lot going on with his health and large f...

Just checked, and A or B to high D and back is still definitely quite doable for me despite years of not playing--but that was at the cost of lots of practice years ago to eliminate that disagreeable squawk you're encountering. I also find the OXXXXX fingering for high D best for this situation. Whe...

I've been finding that putting my ringfinger of my right hand back down once I get up to A/B has been working just as well. Yep, that's what I've been doing for all of these years, due to my dinky pinkies, and it works OK. But I'm curious whether moving a little further toward a pipers' grip might ...

I think that in my case, the flying pinky are a reflection of way too much tension in my hands while playing. Whistle was my first instrument when I decided to learn to play music as a result of my (somewhat early) midlife crisis, triggered by my best friend dying of the flu when we were around 45. ...

I chatted with Jerry a couple of days ago. He just had to have a bit of routine surgery, which went fine. Here's hoping he'll be back in action soon. I truly appreciate my stable of Freeman whistles--enough to get duplicates of my favorites, so I'm not afraid of losing or breaking them (also true of...

To be able to control the amount of C-natural half holing needed for good intonation, I simply straighten out my index finger a bit, which lifts the finger in a slant, off the top hole just a bit - which flattens the C# just a bit - allowing the C natural to be controllable, and in tune. Exactly wh...

Ooh thanks, those are very good points about keeping the pinky restrained when ergonomics would call for its freedom!!! In the beginning I thought I simply had a pathologically stubby pinky, but now I want to figure out whether it’s a matter of angle and grip, but the power of habit works against me...

Over the years I've tended to rotate between playing whistle(/flute), mandolin (standard/octave), and piano, because for whatever reason, I can only focus on playing one instrument at a time. What I've learned from this is that each time I revive an instrument from neglect, it provides a magical opp...

Thanks to all who answered! There are some artists there that I already enjoy a lot, and some new to me too!

I haven't played in a long time, and polkas are often suggested as an easy place to (re-in-my-case)start. But looking through my music library, I haven't been able to find many to model my playing after, aside from that one track on Mary Bergin's second album with Julia Clifford's, Jenny Lind's, etc...