Hi everybody!
Just got my Freeman Tweaked Sweetone Pennywhistle in D. This is a great instrument, with a magical sound, but I do have a question. I noticed that the tone is clear with a touch of air. Is this how it should be or am I blowing too hard?
In general, I find the Sweetone to be a bit breathy. The Freeman tweaked Sweetone in C that I have is even more breathy than my self-tweaked (only the poster-putty tweak, really… I’m not much of a tweaker :p) Sweetone in D. I can’t say whether that’s due to Jerry’s tweaking process or simply the difference in the D and the C.
‘Is this how it should be or am I blowing too hard?’
How it should be.
Ok guys, got another question for you. I was just given a stock sweetone in addition to my freeman tw aked, and I noticed that both whistles are very touchy when it comes to Blowing the lower and upper octave. No matter what I do it seems to jump up unless I blow very softly, of coarse its not as bad on the tweaked sweetone. What am I doing wrong?
So then, blow softly. Seriously.
The Sweetone is one of the most stable whistles out there. So if you’re having trouble with it, you’ll have trouble with just about anything else.
Seriously,
I’m sorry if my questions annoy you. I have never played tin whistle before and I thought my newbie questions would’nt be a problem, sorry I asked!
I didn’t get the impression that anyone was annoyed by your question or that your question was a problem. Did I miss a post that was deleted?
No need to get defensive, giedosst. What you’re doing wrong is blowing too hard. It’s just experienced, factual advice, take it or leave it. Cheers.
Nope.
Ok np, I’ll pull the air in, thanks for the advice, I’ll take it!
Thank you.
Fair enough. It takes time and practice. Keep working at it … it will come. 
Search for “embouchure” here in the Whistle forum for other tips.
When I first started, I bought a Sweetone and a Susato. For about the first week, on both instruments, I could hardly play the bottom two notes. Just ask my wife. Some God-awful noises came out, seriously. It took some practice to get my breath under control enough to blow the lowest notes. Even when I could hit them, usually playing a scale up and back down, I’d squeak on the bottom two notes on the way back down. You’ll get the hang of it, don’t worry.
Right, nothing the matter with the questions or the answers.
Beginnings are weird, you know. Time, patience, practice.
Time, patience, practice. Time…
I’ve a stock Sweetone at the moment, and I have to say I agree on it being a very stable whistle. It does take some getting used to because it doesn’t seem to require quite so much air as other whistles I’ve tried, but especially in the lower register, it’s an absolute delight. It holds fairly in the higher register, but I find the sound to be a slightly lower quality there.
Perhaps people know that the Sweetone was designed for children,
and it caught on among adults. Michael Copeland designed the
whistle head.
Hey guys!
Thanks again for all your help, I never imaged that playing Tin Whistle was this much fun! Anyway I am really learning to get a good tone out of my tweaked Sweetone, but I have run into a snag! For the last few days I have been practicing 2 to 3 hours before bed. This evening I was working on Inisheer and while hitting the B section of the tune, the upper range just sort of gave out on me! I blew into the window of the Fipple to clear it but it just didn’t work. The lower range was great but as soon as I transisiod the tone just wouldn’t come out! I let the whistle sit for about 5 minutes and when I picked it up, the upper octave played for about 30 seconds then died again!
What am I doing wrong?
Probably just a moisture clog. But blowing into the fipple window as you said won’t work. Instead, place a finger over the window to cover it, then blow firmly into the business end of the mouthpiece with a couple of strong puffs. That ought to clear it.
practice, practice, practice…