How do people half hole notes especially Cnat on a high whistle? I gather that the likes of Joanie Madden will roll the whistle so that the first finger of the hand naturally ends up covering half the T1 hole. I can do that part but I’m left with the whistle tilted. How do you move on to other notes from there accurately and quickly? The alternative is to leave the whistle stationary but drop the wrist and tilt the finger but again, you are left out of position. Help me please!
I did a couple workshops with Joanie and learned/developed my 1st finger half holing from watching her.
Basically the first finger is slightly bent, the pad covering the hole, straighten the finger a little and the tip will naturally roll up uncovering some of the hole (the side away from the hand) - now if you try this with just your first finger and thumb on the whistle you will probably find that the whistle rolls a little, I think that when I do it when actually playing the whistle does not roll or rolls very little so something else is going on, perhaps I’ll try videoing myself and see if I can see what I do when not thinking about it.
I think the exact details depend on the individuals hands, whistle and maybe the phase of the moon.
Joanie really stressed learning to half hole, and I find myself using it most of the time but sometimes a forked fingering is just easier/works better (assuming your whistle has a reasonably in tune forked fingering, some do not!)
Developing an awkward finger-hold will also do the trick.
Does her method have any relation to having the “wrong” hand on top? 
More seriously, how many folks half-hole across the top of the whistle (side of the hole) as opposed to those who half-hole along the whistle (top of the hole)?
Best wishes.
Steve
Mr. Gumby,
You are right! Sure has worked out well for Mary Bergin, a whistling wonder if ever there was! 
Cayden
separates the ladies from the men 
Well I’m not about to tell Mary Bergin how to play whistle.
But I use the same technique as highwood for the Cnat - roll with a slightly curved then extended index finger. The other commonly half-holed note is Fnat which I play by covering the top of the hole, leaving part of the bottom open.
It is good to keep reminding yourself that you are not actually, or rarely anyway, covering exactly half of the hole. It will vary by instrument and some only require slightly more than “leaking” to accomplish half-holing. It is admittedly not a precise technique and requires some practice to be accurate. But as you learn to play you will also get used to varying breath pressure to keep some notes in tune anyway so this will not be any more difficult than that.
I use cross fingering on some tunes. But it’s definitely worth it and even, dare I say,necessary IMHO to learn half-holing.
ecohawk
Thanks for the thoughts, especially highwood’s. Do you roll back before moving to the next note? How does that work, if say you want to play D after Cnat? You half-hole the Cnat rolling the whistle very slightly at the time time. What then to move on?
I don’t roll the whistle. Think of the last section of your index finger as a seesaw, with the left edge of the finger hole as the fulcrum. I pivot the finger over that fulcrum using a combination of straightening the finger and very slightly dropping the hand. You just have to keep at it. Without playing a tune, just repeat the half holing technique over and over and over-- C#,C,C#,C…
Thanks, that helps.
As great as those players are, I can’t imagine playing C natural that way. Maybe it’s because I came to the whistle from uilleann piping where a crossfingered C natural is standard practice.
With the crossfingered C natural I can play rolls on C as fluently as rolls on any other note.
And rapid complex passages involving C natural can be played cleanly and fluidly, such as “rocking phrases” with a C natural anchor
4/4 | c2 ec gcec |
or busy phrases with C naturals
4/4 | cded cAAc | Bcdc BGGB |
I’m sure it’s possible to play such things up to speed and cleanly using a half-holed C, but it seems like much more effort is required, and the pitch of C might vary each time it appears.
Maybe it’s because I came to the whistle from uilleann piping where a crossfingered C natural is standard practice.
On one hand, I like to see the ‘half hole ALL c nats’ crowd play, say, the Humours of Scariff (while I realise it can be done, like many things can be done when you put your mind to it, it’s really a way of making something relatively simple a LOT more complicated without good reason ).
On the other hand, you can hear Willie Clancy play very obviously half holed C naturals on the whistle at times (and various keyed C naturals on the chanter). For example when playing An Buailteoir Aerach
Whatever works, in a given situation to reach the desired effect, I think.
I agree Mr Gumby. It’s good to have both and be flexible. And there are notes like Dsharp where half-holing is the only option. And whistles like the Sindt where a cross-fingered Cnat is not good because of the way it’s tuned.
Pancelticpiper, how does one do a roll on Cnat using cross fingering out of curiosity. That wasn’t what you were demonstrating there was it?
This is how i half-hole the Cnat. At least I think so, because I have never thought about it - I did it naturally from the beginning and it worked first time. What I know is that the bottom half of the hole is open when I half-hole, as seen from the top of the whistle.
I cross-finger Cnat too though, probably more than I half-hole.
-Tor
This is how i half-hole the Cnat.
…
What I know is that the bottom half of the hole is open when I half-hole, as seen from the top of the whistle.
This is not what I do, which is the same as what I believe brewerpaul is describing. In my case the right half of the hole is open (left hand on top) and not the bottom.
I use both half hole and cross fingering both are useful, as Mr Gumby says:
Whatever works, in a given situation to reach the desired effect, I think.
I practiced today what has been mentioned with the seesawing motion and it’s actually come very quickly to me. More practice is needed but I don’t think I will have problems. Going the other way, tilting the finger up or down the whistle seems far less natural though I’m sure it will be for some. Thanks for all the help.