Greetings. I have been immersed in Irish music on fiddle and guitar of late, figured I didn’t have enough distractions from getting any of my real-life responsibilities accomplished, so I picked up a D pennywhistle. I played recorder and clarinet years ago, so am not unfamiliar with the concept of the whistle, and am picking it up fairly quickly…all except for the bottom note, which I am having a devil of a time with. My right hand is just not made to reach that bottom hole. If the hole were moved ever so slightly towards the side of the whistle it would be much easier. Is there a whistle made with such a configuration? I realize that the space between the holes is what makes the note, so it would be futile to wish that the bottom hole were a tad closer to the E.
Any tips would be helpful. Thanks.
Some more information on the whistle you’re using would be of some help. Is it a high d whistle you’re having trouble with??? Or the Low D (this is the one that gives most people drama’s)? There’re are a few makers out there that can make a whistle with offset holes. You have to pay a little more than if you were just ducking down to the local music shop for a waltons or feadog though.
Mick
Hi Sara, welcome.
OK, and assuming a high D whistle … I’ll betcha anything that you’re trying to play the whistle by closing the holes with the very ends of your fingertips … With your fingers slightly curled and pointing down toward the holes. A common beginner’s mistake.
Try this instead: Flatten out your fingers so that they’re straight and they point across the top of the tube. Then use the fleshy pad of your fingers, or even the flat part of your first joints behind the pad, to close the holes. Do this on both hands. Let us know if this solves the problem.
I’ve seen 8-year old girls play D whistle just fine. If you have normal or even small hands, and no other problems of finger movement, you should be good to go.
I bet Sara thanks you but I’m thanking you too for explaining to me what was going on. I was going to ask Sara how little itty bitty her hands were.
Me too…But I couldn’t picture a set of hands that small on an (just an assumption here) adult. I just assumed she knew where to put her fingers as I never made the tip of the fingers mistake. And who’s to say this is the case anyway…She may have un-imaginably tiny hands. 
Mick
Hi Sarah,
Good on you - you have entered a branch of music that never ends 
Seek out the work of Kevin Burke and what he did with the Bothy Band .. Have a look at Paddy Glackin.
With the whistles .. yeah, that bottom tone hole can be a trick - as the guys above have said is all true:
If it’s the little D whislte, then the advice about using the flats of your fingertips is true, if it’s the big D whislte, … well you will have to get familliar with “piper’s grip” - there’s plenty about it on this site if you search.
(the little whistle is about 1 foot long - the big one is about 2 foot long).
If it’s the big one, and you want to not master piper’s grip - have a look at the “Sweetheart” whistles made by Ralph and Walt Sweet - their big whistles are fairly forgiving in that respect.
With ergonomic offsets in either the big or little whistles, it helps to contact a custom-maker to get it right for your hands - this was how it was done for flutes in the 18th/19th centuries (and still today) - personal attention. It’s expensive but works.
For big whistles, Hans (Bracker whistles) is making the offset as a standard in something fairly affordable.
Hope his helps!
Hi, Everyone, and thanks for your replies. I love hearing my hands discussed as if I’m not there I’m an average-sized woman with dexterous, strong hands - my farm-girl grandmother’s.
And yes, it is indeed the high-D, Clark Classic.
I am having some success with the technique described above - using my fingers, flattened, the fleshy part, not the tips, but back towards the joint. The key of course is to practice, practice, practice, there are no shortcuts that replace putting the time in (just what I need, another diversion from getting anything whatsoever done) as it has become easier over the past few days. I’ve also noticed that sometimes, the harder I am trying and thinking about that low note, the more difficult it is to attain; often, if I’m not thinking about it, it falls quite easily - and surprises me.
I rather enjoy having this little portable instrument in my bag.
Thanks again, for your welcome and your advice.
On the lower notes, it might help to think of “breathing into”, rather than “blowing into”, the whistle. Whistles have much lower air requirements than most woodwinds, so its very easy for converts from other instruments to simply overblow the thing.
I was thinking the same thing. When I teach folks to play, I start with the upper end of the octave, just the left hand at first, because it’s less breath-sensitive. The bell note takes the most getting used to for a new player.
I love the newbie questions and thought that I had heard them all but your hands had me stumped (da, da, dum)
Buy more than one whistle and keep them handy all over the place. You won’t believe how happy you will be the next time traffic comes to a halt or you are waiting for someone and you have a whistle handy.
Great idea - will do! Thanks!
Welcome. Hope you like our little group.
On a side note, the Clarke Classic can have a very large opening in the mouthpiece – at least mine did. I had a devil of a time playing and controlling it until I found that many people squash the top down to partially close the opening and reduce the amount of air volume needed.
Not wanting to break the bond with the wooden fipple block, I pressed the jaws of a vice against the sides of the mouthpiece to keep it from bulging out and just pushed the top closed with my thumb. I gather that most people don’t bother with the vice at all.
Might be worth considering if you have the same problem.
You know - I think it was here that the advice was made - that you think of the low notes like breathing on a candle - not to blow it out, but to bend the flame - that’s usual for a standard whistle.
The other thing that helps a lot with low notes is to open your mouth and throat space to resonate with the note - If you do that, you will find the strong point in the note - after you “practice practice practice” it will become nature. You can do the same with all the other notes .. a thing about whistles is that each note has its own character - get to know them all and how they can be gotten within you They are moslty friendly in all whistles .. more or less … Speed is not important at first (as you already know).
You should try that as a motorcyclist with a 3 piece whistle. It ain’t so easy you know! 
Mick
the three piece whistle would be OK, it’s the motorcycle that would be the problem for me.
Neither on their own is a problem for me, but the two combined…It just don’t work. You got to first remove whistle parts from pocket, assemble and play. Come move off from the lights or traffic jam (don’t really experience many of those where I live), take whistle apart, replace in pocket and gobefore getting run over by the bloke in back of you…No, I think I’ll pass on that game. Being a fulltime motorcyclist, I guess I’ll only ever experience whistle playing as a passenger in a car. I play, someone else drive. Now that’s an ideal solution. 
Mick
Come over to the world of harmonicas. You can pull it out of your leather jacket pocket and they’ll improve your breathing.
I left the world of Harmonica’s to go Whistling instead. I have two Chromatic’s and a Blues ‘harp’. Like them, but never loved them. Whistle is the way to the finishing touches to inner peace…The bulk of the work is done by going for a good long Motorbike ride. .
Mick
I am relatively new on whistle (going on 2 years). An old-fashioned, conicle bore Clarke was one of my first. I found the Clarke (and on a slightly higher end, but similar design, Shaw) high whistles very hard to make sound good at the beginning. I’m not sure why really (I don’t recall reaching the how being a problem), but it just didn’t sound good. Now, after playing a variety of other whistles (mostly without the wood fipple), my original Clark and Shaw sound incredibly better and are easy to play (with a few remaining “wind” issues, esp. on higher notes, just because of the wood and fipple design, I think). So maybe just get a different type of whistle to learn on, and you’ll find it wasn’t the reach at all (I’d probably suggest a Freeman tweaked whistle, because they sound/play really good at a price not much above their mass-market pre-tweaked versions) maybe mellow dog or whatever–just not with a wood fipple). Just a thought, since that Clarke nearly put me off the whole project, but now is no problem whatever at least at the low end). You could always try a smaller (higher pitched) whistle-like an Eb, but it’s hard to believe that normal sized hands would be the problem on a high D.
PS–as an Angeleno car driver, I wholeheartedly join in with those suggesting putting them everywhere, including my car–so much otherwise wasted time at stoplights–they go amazingly fast when you’re trying to get through a tune before the light turns).
,
Jaydoc