Hello again,
Thank you all for your help last time on whistle biting. I no longer bite my whistle
I picked up a cheap MEG by Clarke’s D whistle - my first one - and a book called Mel Bay’s Delux Tinwhistle Songbook by Patrick Conway. It gives fingering and tells me to play high D with the top hole open. Sure enough, when I do that it squeaks less when I play loudly BUT it’s nearly D# while all hole closed is D (tuner says so).
Is my book wrong or is my whistle wrong? I hope it’s my book, because I’ve gotten used to playing D all closed :p. I have to wonder what other bad habits I’ve developed.
Any whistle will require work from the player to play in tune. Breath control is what it’s all about, and you can play any note flat, spot-on, or sharp by varying different aspects of your technique. This gives you a wide pallet of sounds to create your music from.
I’ll venture that the book and whistle are both fine, and you’ve got more “wood-shedding” to do. Enjoy!
Try this. First make sure you can play an in-tune 2nd octave d with xxxxxx. Adjust the whistle head if necessary. Now play that d and, without changing your breath, lift the top T1 finger and listen. Do you notice any difference of pitch or timbre?
On most whistles, the answer is no. So the fingering makes no difference. If my Sweetone is any indication, your Meg should be the same - no difference.
On some few whistles, such as my Copeland D, the oxxxxx fingering is slightly clearer and higher-pitched. In which case, you have a choice, depending on breath control (as CT says).
I’ll bet most whistle players do what I do, and play xxxxxx as the default fingering because it’s usually faster (less finger movement). But in a slow tune where rapid fingering is not an issue, I’ll tend to go for the oxxxxx for the clearest, strongest possible note. And when approaching the d from a C-nat or C# below, I’ll play oxxxxx because it’s a more efficient fingering, particularly with the ubiquitous (3B^cd triplet.
I’ve heard (but don’t know) that All-Ireland competition judges have been known to mark off for not playing vented d oxxxxx. But this strikes me as extremely pedantic.
There are other complications. For example, cranning that d when played xxxxxx or oxxxxx produces two different ornaments. Playing d to B as xxxxxx to xooxxx allow you to “chirp” the note, which you can’t really do with the vented d.
But basically, I think that beginner books that specify to always play vented oxxxxx are being overly cautious and fussy. You should be comfortable with both fingerings.
When I started playing whistle I noticed that vented high D was more stable than unvented high D on most whistles I had… I would get more squeaks when unventing the high D, as if it would be more sensitive to different air pressure… you can somewhat overblow the vented high D without problems (beside going sharp) but it’s no so true with unvented D… Anyhow, that was my experience at the time, maybe today things would be different with my better breath control and different whistles.
As a reality check, I did a quick vent test on a bunch of my whistles, just to be sure: Gen, Feadóg, Burke, Sindt, Overton, Copeland, Susato. And to my ear, only the Copeland D responds to venting (and the Susato D, almost imperceptibly). The others are basically dead-on either way.
I think the main thing is that the vented d is more stable because it doesn’t overblow easily to the 12th, or A. So in slow tunes where you might be pushing the d for expressiveness, the vented d is a stronger fingering.
It’s also possible that people with dog hearing past 15 kHz can hear overtone differences I no longer can!
Are we all talking about what I call ‘middle’ D? In which case, I’d go with the Guru. For what I call ‘top’ D, I use either
OXX XXX or OXX OOO depending on tune, whistle, whatever.
Like voices tell you to do stuff Paul? Ethereal voice Paul… Make more whistles…
that’s when you get up and start doing it while you are asleep in the middle of the night.
Haha, just kidding. I agree with the extraneous noises comment tho. I seem to get a bit more slush(chiff) when I do not vent my Greenwood, and my Oz. My harper is so chiffy that it’s kind of hard to tell.
thank you for all your replies. What I hear is all roads lead to the same plays. or rather, if it sounds good, play it. and maybe also, learn to play it in every way so you can sound good in every situation.
btw is it just me or do these threads tend to go awry after about the 10th reply. right around where someone says “you hear extraneous voices!?!??”
I’ve found that I can hit the attack of the 2nd octave D a bit harder if I do OXX XXX. However, that is not always practical, especially if that 2nd octave D is a passing note. It depends how long I’m holding the note, how hard I want to hit it. Either way is fine, really.
I’ve come up with a couple of general rules that seem to work well for me: for a phrase starting on D, or approaching D from below the break, I use OXX XXX as it’s more stable and less likely to jump to the overtone. And when approaching D from above I use XXX XXX as stability is not an issue (especially if slurring) and it speeds up the action.
I usually cross-finger Bb: XOX XXX for 1st octave and XOX OOO for 2nd octave. For Ab I use half-hole fingering XXD OOO for 1st and 2nd octaves and cross-fingering XXO XXX for 1st octave and XXO XOX or XXO XDO for 2nd octave. XXO XXO is way flat on my whistles (Susatos).
