Hi all!
I can’t remember if I have asked this question before or not, sorry if I have. I’ve been working on half-holing for sharps and I just can’t seem to get it down. Do you guys know of any tips or tricks to make half-holing easier? Thanks a load! 
Peace,
Sara
Sara,
It’s great to learn half-holing, but for most Irish music you really don’t need it, except on the C natural, which can also be fingered 0XX000. Don’t worry about it too much. Pick up L.E. McCullough’s “Favorite Irish Session Tunes” book and the accompanying CDs and get cracking on the tunes. Start at the beginning and work to the back and you’ll be a pro in no time. Also, consider buying L.E.'s whistle tutor book as well.
All the best,
Chris
Thank you! I’ll look for those books; I have heard of L.E. McCullough, I’m curious to look at those books. Thanks again,
Sara
You’re welcome.
Chris
I read somewhere that to half-hole just straighten your first knuckle (the one closest to the tip of your finger – you kind of have to bend the middle knuckle to do it, but you don’t have to move or lift your finger). It’s kind of like doing a little double-jointed thing. It lifts the finger just enough to get the right pitch. This works great for me.
Sara, I don’t half hole a LOT, but when I do, I roll the finger towards me, or straighten the finger a bit (the way that was previously mentioned) and flex it backward a tad. Gives a bit of a bendy sound to it.
I use it on some O’Carolan pieces, and the odd time when we play tunes in A and I have to get a G# in there.
Hi Sara:
I use a different method for half-holing than is usually described. As my fingers are slightly arched to cover the holes, I partly straighten the appropriate finger, and hey presto, I’m half-holing. The trick is to learn how much to straighten the finger so that you can hit the notes in tune without having to adjust mid-note so to speak. That just takes practice.
It also works well for “bending” notes up or down.
Although I know this isn’t the classic method, I don’t see how it could cause a technique problem in the future. On the other hand, I have been playing for less than a year, so maybe someone more experienced than me could comment on that.
On 2002-01-29 11:34, tuugaalik wrote:
Maybe someone more experienced than me could comment
Peter, surely you don’t mean to say you’re still using your FINGERS to half-hole? Don’t you know it’s supposed to be done with the HEART? Enough of this techno-crap already!
P
Hi Sara,
I dhaven’t used half-holing much yet, using the OXX OOO Cnat mostly, but I have a few of pieces, St Anne’s Reel, Rodney’s Glory (set dance), Sliabh Gael gCua and The Foggy Dew (slow airs) which require just one particular sharp (or Fnat) in the whole tune. I’m working on the “crooking the finger a little bit more” style, as I understand that is a little easier do at full speed.
I’m trying to train each finger while playing the tune slowly, and so far it seems to be working.
I am also trying to learn this technique, mostly to play tunes in A on a D whistle via the G#. It’s been tough, but I’m starting to see improvement. A few things that have helped me:
-
Tonguing the phrase with the half hole in order to really hear what note I’m hitting. When playing legato it is harder to hear if the note is sharp or flat.
-
Practice it on one whistle. I was trying to learn this on a few whisltes and I realized that the differences in size, however miniscule, was throwing me off. When I get it down on the D, then I will move on to other keys.
-
Practice it a bit every day until your finger finds the right position without thinking about it. I found that straightening the knuckle works well, although it seemed that it took about two weeks to get the right note on a consistent basis.
Hope this helps
Matt
Hi all,
I didn’t expect to get so many replies in a short time - thanks! I’ve already started working on the straightening of the knuckles and I think I’m going to be able to get it - with a lot more practice. You guys are so helpful!
Sara
Celtic being only a small part of what I play, half-holing is very important to me and I do it a lot. The way I do it is to perfect finger positions for each accidental, e.g. on a D whistle to attain G# I use a position with 2nd & 3rd fingers of LH slightly curved to cover their respective holes, with the 4th finger locked into a straight position to half-hole. When playing, because I have practiced and burned into finger memory these positions, when I need to hit a G#, the position falls onto the tone holes as one unit, hence a G# is attained with no sliding or slurring. The trick is to do this without too much stiffness of the hand, which is detrimental.
John Skelton taught me something, and that thing ended up teaching me something else without my knowledge.
This July, John taught a class the reel “eel in the sink.” (OFF TOPIC here, John plays a version of the reel that is very minor key with a strong driving pulse. Gavan Whelan who’s CD I am reviewing plays a version that is actually bubbly and more modal). To return from my tangent, John plays the tune with a single quarternote that slurs up to F#. John started it closer to F natural instead of E. I’ve been working real hard on that tune, including John’s lovely variation. I had struggled to achieve the F natural half hole for years (I wanted to play the Wexford Carrol in church a great singer/guitar player). I could never get it and kind of gave up. Then one day after I had been working on Eel in the Sink, I tried to play Wexford carrol and found that I can now half hole the F natural at will even moving the note it into pitch if I begin the note off a bit. I can even find (what I think is) the F neutral (as discussed by Peter Laban, I believe. Peter, did Bobby Casey play with liberal use the F neutral?).
Now to refine that into a technique for learing to half hole. Choose a tune you would like to learn (or improve with some variation). The tune must be suitable to playing a long note that where slurring up to the pitch sounds good as a variation. Keep playing the tune for a couple of months and you may find that your finger knows just where to go.
My plan is to see if this works universally by finding tunes where slurring up to E and A will give me (D#/Eb) and (G#/Ab). If it works, I will be able to play the whistle full chrom’ (since there are cross fingerings for Bb and C natural). I think it would be an advantage to half hole the notes I currently crossfinger, but playing fully chromatic would be more important to me.
Has anyone else tried this method to learn half holing? I know (for at least one note) it was much faster and easier for me to learn half-holing by the slurred ornament than actually trying to learn half-holing by itself.
In the case of the lower C natural on a D whistle, I usually rotate the whistle slightly clockwise between my left thumb and forefinger. This is very accurate and allows you to return quickly to a fully-covered position. On the higher C, this doesn’t work; you pretty much have to cross-finger this one. I think the best way on my Generation is oxxxox or something like that. What’s the best way on a Clarke, or do you just try to avoid it?
Peter, surely you don’t mean to say you’re still using your FINGERS to half-hole? Don’t you know it’s supposed to be done with the HEART? Enough of this techno-crap already!
P
Myself, I’m all thumbs. Personally, I think my thumbs deserve their very own half-holes? (Ouch - I get a half-headache just thinking about it)
Robert
[ This Message was edited by: rpmseattle on 2002-01-30 01:22 ]
That’s funny! I use that same weird method to half hole the c natural in The Rights of Man except I rotate counterclockwise. And I thought I was special! It’s the only song I use that kind of fingering in but it works really well.