I haven’t been playing the whistle for very long and have the problem that most beginners seem to have, a high pitched squeaking. That and the notes never sound pure.
I’ve made sure the holes are completely covered. I’m guessing most of it is caused by breath control, I tend to blow too fast on the low notes, especially just after playing high notes. I’m playing a Walton’s Irish D, I’m having great difficulty with the low notes, if I blow slowly it’s very quiet, any faster and it squeaks.
Plus there’s the general impurity of nearly every note I play. Does anyone have some tips? Or perhaps know of a whistle that plays a smoother sound to begin with and doesn’t require as much work with breath control?
Regarding “purity” of tone, that is also very dependent upon which whistle. Some people want more of a “bite” and do not want a “pure” flute-like tone.
You have outlined the two most prevalent causes of “squeaking”. Sealing the holes well is a primary cause. The best advice I can give there is to make sure to use the fleshy pads of your fingers and not the finger tips. Stay relaxed and don’t strangle the poor whistle. It is easier to cover the holes when you are relaxed and comfortable.
Breath control comes with time and takes some getting used to, especially if you are new to wind instruments. Many whistles are different in how they react to breath pressure. Practice is the solution. Pick a tune which you like. Find a good recording of that tune and work at it until you can play it without jumping octaves and sound reasonably similar to the recording. Then pick another tune and do the same. Some will tell you to play scales and practice octave jumps but I personally feel that playing the tunes will get you where you want to be in a short time. Playing tunes should be your goal anyway, right?
And take the long view of things. Learning an instrument can take some time. Enjoy the journey.
Now, to the whistle. Not all whistles sound pure. Some sound a little more gritty and that’s ok. Yes there are better whistles and ones that are easier to play. But I wouldn’t go running to the whistle shop just yet. You may have the same problems with any whistle until you get in some good practice. Waltons can be hit or miss in my experience. But they are generally more hit than miss, at least they have been for me. If you know another whistler and can have them try your Waltons that could help rule out the whistle as an issue.
If you are confortable doing a tweak, you can fill the cavity with poster putty (or plumbers putty) under the windway. Look for the Tweaks thread at the top of the first page of this forum for a description. I personally don’t think that professionally tweaked whistles get you a lot of additional mileage when you are first starting out. (You should suffer like the rest of us did when we took up whistles! Just kidding.)
It wouldn’t hurt a lot to try a couple other inexpensive whistles though. Look for a Feadog, a Generation or maybe a Clarke Sweetone. The Sweetone is a favorite starter whistle in my thinking. It has smaller holes and the breath requirement curve is fairly easy.
Hope that helps. Good luck. Let us know how things progress.
There are many reasons why squeaking occurs. Finger placement is important but breath control is likely to be an issue for any beginner since it is the most difficult aspect of whistle playing to learn.
As gregwhistle stated, one can’t ignore the instrument itself. I lean strongly toward the philosophy that the instrument shouldn’t limit the player. That doesn’t mean that you need to spend a lot in the beginning to get a solid and in tune instrument though.
You don’t say where you live so duties can be an issue but I’d consider one of Jerry Freeman’s whistles like a Bluebird, Mellow Dog or tweaked Gen to start. Each has it’s own merits but all will fill your need. If you like Walton’s whistles, the Mellow Dog is made from a Walton Mellow D tube. All of these are slightly less or slightly more than $30 US plus Jerry charges $5 or so for Priority Mail postage. Of course if you’re outside the US shipping will be more.
There are other whistles that can fit the bill as well if location is an issue. The Feadog Pro is an excellent whistle out of the box found worldwide and is probably $20 or less. Oddly, this isn’t the easiest whistle to find in the US but they are around.
I’d still get one from Jerry if possible since they are guaranteed to be as advertised. I find the “shush” whistles to be very special purpose and not very useful unless you really need a quiet instrument. YMMV. My experience is that you will find much more enjoyment when you can control dynamics such as volume and pitch etc. The “shush” will be frustrating at this point IMO.
Practice will indeed help but it won’t fix a challenged instrument and it will be a very frustrating experience.
If you’re in Europe, I can’t think of a better whistle at any price point (it happens to be only £32 from The Big Whistle Shop) than the Cillian O’Briain high D. It’s a tweaked whistle, as Jerry Freeman’s are. I bought one out of interest, and it immediately became my ‘go to’ whistle.
Thank you all for the help. I’m getting a lot of the noise on Dawning of the Day and getting a much clearer sound playing Scarborough Fair, not sure why that is.
As suggested I’ll keep trying to repeat the song until I can naturally smooth it out. There are so many wonderful whistles available online, I definitely wont be able to stop at just one, I like the look of Jerry Freeman’s Sweetone and Generation Bb. I like the look of the Clarke’s Celtic too, purely aesthetic though. I love the sound of the Bb, I guess I should probably hold off on getting one until I’ve gotten a bit better though.
I’ve actually been finding it fairly easy to play simple tunes, minus the squeaking. I have no idea how I’ll ever be able to master ornamentation though, I can never manage to do too many things at once. That’s why I love slow songs such as Scarborough Fair.
Rather than start a new thread, are there any books or resources you recommend? I live in a small town in rural Australia, I don’t know any other players and there are certainly no lessons.
So, as others have said, a better whistle will eliminate any thought of the instrument being the culprit.
I’d go with the Bluebird, Mellowdog, or the Dixon Trad, be sure to stick with the high d for now.
I don’t know the Walton, but I suspect that it will probably serve you well for the time being.
I’ve been as guilty as the next beginner of buying new whistles, but you probably don’t NEED to.
My advice, like others, is practice.
I’ve found that doing scales if very helpful. Go slow, and focus on good tone.
As for more learning, I’ve been enjoying Blayne Chastian’s “i-teach”.
When I signed up for three months, a Dixon Trad was part of the signing bonus.
(I don’t know if the deal is still on, but you might check.) http://blaynechastain.com/i-teach
Persist, and this is one of the issues which will shortly disappear and thereafter look after itself with no conscious attention from you. Think about tone, not about technique. Yes, you need to understand what can cause an issue, but as soon as that’s sorted, concentrate only on the tone you’re producing. You want your unconscious (not the right terrm- autonomic proceses?) to handle the details. It’s way faster.
What are the Blayne Chastain lessons like? Currently I’m following a guy called Ryan Duns on Youtube, you’ve probably heard of him. Is paying for i-teach worth it or can I find free resources just as easy?
Thanks for all the help. Another thing I don’t like about the Walton’s whistle is that a coating of plastic or something is turning blue and peeling off of the tube. It’s not very appealing.
Well, I suppose opinions would vary some.
I spent my first couple months using free resources, Ryan Duns, Brother Steves whistle pages, the Wandering Whistler archives,
Whsitle This, Clips and Snips, youtube, ect.
Then I went for book/CDs like Bill Ochs Tin Whistle book, Larsens Tin Whistle Tool Box, and a couple of L.E. McCullough’s books. All good so far.
But, after almost a year, I felt like in needed more. Thats when I started looking at face to face lessons, or personal lesson via Skype.
No doubt, these would be worthwhile, but at about $50 an hour I couldn’t quite pull the trigger.
I-teach looked to me like a great 'tween step.
I also recieved a whistle that was almost the cost of the lessons and that sure sweetened the deal. Sorta like a free test drive.
Blaynes lesson go further into depth on technic than the stuff I’ve seen for free, but the really great part is that he teaches tunes slowly, phrase by phrase, bare bones, and finally fully ornamented. Its a learn by ear approach, but the sheet music is availible, as well as MP3 files that you can download to your personal player. This allows you to do alot of listening, thus programing your brain.
What is worth while will depend on your budget and how you learn.
I plan on subscribing for a year when my first three months are over, YMMV.
I agree with Maki’s comments on Chastain’s lessons. I think they’re worth it and not very expensive. He has selected some very nice tunes and he goes slowly and repeats the phrase many times. I usually pause it and repeat it many more times than that. You can do two lessons free on his site and they’re both very nice tunes.
Just kidding.)
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