New to Whistle Playing

Donna · Post by **Donna** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 8:17 am

Hi. My name's Donna and I'm new to this forum and whistle playing altogether. I'm currently expecting delivery of some whistles so that I can teach myself and my son to play.

My son is seven and is an Achondroplastic dwarf. This means his fingers are very short. We stumbled across whistles after we bought him an inexpensive recorder and found it was just a tad too long for his arms and fingers. The whistle looks perfect. Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 9:35 am

Hi Donna!

Whistles come in various sizes, as you know, I'm sure. The D is the whistle of choice because most of the Irish Traditional tunes are in D or G and it's easy to play both keys on the D. Since size is a factor, and you may not necessarily be playing in concert with anyone, at least to start with, you might be best to choose the whistle that suits you or your son's fingers. My daughter, who is tiny, likes the G whistle - that's the very smallest. I can't play it because my fingers are too fat! On the other hand I have a (home-made) low G which I can play fine.
If you can play a tune on a D whistle you can play the exact same fingering on a C or F or G or whatever, and the tune will still sound the same (or the same-ish). This is great for people who play by ear, but confusing to people who read stave.

If you are in contact with people who can provide you with music, you can count your blessings. If not, you might like to cast over your CD collection to choose pieces you know by heart, to play yourself. If you are in a place where you can hear live players regularly, this is best of all.

A valuable resource for Irish Trad is www.thesession.org, which has a load of music in ABC format. They also have links to a sites which can download you ABC Navigator, which is a freeware program which will allow you to edit ABC files. With this you can print out the sheet music - make your own amendments if necessary - and play the thing, using a variety of "instruments".

I used to work from "the dots" (the stave) when learning music. Now I've learned to rely on my ear. I use ABC to play the piece over and over until I've got it fixed in my head. My fingers do the rest. I still use the stave, but it's for checking mostly. I've only recently started to do this intentionally, and it's speeded up my learning considerably.

Good Luck, and happy fingering!

Craig Stuntz · Post by **Craig Stuntz** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:45 am

I play whistles with my daughter, who is three. She has very small hands! But she can easily reach the first two holes on a D whistle.

Teach your son to play C# (no holes covered), then to alternate between C# and B (top hole covered), then go on to A (top two holes covered). Once he has these three notes down he can play some simple tunes. The sooner he can play a recognizeable melody the more fun it will be for him, so start simple!

Chiffed · Post by **Chiffed** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:59 am

Congrats!
Music in the family will save the world, I'm sure.

I've worked with many kids with different abilities, many different instruments, and I learned a couple of things.

1. Kids can do anything. You already know this.

2. Custom instrument makers are experts in fitting instruments to different people. They often love a challenge.

Who's the maker who advertises custom keywork?

Bryce

Craig Stuntz · Post by **Craig Stuntz** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:02 am

Chiffed wrote:Who's the maker who advertises custom keywork?

You're probably thinking of Daniel Bingamon.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:10 am

Hi Donna---It's always nice to see a new face around here, so to speak.

I am quite new to the whistle myself.

I suppose your little boy would most enjoy playing the tunes he already knows on the whistle. I'm including some websites, in no special order, that have nice tutorials which you might be interested in for your own learning or for helping your little fellow along:

http://www.whistleworkshop.co.uk/home.htm Hit "Instruction" for lessons or "Tunes" for more tunes. Slow and fast whistle versions of all the tunes can be heard. Sheet music can be printed up.
http://nigelgatherer.com/whist.htmlScottish tunes emphasized. A tutorial section and an additional tune section. Slow midi's can be listened to. Sheet music.
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/beginners/tutor/tutor.htmVery basic. Slow and fast examples.
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/slow/session.htmReal nice slow and fast playing of tunes. Sheet music.
http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/b ... index.htmlGood tutorial, lots of tips

Good luck, Donna. You can see that we love to answer questions! You may get more answers than you know what to do with.

Donna · Post by **Donna** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:27 am

Thanks eveybody! We got our whistles yesterday afternoon; two Megs and one Sweetone. All are D's. Turns out Duncan can reach all of the holes just fine but finger movements are prooving just a little awkward because his fingers are also kind of splayed. Not too bad, just enough to be frustrating so I'm taking Craig's advice and working on just C, B and A for now with him. I may also take Innocen't advice soon and get him a C whistle to see if that's any better.

Innocent: Thanks for the link to The Session. So far I haven't been able to download the ABC Navigator but I'll get my husband to work on getting it. I need it because I can't read a lick of music! Right now I'm working with the stave and am relying on my own ears.

Craig: Thanks for the info on where to start with Duncan. He wants to learn Frare Jacques!! I keep telling him Three Blind Mice might be easier to start but he's determined so I've figured it out and am trying to show him.

Chiffed: Duncan found a note that I'd been looking for all afternoon and showed it to me!!

I may need to contact someone to customize for him a little later.

Cynth: Thanks for all the links! We're all pretty excited around here.

I ended up giving the second Meg to my three year old daughter so she could play along with us. Katy absolutely LOVES her new pennywhistle. Unfortunately, she felt it would also make an excellent drumstick!!! Guess I need to get to H & H Music to get her some real ones. She turns EVERYTHING into a drum. :roll: She's got good rythym and timing!

So far I've figured out Amazing Grace, Frare Jacques, Three Blind Mice, Blessed Assurance and a song my father wrote before I was born and I haven't heard anywhere except in my head for years. I'll see him today and plan to surprise him by playing it. Well, picking at it anyway.

Thanks again, everybody. Wish me luck today. First performance and all.

Donna

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:33 am

Welcome, Donna! I don't have anything to add to the sage advice you have already been given, so I'll just wish you luck at your performance today!

I'm sure that you'll do wonderfully!

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:38 am

Oh, that's funny how Duncan found a note you couldn't find! Nothing like getting one up on Mom, eh? I have a feeling it's going to be Frere Jacques with drum accompaniment .

Good luck on the performance!

Craig Stuntz · Post by **Craig Stuntz** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 11:47 am

Donna wrote:Unfortunately, she felt it would also make an excellent drumstick!!! Guess I need to get to H & H Music to get her some real ones.

Or buy her a cheap bodhran and you'd have a band.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:32 pm

Yes! I'd go for a cheap bodhran, too. The "drumstick" for it is short and fat, so it can't go into any little ears or noses. It's thumpable by hand alone, too. They sound wonderfully cool . . .

The Barney theme song is fun to play, and so is Clair de Lune.

Daniel_Bingamon · Post by **Daniel_Bingamon** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:39 pm

Donna,

Please check your private messages..

greg · Post by **greg** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:35 pm

it may be a little pricey but mack hoover makes a narrow bore d that i havent seen but i have the regular bore and its on the small side so the narrow likely is very small

Key_of_D · Post by **Key_of_D** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:39 pm

Donna, since your son has small hands, I wouldn't exactly try to get him a C whistle right away. As someone else stated, whistles come in many various sizes, and those sizes depend on what key the whistle it is. For example, a D whistle is bigger than a F whistle, and a F whistle is bigger than a G whistle. If you do get him a C, don't get him the Clarke Meg whistle. I have a Clarke Meg in C, and for one it seems just slightly out of tune, (hard to notice) and also the bottom most hole on the whistle, is spaced further away from the next hole up, or the D hole, than most other if not all other C whistles. I would suggest a regular Clarke C with the wooden Fipple, (or mouth piece) but they tend to take a lot of air to play. A lot more than a Meg. The Meg really isn't a horrible whistle, but I was just thinking about your son's small hands, and for some reason this whole thing with the bottom hole on it being spaced further away from the rest of the holes might be a problem for him. But they are only 3 dollars, so maybe just buy one for yourself and see if it can work. I don't know if the Clarke C Sweetone is any different than the Meg, as fas as the holes go. The only Sweetone I have is in D. I hope all this wasn't too confusing, just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

Happy whistling Donna!

Chiff and Fipple Forums

New to Whistle Playing

New to Whistle Playing

Thanks for the advice

Re: Thanks for the advice

small whistle

C whistle