emtor wrote:Half-holing can be done by keeping your finger at an angle at the fingerhole.
Breda Smyth does that when playing a D/D sharp sequence . . . <a href="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av2bKHgYurU" target="_blank">
like this</a>
Sure it can. Unfortunately, I don't see any evidence in Breda's YouTube clip to indicate her finger position. Fingering d# in the sequences |~e2^df e| or |e^def gfef| that she plays in Bachelor's Walk can be done easily with the tip of the finger, the side of the finger, the knuckle ... whatever. Of course, this doesn't invalidate your point that it can be done as you describe.
But that's a very different matter from half-holing C-nat, for both mechanical and musical reasons. There's no physical support issue when playing d#. And the d# is usually an accidental to the mode of the tune; whereas the C-nat usually occurs as a scale note of the tune, with more rigorous requirements of both intonation and ease of execution.
I'd love to hear a personal clip of, say, The Graf Spee played up to speed (around mm=110) on a D whistle using only half-holed C-nats. Any takers? I'm sure it can be done, but with what I'd consider great difficulty.
As for the Sindt ... I've tried several Sindt D's, and they're lovely whistles. I was even surprised to be able to produce a very acceptable oxxxox C-nat on at least one of them. That said, I consider the Sindt's lack of a good cross-fingered C-nat by design to be an outright flaw or defect, thus making it a defective whistle. And I don't understand the maker's apparent reluctance to address the problem, especially when some others will bend over backwards to accommodate player preferences. A wacky workaround involving non-standard fingering and/or lighter breath is hardly user-friendly.
Sorry, but I'm the same camp as Rob and Azalin and jem and fearfaoin and plunkett on this one.
