Hello, I'm new to the whistle and to the group. I've always enjoyed the captivating sound of of the whistle in Irish music, and I thought I'd buy one and give it a try. I bought a Feadog D whistle and the book "Cathal McConnell Teaches Irish Pennywhistle" at my local music store yesterday.
I've played soprano recorder for the last few years, and that seems to have helped getting started on whistle. I'm able to play with good tone and sustain in the lower octave, but I'm having some trouble with the higher octave. I can start the notes just fine using the right combo of tougue technique and breath speed, but I can't seem to sustain the higher notes for long. Are there any good links on technique that would help a beginner with this?
Welcome to Chiff and Fipple! We're glad you could make it!
As for hitting the second octave, I'm not sure about any links, (although someone else will be able to tell you), but you might want to try the seach function. You can find the button near the top right of the screen. I'm sure you'll be able to find all kinds of threads on technique!
Practice, it'll come. Take it outside to the
desert and wail. Dont do it in a small
enclosed space; careful with your hearing.
If push comes to shove, situps help.
Many people have to build
the chops to control the second
octave.
Cathal suggests that you
staccoto the top notes in the second octave,
by the way, so as not to deafen your
audience. Welcome, by the way!
And it's more air velocity and support than it is the amount of air.
I've found it helps not to puff my cheeks - keep them firmly against your teeth, keep the mouth cavity small, and support it from your diaphragm, not from your upper chest. Focus it.
I play recorder, too, and the upper octave on whistle is a lot easier - though I don't like to play above high B (too shrill, indoors), I can play all the way up to 3rd octave G if I have to. On recorder, anything above 2nd octave G takes work (and funky crossfingering).
An exercise that may help is to work your way up the scale from D to C# (all fingers down to all fingers up) alternating between the first and second octaves several times on each note. At first it may seem difficult, but it becomes second nature quite easily. I know that pieces that I thought were really difficult at first (long 2nd octave stretches) now are easy (my currrent impossible tunes are all about ornamentation - but simple cuts and taps are getting to be second nature now, and even my rolls are getting better).
And, most imporantly, have fun - as long as you're playing, and enjoying yourself, the rest will come.
Thanks for the welcome and replies. I won't mention the r word again!
I'm going to try a Clarke whistle as well since that's the only other kind that my local music store has. After that, I'll probably order a couple of other low end ones to try out and see what I prefer.
I did find some other helpful posts in the archive, particularly in the "Beginner Having trouble" thread. I'm sure I'll have more questions later.
If it's a Clarke Original you're thinking of getting from your music store (the rolled tin whistle with wooden fipple plug) then you might find sustain even trickier to achieve as the Clarke Original takes a bit more air than many. It is possible to tweak them by slightly squashing the tin windway over the top of the fipple (see other threads here for details), but a beginner might be wary of mashing up a new whistle. The other popular Clarkes, the Sweetones (rolled tin again but with a plastic mouthpiece) are a bit less demanding in the wind department, and very good for beginners.
You could do worse than persevere with the Feadog. The current ones are good instruments with a nice trad sound. The Feadog nickel D is my current favourite whistle!
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
jim stone wrote:
Cathal suggests that you
staccoto the top notes in the second octave,
by the way, so as not to deafen your
audience. Welcome, by the way!
It works...that's just what I do to save the fiddler's ears.
Welcome on board!
I would suggest that you get some poster putty (AKA "bluetack"), available at hardware stores, WalMart next to the crayons, home centers. Make a ball of poster putty about the size of a pea and drop it into the socket end of the mouthpiece (pull it off the tube first; Feadog whistleheads aren't glued). Tamp it down with something flat. I use the handle end of an exacto knife, but anything will do, e.g., an unsharpened pencil. Add or remove poster putty and tamp it flat until you have a nice flat surface, even with the end of the windway.
This tweak reduces air turbulence in the airstream and makes the whistle more playable and cleaner sounding. Feadogs respond especially well to this treatment.
Thanks for the suggestion Jerry, although I'm not sure I completely understand. I assume this has to be a very thin layer of putty so the whistlehead will go back on, right?
I did buy one of the Clarke original whistles on the way home from work today. It does take more wind, but so far I've been able to manage it. Once I started getting used to the Clarke, I definately prefer it to the Feadog. I'm able to play the higher notes quite easily on it. One of the first tunes I've been working on is The South Wind, and the high G sounds very nice on the Clarke. I've also ordered one of the tweaked Clarke Sweetone's from The Whistle Shop.
Thanks again for the warm reception and replies,
Bob
norseman wrote:Thanks for the suggestion Jerry, although I'm not sure I completely understand. I assume this has to be a very thin layer of putty so the whistlehead will go back on, right?
There's a sizeable hollow under the windway on most (all?) of the plastic-headed whistles. The idea is to fill that hollow. It should be clearer once you've got the whistle head off. Shouldn't interfere with putting the head back on in any way.
There's a step-by-step on this (with simple illustrations) on the main Chiff & Fipple site.
