OUCH! High notes are killing me!

Joe_Atlanta · Post by **Joe_Atlanta** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:50 pm

Well, after only a few weeks of playing the whistle, I'm thoroughly hooked and showing signs of WhOA. Following the C&F guide I tweaked my Perri (yeah, the nuclear orange one), then only days later broke down and ordered a very small bore Susato D (along with the Whistler's Pocket Companion). I figured I needed it's quietness for my late night practice (yeah, that's the ticket).

The Susato plays very nicely (much easier overall to play than the Perri, although a much different tone) and it is nice and quiet through most of it's range. After finding a suitable pressure for the low D, it's not too hard to maintain a fairly even volume as I play up through the scale.

However, at the high B there's a kind of a pressure hump where I have to blow quite a bit harder than on the high A. The B (and the upper C# and D) also have a much different tone, bigger, like there's a much stronger harmonic note along with the fundamental and seems a LOT louder (almost ear damaging). I had heard some of this at the high C# and D on the Perri, but it's much more noticeable on the Susato since that whistle is able to play most of the upper octave at a quieter level.

I've played around a lot with my embouchure trying to figure out if that was the problem and certain positions seem to help, but none make the problem go away. I also regularly clear the air ways.

So is this a newbie problem that will get better with practice? Or is it something that is just part of how a(n inexpensive) whistle plays?

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:56 pm

In my humble experience, this is a pretty common problem, that affects even some of the expensive whistles. You could try an O'Briain "improved Feadog". It may be harder to play at first, because it will require more breath control, but it shouldn't have this problem.

lixnaw · Post by **lixnaw** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:02 pm

protect your ears anyway, buy some earplugs http://www.sensorcom.com/productdetail.asp?ID=409

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:41 pm

Out of about a dozen high D whistles, the ones that are the best in this regard are a Sindt (brass, narrow bore), a narrow-window Hoover Whitecap on a Feadog shaft, and a Jerry-tweaked Generation. All three can go right up to second-octave C# without shrieking, although the Gen and the WC-Feadog sometimes require a little more attention than the Sindt.

Several of my more expensive whistles can't make it quite that far, and some of the cheap ones aren't even happy with the second-octave B.

I think I may have increased my existing high-frequency hearing loss (from years of shooting without ear protection) when I first started out at the beginning of the year. I was playing scales and seeing how high I could go. Then, I developed a ringing in my right ear that lasted for about a week. Now the high notes don't bother me so much.

So, earplugs may not be a bad idea.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:56 pm

Eh?

Best wishes,
Jerry

lixnaw · Post by **lixnaw** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:17 pm

try this thing jerry

this is my dear ol' neighbour, mrs. mannix, never played any music in here whole life,
but she can still here the fifth octave!! i blame these walls!

Whitmores75087 · Post by **Whitmores75087** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:41 pm

Welcome to the wonderful world of Susato's.
If you want a quiet whistle I'm recommend a Hoover.
For volume I'd recommed Silkstone metal. Expensive but worth it.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 8:37 pm

And I thought I was the only one with a Perri, seein' as how it's named for my daughter.

Philo

Joe_Atlanta · Post by **Joe_Atlanta** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:16 am

Thanks for all the tips and info, folks. If I persist with the upper register arpeggio work I will definitely be using plugs. As it is, I think I'll just avoid those notes until I get a whistle that will play them below ear damaging volume. My Bingamon practice low D arrived today and I'll be spending more time with it than with my current high D's. As it happens, my new low D also suffers from the same pressure/volume/extra loud harmonic at the upper B!

this is a pretty common problem, that affects even some of the expensive whistles....

Several of my more expensive whistles can't make it quite that far, and some of the cheap ones aren't even happy with the second-octave B....

If this a fairly common trait, it's interesting to me that it's not mentioned (or at any rate, emphasized) in any of the tutorials I've seen. Do people just see it as quirk of the instrument that they work around (or with) when playing? An integral part of it's "folkiness"? For myself (not too concerned with the "tradition"), it drives me crazy to not be able to play a relatively even volume scale from low to high. Particularly since we perceive higher notes as louder anyway (Fletcher-Munson Curves).

Crysania · Post by **Crysania** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 3:54 am

I have no problem with my Oak going up there...I don't really find the highest notes shrill or that they jump out at you. Might consider trying one of those!

~Crysania

BEC · Post by **BEC** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 12:06 pm

I just got a set of Syns and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the D, C and Bb bodies all go right up to that top note without a push like you describe (and I have experienced in my Susatos of various size and my Kerry Low D).

The Syn C in particular just goes right up with no fuss and a relatively pleasant sound not unlike my Perri C.

Just another relatively new and quite inexpensive ($30 for the head, $5 each for bodies, $5 for shipping from Australia) alternative.....

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 1:00 pm

You might also consider lower pitched whistles like a Bb. Also consider your playing environment. If you sit with your back to a bare wall, or in a small room, you'll get a lot more ear drum hammering than outdoors. When I'm learning a new tune that has those high notes and I'm going to be playing it over and over for the memorization, I use a Bb or A.

For myself, I never play above the high cnat, and that, only sparingly.
Tony

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:28 pm

TonyHiggins wrote:When I'm learning a new tune that has those high notes and I'm going to be playing it over and over for the memorization, I use a Bb or A.

Sometimes I use a Hoover whitecap on a Gen tube, which is very easy on the ears. With my other whistles I wear ear protection.

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:47 am

I finally got a solution for the problem. Renee, my wife, normally complains terribly about High whistle playing in the second octive above D or E. I recently came into a D/C O'Riordan Traveler set. Last night I was playing the D quite a bit in the upper register with nary a complaint from her. The Lancewood Syns I got are OK with her up to about second G.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:44 am

I think the Walton's C has a very mellow upper register - if you've got one, give it at try. (And at $5, why don't you have one?)

Although my Dixon D isn't terribly quiet in the upper register, my Dixon Bb (same bore size as the D) is. Probably my best high whistle for late-night playing, though the Walton's C comes close.

My Chieftain Bb is not "quiet" in the upper register, but it doesn't have that eardrum-piercing edge either. Not a good late-night don't-wake-the-kids whistle, but I can play it for hours without the high notes bothering me (or maybe it's that once it's warmed up, in tune, and not clogging I hate to let it cool down - its one annoyance that since it's an all-metal whistle it needs a while to warm up).

There you go - three alternatives, going from cheap to medium pricy.