OK, I admit I'm one of those frenetic idiots who overdoes everything. I've got sore hands from tensing up while playing. First, I assume that a light touch is all that's needed, right? How light? Here are some examples of pressure. Can anyone tell me what works best:
A: The pressure you would use to simply hold the whilstle up with 2 hands to show it (very little).
B: The pressure you would use if you were holding it with 2 hands and shaking it vigorously. (A little more)
C: The prssure you would use if you were holding it out over Niagara Falls. (Pads of the fingers are depressed).
Finger pressure on the holes: how much is too much...or litt
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Whitmores75087
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Sandy Jasper
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Hello!
With all things in life, technique is the issue here! It is what part of the fingers you use, not the pressure that makes the difference.
Do not use your finger tips!!!!
Use the padding underneath. The pads seal the holes so much better than the tips and it is much more comfortable.
You should have enough pressure to make a good seal but not so much that you can feel the bone of your fingers against the finger tube!
Best of luck,
Sandy
With all things in life, technique is the issue here! It is what part of the fingers you use, not the pressure that makes the difference.
Do not use your finger tips!!!!
Use the padding underneath. The pads seal the holes so much better than the tips and it is much more comfortable.
You should have enough pressure to make a good seal but not so much that you can feel the bone of your fingers against the finger tube!
Best of luck,
Sandy
Keep your posture correct,
then see how little pressure
you can use and still
seal the holes and hold
the whistle. This takes
some attention and concentration,
but generally we can get
by with much less than what
we use. It's helpful to return
to this occasionally and
practice using a minimum
of pressure. How long one
can go on playing without
injury may depend on it.
Also one is faster with
less pressure.
then see how little pressure
you can use and still
seal the holes and hold
the whistle. This takes
some attention and concentration,
but generally we can get
by with much less than what
we use. It's helpful to return
to this occasionally and
practice using a minimum
of pressure. How long one
can go on playing without
injury may depend on it.
Also one is faster with
less pressure.
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sturob
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I'll say this, and I hope it's helpful . . .
If you're asking the question, you're pushing WAY too hard! You should be holding the whistle somewhat with your lips on the beak (mouthpiece) such that the whistle won't fall if you finger a C# (all holes open). My whistles, when I play C#, rest on my thumbs. When I play any other note, my fingers rest on my whistle which rests on my thumbs . . .
Does that make sense? When you start playing fast, you'll be absolutely AMAZED at how much easier it is to play when you're not gripping with fingers . . . akin to the Rockstro grip on the flute. You shouldn't really ever be holding a woodwind with the tonehole fingers, in my opinion: more vertical instruments tend to have neckstraps and thumbrests, whereas the flute (which is their antithesis) seems easiest to me to play when tripoded between mandible, top hand first digit proximal end of the proximal phalanx, and thumb of the bottom hand.
Stuart
If you're asking the question, you're pushing WAY too hard! You should be holding the whistle somewhat with your lips on the beak (mouthpiece) such that the whistle won't fall if you finger a C# (all holes open). My whistles, when I play C#, rest on my thumbs. When I play any other note, my fingers rest on my whistle which rests on my thumbs . . .
Does that make sense? When you start playing fast, you'll be absolutely AMAZED at how much easier it is to play when you're not gripping with fingers . . . akin to the Rockstro grip on the flute. You shouldn't really ever be holding a woodwind with the tonehole fingers, in my opinion: more vertical instruments tend to have neckstraps and thumbrests, whereas the flute (which is their antithesis) seems easiest to me to play when tripoded between mandible, top hand first digit proximal end of the proximal phalanx, and thumb of the bottom hand.
Stuart
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mvhplank
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I suffer from the same problem--Wendy Morrison chided me on my "death grip" when she was up here giving the clinic.
One thing she stressed was using the right-hand little finger on the end of the whistle to stabilize it when playing C#. (That's assuming your left hand is on the top three holes.)
She used just enough pressure to get the notes and any of us could just pull the whistle out from under her fingers--that was one way she illustrated how little pressure was needed.
(If she's browsing the forums, I hope I got it right.)
Marguerite
One thing she stressed was using the right-hand little finger on the end of the whistle to stabilize it when playing C#. (That's assuming your left hand is on the top three holes.)
She used just enough pressure to get the notes and any of us could just pull the whistle out from under her fingers--that was one way she illustrated how little pressure was needed.
(If she's browsing the forums, I hope I got it right.)
Marguerite
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Michael Sullivan
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I agree that it's much easier to play faster with a light touch.
Generally, to answer in terms of the multiple -choice question, you want somewhere between A and B. With A you're not doing anything to the whistle. With B (and C) you're trying to keep it from getting away.
Your whistle shouldn't be running away from you but it shouldn't be just sitting there either. You're dancing with it, you're wooing it, you're carressing it. Make it happy.
Generally, to answer in terms of the multiple -choice question, you want somewhere between A and B. With A you're not doing anything to the whistle. With B (and C) you're trying to keep it from getting away.
Your whistle shouldn't be running away from you but it shouldn't be just sitting there either. You're dancing with it, you're wooing it, you're carressing it. Make it happy.
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serpent
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... all this hangin' onto yer whistles ... y'know, it's no trouble whatsoever to affix a thumb-rest to a whistle. Snippet of wood or copper, some Super Glue, epoxy, or solder, yer there! Mebbe I should try to patent it. 
Bill Whedon
Bill Whedon
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TonyHiggins
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Lot of good advice above, now, here's mine...
The sound will tell you if you're closing the holes adequately, and the less pressure needed, the better. You'll need to train yourself consciously to do this. The faster you play, the more you (I) tend to tighten up. Tunes I know better, I play with my hands more relaxed. So, if you're tensing up, slow way down and focus on how tighly you're holding the instrument. If you tighten when you speed up, slow down again until it becomes natural to relax. I find myself automatically tightening up at certain parts of certain tunes and when I recognize it, I focus my practice on slowly going through those parts with my fingers more relaxed. It takes awhile, but it requires actual retraining.
Tony
The sound will tell you if you're closing the holes adequately, and the less pressure needed, the better. You'll need to train yourself consciously to do this. The faster you play, the more you (I) tend to tighten up. Tunes I know better, I play with my hands more relaxed. So, if you're tensing up, slow way down and focus on how tighly you're holding the instrument. If you tighten when you speed up, slow down again until it becomes natural to relax. I find myself automatically tightening up at certain parts of certain tunes and when I recognize it, I focus my practice on slowly going through those parts with my fingers more relaxed. It takes awhile, but it requires actual retraining.
Tony
http://tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/newspage.htm Officially, the government uses the term “flap,” describing it as “a condition, a situation or a state of being, of a group of persons, characterized by an advanced degree of confusion that has not quite reached panic proportions.”
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jeffmiester
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Whitmores75087
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Daniel_Bingamon
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Actually, Melody flutes have been around for a long time. They look like regular flutes except you blow into a little pipe that supplies the transverse fipple.
If you really really want to try this:
With a hacksaw, you can make a cheap fife into a melody flute with a little piece of rectangular tubing and some RTV sealer. Crude but works. (but please, don't do this to a good instrument)
If you really really want to try this:
With a hacksaw, you can make a cheap fife into a melody flute with a little piece of rectangular tubing and some RTV sealer. Crude but works. (but please, don't do this to a good instrument)