Low whistles - fipple placement

[Brus]

I noticed that in many if not most of the "action shots" in Hannigan and Ledsam's "The Low Whistle Book", the whistlers have the fipple in one corner of the mouth rather than in the center.

Most low whistlers I've seen, including those good enough to play at festivals, keep it centered.

Is there any reason *not* to center it? Was this some sort of trend in the years when most of these photos were taken?

[wizzywig]

Comfort, no real other reason.
wiz

[fearfaoin]

I imagine that the off-centered thing might be because that person finds the angle it allows easier on their fingers.

One reason you might want to center it instead is to make it easier for you to control your embouchure.

Different strokes, I guess.

[Feadoggie]

Top ten reasons to play out to the side:

1. Could be that the ear they lean towards is their good ear. That happens as the years roll by.

2. They just don't want to be straight-forward or confrontational.

3. That's where they are used to holding their briar pipe. Who knows? Sherlock Holmes would play his whistles out to the side.

4. They are highland pipers and that's the side where they blow everything cause that's how the pipe instructor taught them.

5. Maybe that's where the mic is?

6. Could be they want the photogs to still be able to snap pics of their pretty face, especially their dimple on the chin, unobstructed.

7. Their Guinness belly gets in the way otherwise.

8. It just looks cool, like wearing your baseball cap with the brim off to the side fo' shizzle!.

9. That way the condensation drips on the other guy's shoes.

10. They happen to be quite liberal and always lean to the left.

Should I go on?

Feadoggie

[retired]

Dennis - I think you just outdid yourself !

[Brus]

Top ten reasons to play out to the side:

1. Could be that the ear they lean towards is their good ear. That happens as the years roll by.

2. They just don't want to be straight-forward or confrontational.

3. That's where they are used to holding their briar pipe. Who knows? Sherlock Holmes would play his whistles out to the side.

4. They are highland pipers and that's the side where they blow everything cause that's how the pipe instructor taught them.

5. Maybe that's where the mic is?

6. Could be they want the photogs to still be able to snap pics of their pretty face, especially their dimple on the chin, unobstructed.

7. Their Guinness belly gets in the way otherwise.

8. It just looks cool, like wearing your baseball cap with the brim off to the side fo' shizzle!.

9. That way the condensation drips on the other guy's shoes.

10. They happen to be quite liberal and always lean to the left.

Should I go on?

Feadoggie

I suppose if I'd spent a few seconds thinking it over I would have figured that out for myself.

[greenspiderweb]

I've done it just to keep the fipple out of the wind from the fan that sits just to the left of me in the Summer. Could also be useful in crosswinds in outdoor playing, I would imagine.

[pancelticpiper]

4. They are highland pipers and that's the side where they blow everything cause that's how the pipe instructor taught them.

I don't think any legitimate Highland pipe instructor would do such a thing. Standard pedagogy is for the blowpipe to be held in the centre of the mouth.

One of the many small things that make Army pipe bands look so good is the consistent posture: body straight, head straight, blowpipe in centre of mouth, etc.

Which is not to say that you won't see good players with their blowpipes off to the side! A very fine piper I know plays with the blowpipe all the way to one side and his head twisted away from the pipes. He is quite short and I am sure that, as a youth, he learned on a pipe that had a blowpipe far too long for him, and the only way he could play is to twist his head to one side and have the blowpipe in the side of his mouth. Most teachers, most Pipe Majors, would long ago have chopped a blowpipe for him so that he could play the pipes in a normal posture.

It's kind of like the Dizzy Gillespie thing where a great player can break all the rules that beginners are taught.

(I know you were being tongue-in-cheek but I still don't like seeing Highland pipers being thrown under the bus.)

Back to Low Whistle placement, I have noticed, especially on Burkes, the big impact of how deep the fipple is in the mouth has on tuning. The whistle has the best intonation when the mouthpiece is kept fully in the oral cavity; if you back off and just have the tip of the mouthpiece between your lips, B in the low octave will be very flat.

[Sirchronique]

Back to Low Whistle placement, I have noticed, especially on Burkes, the big impact of how deep the fipple is in the mouth has on tuning. The whistle has the best intonation when the mouthpiece is kept fully in the oral cavity; if you back off and just have the tip of the mouthpiece between your lips, B in the low octave will be very flat.

Do you think that's becuase the windway is getting slightly blocked by the lips?


I occasionally hold the whistle angled a bit to one side as well. I never made the decision to start doing it, it's simply how I hold it sometimes without thinking. Not sure if I'm imagining it or not, but I notice that many time when I do it the windway of the whistle I'm playing will stay clear for longer.

No idea why many people do it, though. It might just be an automatic thing, one of the reasons listed above, or simply what is comortable.

Maybe it's some kind of Freudian flute-envy in the subconcious of the whistler that causes people to do it

[megapop]

3. That's where they are used to holding their briar pipe.

I like that one!

[ggiles]

Well .. I know Steafan Hannigan, he's not too far away from me. I haven't seen his book but I've seen him play whistle and it holds it like everyone else ... straight in front. Must have been something he did for the book?

[Brus]

Well .. I know Steafan Hannigan, he's not too far away from me. I haven't seen his book but I've seen him play whistle and it holds it like everyone else ... straight in front. Must have been something he did for the book?

There are pictures of a lot of whistlers in the book, not just instructional pictures, but what I called "action shots", i.e., pictures apparently taken during live performances or sessions.

[Steve Bliven]

[Not to lead to thread drift, but...]

....I still don't like seeing Highland pipers being thrown under the bus.

Which sounds like a great straight line.

Q. What do you call a highland piper under a bus?

A. [[Fill in your own response here.]]

Best wishes.

Steve

[Blower]

Ab piper?

[benhall.1]

Ab piper?

Nah. Just tired.