I used to hold the whistle with my right pinkie on the whistle as all times. I found this to be restricting the movement of my right ring finger, so I started palying with the right pinkie off at all times. This helped with finger movement, but when I play C# with all fingers off, the whistle is on the verge of falling! What is the tendency among most whistlers to do?
I suppose I can play C# with the bottom hole covered…
I’ve always heard that you should put your pinky on the whistle to stabilize it. I naturally take my pinky off for D (all fingers down) from my classical flute training and leave it down most of the rest of the time. I think that most people here will agree to experiment and do what is most comfortable for you.
Get
Down
Boogie oogie oogie!
I keep it down.
Stabalizing the whistle with my third finger on the D hole is more comfortable for me than keeping my little finger on the tube.
I let my pinkie drop whenever it feels like it needs to stabilize the whistle. Otherwise, I let it stay up.
I don’t think about it, but when I was very new, it was very distracting to think about.
It took me a bit of getting used to, but I cover the bottom hole to stabilize the whistle for C# and for B rolls. In fact you can keep it down for an A with very little tone change on many whistles, expecially in fast tunes. For slow tunes, I try very hard to cover and uncover the correct holes for best sound.
At first, I was very conscious of the effort of covering the hole, but after a few months it was pretty natural.
I play with my pinky in the air on smaller instruments, but on lower keys, which are larger, I find that I keep my pinky on. This is because there is more room between finger holes on low whistles so it doesn’t get in the way as much, but also because low whistles are heavier and need more support.
It seems that on E and D I have it up but down the rest of the time.
Yeah, it’s definitely good to use your pinky to balance the whistle. I keep it down for all of the notes except E and D. You can also use your right ring finger as a balance finger and place it over the D hole. But this could be problematic when you play fast tunes and have to keep switching fingers. I think the pinky works best 
I have it down all the time.
For all the notes? If you have it down for the low notes, it can restrict your movement.
Well, I haven’t noticed that so far—but then I might be having trouble and not know it. Do you mean that I might not be able to go from low D to low E as quickly? Or maybe not get the bottom hole covered as well as I want? Not quite sure what movement would be restricted. It seems like if I don’t have my pinky down the whistle is waving around all over the place and I can’t count on the holes being where they are supposed to be.
I have mine down all the time and haven’t noticed any restriction either in changing notes or in slides on the E and D holes. I think it would drive me crazy to start lifting it for those two note at this point, though it’s probably not that hard if you start out that way.
I started out with it up all the time, but after my Burke flew out of my hands one time, I switched. I did go through a period when I tensed it (and both thumbs), but once I worked on relaxing it, it was fine.
I’ll agree with Cynth and Darwin here. 
I switched to down all the time after I clocked myself in the nose with my Shaw. 
I think it was on the lesson where Bill Ochs introduces C#.
It still makes me laugh thinking of it. 
Thanks for all the input. I think I’ll try a few different approahes. I like having my pinkie off, but maybe I can train myself to lift it up and down as I need to.
My pinkie doesn’t reach the tube when the other fingers are in playing position. I keep my right ring finger on the C# hole unless I have to lift it, but then there are usually enough other fingers down to stabilize the whistle. Sometimes I also rub on a little beeswax where my thumbs contact the underside of the tube. The wax gives a little traction and helps keep it from slipping.
Mike
Yup that would’ve been my next comment 
It’s a matter of preference I guess, as people have different sized fingers and all. So whatever lets you play efficiently go for it
I have my pinky off all the time. When I play C# I leave my bottom fingers on the holes, but I never put my pinky down.
Justine
I experimented for a little while with keeping the right hand pinky down in order to stabilize the whistle while playing B rolls or C#. This practice was definitely restricting when playing F, E and D, so I don’t use that technique. Most whistle players don’t use a pinky!
I would recommend when playing a C#, stabilize the whistle with your right hand ring finger. You’ll still get a C#. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen some whistle books say the C# should be played with all right hand holes covered (ooo xxx).
I also I do something most whistle players would not recommend. I lightly bite down on my whistle (a habit I picked up from playing sax). Biting down on the whistle, not so hard as to destroy the mouthpiece (I never have even come close), helps to stabilize the whistle. But what most people do, I think, is to use the right hand ring finger.
I can’t get my pinkie anywhere NEAR my whistle.
Therefore I do a maneuver I call the flip - when I go from F-sharp to G I put pinger #6 down on the last hole. And when I go from G to F-sharp I do the reverse.
It takes ten minutes to learn and then you never think about it again. And you never have to use your lips to hold on for dear life!
Give it a try!