I have one low D whistle which, I think, requires more air for playing in comparison to others I have. I sometimes run out of breath when playing it. Is there any way/technique to reduce air consumption? Thanks.
If you reduce your air consumption you may also reduce your life expectancy. Keep breathing.
Are you talking about a commercially made whistle?
Whistles with high and/or wide windways can require more air to keep them going than others. You can reduce the height of the windway by adding material to the ceiling of the windway. What you use and how you go about that depends on the whistle design. Take a look at Guido Gonzato’s site: http://www.ggwhistles.com/howto/index.html#Tips. Look for the bit titled “Dealing With Thick Pipe” for a picture and some discussion.
Make sure you leave the geometry of the windway floor, exit and blade as it was made (unless it is a DIY whistle in which case other work may be required).
There are other things that can make a whistle seem like it needs too much air. It’s hard to say more without knowing more about what whistle you are operating on.
Feadoggie
Moderator Note: So sorry, Angel, I’m afraid I accidentally deleted your post. 
The key points are preserved below, but there was a bit more. Angel also recommended starting with a Bb whistle, and working your way down to the lower keys, building up breath capacity as you go.
Again, my apologies. I guess MT stands for “Major Typo” today …
- MTGuru
That’s not a bad idea; I’ve tried it. You just need to be careful with EZ Grip (Piper’s Grip), because the rings go straight across but your fingers cover the holes at an angle. If the rings are too close to the holes, they can actually prevent your fingers from making a good seal.
I remember the first time I tried playing a G whistle. I could only play for a couple of seconds, and I got so dizzy I almost passed out. Now G or low D is not a problem.
Practice diaphragm breathing instead of shallow chest breathing. Good, consistent posture helps. Work on breath discipline - quick full breaths, and not emptying the lungs completely. In a way, the question is not how to reduce air consumption, but how to increase your air capacity. But of course, some whistles just take more air, and the solution may be a different whistle.
Thanks a lot for your help!
@Feadoggie, That’s a very academic question. I assumed that the total air consumption during my life time is a constant, so reducing air consumption may keep me breathing longer, but I take your advice on board anyway:-)
I made the whistle (one of two Low Ds) myself according to Mr Gonzato’s instruction. I had an experiment of the windway length on the second one so as to make it more responsive. The whistle actually sounds quite nice (IMO). However, I underestimated the effect of short windway on air consumption. I have no problem with playing the other Low D which has a longer windway. I may try your advice of reducing the windway height. Thanks.
@ Angel & MTGuru, I made a Alto G too. I have no problem with playing that. Your suggestion of breathing technique sounds interesting. I am no music expert, so I try to find more information on diaphargm breathing, I haven’t a clue at the moment. “quick full breaths and not emptying the lung”? Can you explain that a bit? Don’t you empty your lung if you take a “full” breath, be it quick or not? You are right on increasing air capacity which would be a handy thing to have in general. I just wondered if there was some way, e.g. changing the blowing angle, to use the breath more efficiently.
By the way, is there a principle that tells you where in the music to take a breath? (or just take a breath when you run out of it).
Your O-ring advice seems to say that imperfect covering of the holes may increase air consumption? I will pay some attention to that. I don’t know what a O-ring exactly is. I guess that it is a sliding ring rest near the hole so that your finger can find a kind of positioning base. I use Piper’s grip on my Low Ds. I can kind of use the finger-tip style too, only finger length wise, but my fingers are not wide/fat enough to cover the holes properly. I can see what you mean in terms of being too close to the holes. I guess that you can make the ring in an angle that is parallel to the angle your finger follows the Piper’s grip? Thanks.
How many square mm is the exit of your windway (or height times width of windway exit)?
O-rings are round, often black rubber, rings, (doughnut shape) widely used for various sealing jobs:
At the window side, it is 11mm x 2 mm, approx. The lip side is 1mm higher.
The rings are slimmer than I thought.
Reducing the windway height by about 0.5mm will make a big difference, if you can work out away to do so, and still have an internally completely smooth windway.
In my own aluminium low D whistles the windway exit is 1.2mm high and 13 or 14mm wide.
Thanks for that. I’ll give it a try but still need to figure out how to do it.
Nice Colored O-rings, i want a pink one…so to tie my piggy bear.
Regarding the Breath control, i am using what the they call the singer’s timed breath, in which you estimate which part of the song, you will ran out of breath.
Example on My heart will go on.
Every night in my dreams, ( minor air sip suggested) (amateurs dont breath here normally)
I see you, I feel you (minor air sip suggested) (amateurs will definitely make a major breath here and you will hear a super air sip on the microphone)
That is how na na na…go on (major air sip suggested)
a minor air sip is placed on which the part is at rest or the weak beat is dying (ending) before another downbeat (strong beat)
a major air sip is a breath in which if it is long rest, you stock-up a lot in preparation for long passage or lines.
However in Irish Music…most are restless… (no rest)
In my 2 months of self studying the music, Toss the Feathers…Tossed my lungs out at the beginning. 
So, a minor air sip is the option you will need to use often.
Study the downbeats of the song… always remember not to sip air on downbeats.
Downbeats are strong beats and sipping air on a downbeat will make the beat weak and delayed by some disturbing milliseconds.
Never sip on a triplet. Sipping on the triplet will make it weak and sometimes sound like quartet(quartlet) or 4 note value on a given note.
Sip on a low note not on a high note (suggested). Most of the time sipping on high notes will actually make you blow notes harder, making you lose more air.
Practice the Hsssssss sound like a snake… The Hsssssss sound strengthens your diaphragm.
Use weights on your diaphragm. Lie in your bed and use the Hsss sounds and put a heavy book on your diaphragm area.
Diaphragm supports and minimizes the back pain or back pressure.
Control your lip movement, wider opened lips lose more air when it is not needed.
Use the TEE, TEA mouth position when blowing not the Pfffff sound when blowing.
Pfff will sound strong but will make you lose your breath oftern. Shift according to air budget.
Make sure your body is straightened up and not arched as arched position shortens the lung area, thus lessens the air supply.
Look to the audience and not on the whistle, have fun and play a song that can melt their underwear. If you dont relax you will lose more air. 
Ok then, since you are using GG’s construction method I’d try to glue a piece of material inside the mouthpiece collar. You can experiment with various thicknesses of plastics gleaned from your recycling bin - butter tubs, yogurt cups, soda bottles, etc. Cut strips the width and length of your windway and attach them inside the collar with a contact adhesive so you can try several thicknesses. Heck, even the old elementary school type of rubber cement should work for experimenting. Once you get things sussed out you can use a more permanent glue. Since it is a short windway make sure the walls are smooth. Make sure every edge of the exit is also deburred and you might want to ease the edge of the plug too.
Another method that could help a short, high windway is to use your lips to direct the air as though it were a flute. You control the aperture of your lips to limit the amount of air and to focus the jet in the windway, not unlike playing a quenacho.
I’m not a fan or rules or principles for where to breath in a tune. The structure of the tune should tell you where to take a breath and this should come naturally as you learn the tune. Every tune is a bit different.
Hope that helps some.
Feadoggie
Thanks very much for the advice.
By the way, is yours a loud one? 13 or 14mm is a wide windway?
I don’t think I want to go wider than 14mm by1.2mm, as the air requirements getting a bit tough. 13mm is my standard width, and the whistle is fairly powerful, comparable in volume to my tweaked Burke Viper, but not as loud as my flutes. It can be played loud and softly too, since the windway is not too tall, and the distance from windway exit to the blade is not too large (I usually settle for half of the window width when voicing, which helps to create a more focussed, cleaner sound).
Excuse me for being ignorant, what do you mean by “settle for half of the window width when voicing”? What is voicing? Do you mean you have a slide which can cover part of the window? The whistle will be quieter but it also goes flat in this way as I understand.
Think Hans means his window’s twice as wide (across the whistle) as it is long (from windway exit to blade).
What is voicing?
The art of getting everything just right in that critical area (especially re. how the airstream’s directed from windway to blade).
Yes, that’s what I meant, measured from the upper or roof part of the windway exit to the tip of the blade. Then of course there is still the matter of how far the plug/block protrudes relative to the upper/roof exit of the windway, and how much it is chamfered. Fairly critical to get the whistle to speak (starting a note) easily.
Only that there is no “right”, you just get a different voicing when changing the dimensions. And there is a lot more to voicing than the dimensions, you need to get the edges right (for the voice/sound you are after), and the tone/finger holes right as well, including their edges. You can eliminate a lot of wind noise smoothing things, rounding edges, including in the bore.
And that, Hans, is why I said ‘the art’! 
I see. Thanks. I guess this is the general way of tweaking.