I am a very new beginner with the tin whistle. I have a Waltons D, I have been practicing every day for a few weeks, much to my boyfriend’s dismay! To me, my tone sounds very “breathy”, not clear and pure like I hear other people play. I am wondering if this is a beginner thing that will go away with practice? Could it be my flute? Or maybe just me? If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them!
Welcome to the board Greenthumbs,
You’ve certainly come to the right place to get your problem resolved. You’ll get a dozen better informed replies soon, but let me be first to say that different whistles sound different!
If you can name the recording (is it a recording?) you’re listening to with “clear & pure” tone, someone can probably tell you the type of whistle being played, or at least who is playing & what they favour.
Try to give as much information as possible about your problem - e.g. There is more than one type of Waltons D, Mellow D or standard bore, Brass or Nickel body. Each of these 4 types will sound different to the discerning ear (not mine alas!). Then there’s the Guiness model, and the Little Black Whistle, also made by Waltons.
There are more types of whistle than flavours of Ice Cream, and that’s just in the key of D! 
Try recording & playing back your whistling practise. Apart from being a good exercise generally, you may be suprised by how different a whistle sounds when not right next to your ears. The breathiness may be less noticeable to other listeners.
Finally, some people like a breathy tone, and look for it in a whistle, so it’s not a dead loss; it may well be that your Walton whistle is naturally breathy.
all the best with your practising!
You could try playing in the bathroom or kitchen. The accoustics are better and you get a much clearer idea of how you really sound.
Another possibility is to play while wearing some form of hearing protection, either ear muffs or foam earplugs. These remove the breath sounds you hear because you’re so close to the whistle, and will give you a fairly good idea what you sound like to others.
It is true that different rooms resonate at different frequency ranges, but therefore just changing rooms may not give a reliable indication of what others are hearing. It will depend critically on the acoustic properties of the particular room you use. I once played my fife in the Illinois State monument at Vicksburg, Miss., and the overtones and harmonics were at least as loud as the primary!
Recording yourself is a good idea, but stand well back from the microphone or it will pick up all the garbage sounds you’re trying to avoid.
And make sure your whistle is clean as a whistle. Check the airway and blade for burrs or plastic debris stuck in there. See Dale’s section on tweaking whistles, right here on this flagelodelic experience.
Hi Greenthumbs!
It may be that with practice you will produce a sound more pleasing to you.
It is also true that a whistle may sound breathier to you than to somebody even a couple of feet away.
But, there is a good chance that it is the whistle. There are billions of whistles out there and lots of them sound awful. It is very much luck or trial and error. If you can get a chance to try a few different whistles (try different brands if you can), you may find one that you really like (it may even look identical to the one you have, but play better) Welcome to the wierd and wonderful world of whistling!
I agree with the above postings. Bear in mind also that a whistle sounds quite different from behind and in front of the whistle itself. Get a whistle that sounds good to YOU when you’re playing, and all else will fall into place.
The Waltons D, one of my 2 favorite whistles (Dixon is the other), has a very traditional sound, which has a little chiff (breathiness), particularly in the second octave. You will hear more of that as a beginner, but as you play more, you will get more breath control, and some the breathiness will go away.
Try playing outside. It will sound quite different. And, like someone else said, record yourself playing. When I did it, I sounded better than I thought. Additionally, keep in mind that what you hear on CDs is done in a studio, where they take out all the bad stuff, like hiss. Just using a mic and amplifier can make a big difference. I remember the first time I played with equipment, I thought to myself, “Hey. This cheap little whistle sounds pretty darn good.”
~ Thornton