I have a Burke brass HighD pro. This happened on my other whistle too.
When I play high D, either vented or un-vented, I always get a kissing sound when I lift my bottommost finger off the bottom hole. So if I am going from high D to high E (or any note where the bottom hole must be open) there is always a slight kissing sound. I play the vented high D normally, and since I was getting this sound, I played it unvented so I wouldn’t have to be moving my top finger at the same time. I still get the kissing sound when I uncover the bottom hole. It does not happen when I cover it, just when I take my finger off.
I have tried varying the speed of the air, thinking that this was a sign that I was blowing too hard. This has helped me eliminate some unwanted sounds but not this one. Since I get the sound when just lifting up the one finger, I have concluded that it isn’t a problem of not coordinating fingers which has also given me weird sounds. I believe I am lifting the finger as cleanly and quickly as possible, although I could be wrong there. I have tried to cover the hole in different ways, thinking my finger could be mushing down into the hole and creating a vacuum, but this did not seem to make any difference.
Any advice? I have this problem in other places too, but this is the one that I am most aware of. Are there certain notes where a slight thunking or kissing sound is inevitable? I have cured most of them so that’s why I think this must have a cure too. Another place is when I go from low A to C natual. This could be a finger coordination problem, but I just always get a slight thunking sound.
There are many fine slow airs about hogs and chickens in Iowa. Ha! We aren’t really known for our chickens though, I don’t think.
Actually, we’ve spent some vacations in Nova Scotia and I would love to live there. In fact, the music played on Cape Breton Island, I know it isn’t Irish, but that has been one of the things that keeps making me want to try to play something. They have gone to a lot of trouble to get schedules to the tourist offices, so you can really hear some great things up there now instead of finding out you just missed them.
I will further examine my fingers and see if I am inadvertently lifting another one, that is always possible unfortunately.
Just been playing around with my Burke high D to see if I could simulate your problem but I can’t seem to, which leads me to believe that it’s possibly a combination of air flow and hole sealing? Try sliding your bottom-most finger from the D position to the E position in both octaves and making sure the top-most hole is covered (esp.) when playing the E. Practice it a while and let us know how you get on.
On that note how about folks list the top 20 tunes folks should know before venturing out into the wide world of tin whistle playing. I am new to this and don’t really know what tunes are “standards” and which are not as frequently played.
This is just a thought, but one thing to try might be to take a tissue lightly dampened with water and go around the whistle paying special attention to the finger-hole in question.
If there were something sticky adhering to the rim of the tone hole, it could make the sound you describe.
This being an international forum I suppose it’d be difficult pinpointing what’s ‘standard’ by any stretch of the imagination - and believe me my imagination is made out of elastic! However, I’d say the Denis Murphy’s, Egan’s, and Ryan’s polka set would be a good place to start. These tunes are always played at any Comhaltas session.
I’m assuming most start with Irish tunes, but I could be very wrong!!!
Hey Mando—It’s good to know for sure that this is not normal with my whistle–thank you so much for trying it on your whistle. Now I know I must somehow be able to solve the problem. I will try the finger sliding thing. I don’t have the problem in the lower octave, just the upper. But sliding will be an interesting thing to try—if I can get it to not do it once, then I know it is possible—and it may help me pinpoint my exact problem. It sounds so lame, but I play other notes okay with fingers in most of these positions so that is why I am stumped. I know notes at either end of the registers are harder, and this high E I guess is at bottom end of high register. Hmmm—I now wonder if I am needing to increase the air flow to kick up to high E just exactly when I take off the bottom finger and I am not coordinating the two things. I guess I have my work cut out for me here.
peeplj—I will scrupulously clean my finger holes. It sounds like a very good idea no matter what. I probably shouldn’t be eating those jelly beans while I’m trying to play my whistle anyway!
Hooray!!! Today I hit the note without kissing sounds. It happened about 2 times out of 50 tries, but if I did it once I can do it again. I’m quite sure the problem has to do with my blowing too hard. Thanks for the tips and encouragement folks. It gave me that push to try a little harder.
Hooray!!! Today I hit the note without kissing sounds. It happened about 2 times out of 50 tries, but if I did it once I can do it again. I’m quite sure the problem has to do with my blowing too hard. Thanks for the tips and encouragement folks. It gave me that push to try a little harder.