Question for those in the know. I am a fairly new Irish Dancer, and I am interested in learning the whistle for music competitions.
I picked up a $9 (us) whistle at a recent feis, and my problem is that I very very easily overpower it, and am having tremendous difficulty in producing a consistent tone or tones in the lower range. (I used to swim competitively for a long time, and as such I have large, powerful lungs. Dunno if that has anything to do with it )
Would a low whistle be easier in this case? Or a keyless Irish Flute?
Any and all replies welcomedā¦flames will be met with disdainā¦
The high whistle is probably the easiest 6-hole breath instrument to learnā¦ itās just going to be a matter of learning the breath control (which will come in handy if you branch into singing too, or low whistle, or fluteā¦)
You might just have a low-power whistleā¦ some of them take just the softest breath for the lower octave and barely more than that for the upper octave and can easily be overblown higher into the out-of-tune overtonesā¦
Some of them take some pretty steady breath for a lower octave, a good hard push for the upper octave and -real- effort for the higher overtones.
Regardless, though, youāll find your breath control will improve with practiceā¦ you donāt have to do any tedious exercises or anything, either, just play tunes and try not to āsqueakā or drop notes.
I personally found the Clarke Original a helpful learning aid though, because it takes a lot of air, and mine, at least, was fairly easy to hit both lower and upper octaves but hard to hit the āin-betweenā sort of squeak and hard to hit the high-overtones sort of squeakā¦
If Iām being too technobabbly just say so and Iāll rephrase. Or someone else will. As the case may be. Helpful bunch around here, I think youāll find. (Or maybe we just canāt stop talking about whistlesā¦ a new symptom of WhOA? ('subjects with WhOA, when not whistling, limited their conversations to questions of music shop staff about the prices of various whistles and discussions with other victims about whistlesā¦ ')
Overblowing is one of the most common mistakes made by beginnersā¦I sure did my share of it, recalling how in my first two months as a beginner I couldnāt play my Soodlum D without squeaking consistently. Use your diaphragm to control the air column you are supplying to the whistle. Different whistles take differing amounts of breath pressure, and many of the cheapie D whistles require a LOT less air than you suppose.
Hi Aodhan and welcome to the board.
As the others said, it just takes a lot of trial and error practice. Donāt get frustrated, it will come.
Try this: Start with the bellnote(the lowest note- all 6 holes covered), and just exhale into the whistle increasing the pressure slowly until you get the tone. Think of your throat and the whistle body as one continuous tube and you want to just keep the whole tube filled with air at a constant(part that will need a lot of practice) pressure. Donāt blow through the tube as much as just keep it filled and the note playing.
Then raise your bottom finger and, if necessary, increase the pressure ever so slightly until the second note sounds and you can hold it.
Now go back to the belltone(put finger down over bottom hole and play the first note again. Go up and down between the two notes until you can hit each one without sluring or squeeking too much.
When you feel comfortable with the first two venture up to the next note(two fingers up). You may need to increase pressure just a little. Get the third note under control then venture down to the second then first and back up until you can play each note.
Repeat the process all the way up the whistle. Keeping in mind that you are trying to keep the wind tube(your throat and the whistle body) filled with a constant pressure column of air. You will notice that more and more pressure is needed as you get to and pass the middle note.
Hope this exercise is helpful, and I repeat, keep practicing and donāt get frustrated(if you do put the darn thing down and do something else for a while like have a Guinness or two)
Thereās a huge difference in air requirements across the high-D spectrum. For example, I can never switch directly between an Overton High D and Hoover narrow Bore D. Theyāre in the same key and both are good whistles - but the air flow needed to drive the second octave on an Overton would cause a hypersonic note range on the Hoover.
I always get beginners to start by playing āGā - i.e. just the top three holes covered. That gives them less to worry about, and itās also an easier note to play than bottom D, which is the hardest note to play on many whistles, especially for a beginner.
When theyāre covering these holes properly, getting an unsqueaky G, I then get them to play A B A G. When theyāve mastered this I add G F G F, interspersed with a few returns to A B A G until they can play F G A B A G F comfortably, coordinating the two hands.
Then I bring them on to playing G F E and bottom D, and progressively integrate these notes with the top hand. When theyāre confident with bottom D, I add C sharp and high D.
Then comes the the second octave. I work quite a bit on the transition from high D to high E, as thatās where the two-hand coordination is most critical. I discovered quite recently that the old song āPut another nickel in (in that nickelodeon)ā is good for pracising this, even if itās not part of the Official Canon of Irish Music.
C natural just comes in naturally somewhere along the way, depending on how quick the learner is.
I try to get them playing tunes as soon as possible, starting with a tune which contains part-scale runs but above all one which they already know by ear. The Dawning of the Day (aka Raglan Road) starting on the G is an ideal beginnerās tune for anyone that knows it. My latest beginner went away after her first lesson with three tunes to work on, which is much more gratifying than playing scales. And I didnāt even go to a Montessori school!
I have to agree with Roger. When I got my first whistle a year ago (Waltonās brass D) I had never played a wind instrument before and found it difficult, if not impossible, to get that lowest note. If I ever did hit it it was full of squeaks and squawks.
What worked the best for me was to start with just the top hole covered (B on a D whistle) and play that until I could get a consistent, non-squawking note every time, then progress to two holes covered, then three, and so on till I finally mastered the bottom D.
Good luck! There is hope in sight, donāt give upā¦
As you can see Aodhan there are differing opinions and methods even on the rudiments of whistling. As you progress you will find that there are many opinions and methods for just about every aspect of the humble pennywhistle, which in my humble opinion is part of the fun and joy of the instrument.
I certainly donāt disagree with Roger or Cees, this was just the approach that worked best for me. I had a tendancy to overblow notes and create squeeks that attracted every dog in town and drove every other living thing away. Mastering or at least producing a recognizable version of the hardest note(belltone) then working up the scale helped me with breath control.
Do try all methods until you hit on THE one for you then make a joyful noise.
Hey all, thanks for the replies! Iām going to start practicing the bell notes, etc. (It was kind of irritating actually, my girlfriend is an open championships dancer, and plays the flute. She just picked up the whistle and started playing. Grrrrrrā¦)
While Iām practicing, I also ordered the Low āDā whistle/flute combo from Tony Dixon. When it arrives, Iāll keep you posted on how the practice is going!
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