I am still a relative newbie and have had it ingrained in me, from everyone everywhere, that tonguing notes on the whistle generally is taboo. I can hear why, and generally (but not always) avoid tonguing.
Recently, I started working with Brian Finnegan’s MadforTrad tutorial. I love it, and definitely am learning things from it that I don’t think I’d learn from Grey Larsen’s or Bill Ochs’ books (though I have used them as well, think highly of them, and learned a lot from them). For me, in the absence of a live teacher, being able to see the videos of Brian’s fingering has really made a difference.
One thing I don’t get, though: Brian seems to advocate tonguing most notes. In the beginner section, he writes: “Remember to tongue each note and keep your playing nice and steady.” But even in the advanced section of the tutorial, he writes: “Notice that even after all we have learned you can still hear how important and effective it is to tongue your notes.”
And my sense is that, when playing, he is indeeed tonguing most notes. Yet, somehow, when he does it, it sounds beautiful and fluid.
I was at the Burwell Bash last August. Brian recommended saying diddlah rather than takata for jigs. This may have been advice for every 3 notes or only for repeated notes I’m not sure. I find it very easy and useful eg in the Kesh for the triples edd f#dd where the second two are repeated. Otherwise I would normally tongue every third note in a jig.
I have now just bought an overton soprano D. I went for a loud one. Lots of back pressure. Narrow windway which I thought might be prone to clogging but isn’t. Possibly the breath is going through at such speed that it blows away any condensation. Its great for outdoors walking the dog. I love it. But am having difficulty with Add. The second d has a brief D in it that I can only get rid of by tonguing all three. But that is impossible at speed isn’t it?
Tonguing on flute is certainly considered taboo by many but some tonguing is expected on whistle. If you mean tonguing every note, then yes, that’s generally taboo.
I was listening to Josie McDermott this morning and he tongues a lot on whistle, especially triplets.
Are you venting the d? That should clear out any extra noise.
I wrote in a post a little while back about participating in a workshop with Mary Bergin last Autumn (or Fall, if you prefer). She was definitely keen on tonguing, and encouraged us all to try using it as a means of rhythmic emphasis.
I already tended to tongue triplets as if mimicking a “tight” triplet on the pipes. However, the revelation for me was using the tongue on cuts, and in particular on the cut note in short rolls. It’s tricky to get the timing right at first but it’s a really nice effect - if you listen to Mary’s playing you’ll hear that she uses this a lot (you may need to slow it down a bit first…!).
Are you venting the d? That should clear out any extra noise.
Never have. Oh dear. Is that a
standard practice in this situation? I don’t find it very easy to do.
Actually Colin Goldie did mention venting the d - I guess I didn’t want to hear so forgot.
A lot of experts tongue. Here’s a tip that I learned from an old geezer in Ireland. I saw him rest the “beak” of the mouthpiece on his tongue. When you do that it makes your tonguing less obvious. A good technique involves a little tongue waver (with the tongue under the end of the mouthpiece). Don’t force your tongue towards the wind hole. Just do a sort of zen thing and “think tongue”.
To get to where I wanted to be on tonguing I abandoned it entirely for a while. It was so hard for me not to tongue that quitting was the only way to get it under control. Now I introduce a gentle tongue technique (described above) where appropriate. At least where I think it works.
A lot of people who say you shouldn’t tongue often tongue more than they realise.
I actually use the tip of the tongue for tonguing sometimes. I use flutter tonguing which I’ve adapted from saxophone in which the tip of the tongue flutters very quickly over the beak. Brian Finnegan seems to do something very similar; well, it has much the same effect. I wouldn’t use this technique on Irish tunes though. Well, if I did it would be only for a very brief effect, but I probably wouldn’t even use it briefly.
I never considered whether I should or shouldn’t tounge. Every instrument (wind) I’ve ever played you either tounged or slurred or something inbetween, and I figured the whistle really wasn’t any different. Some of the techniques need a little adapting (much lighter touch) but arn’t really much different. I hear recordings from both the tounge and don’t toung camps.
I can’t stand to read and follow method books. I hear something I like, I try to play it the way I hear it. Just my opinion.
Finnigans tongue sounds like a number for the new flook CD.
You guys what would be the point of playing a whistle like some thing other than a whistle. We have the abilerty to use alsorts of ways to make the thing sound good so do it!
Talking of Brian, I always love the huge box of whistles and flute he carryies round we him. all just thrown in together, but when he pulls something out of that box, an gives you a tune -----Wow!!!
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Thankfully there is someone else out there who plays the whistle who uses the method I do - perseverance!!! My mind boggles at all the technical stuff folks talk about on this site - I know I do all that stuff or I wouldn’t get a sound outa the whistle at all but to be quite honest, before I found this site, I thought some of the terms used referred to something rude!
I should have clarified, my mistake. All of my whistles play second octave D without venting too. I meant you can’t play a bottom octave D with the top hole open.
Which means if you cut a vented D you can technically say you are playing a C natural tap… I think It sounds cool anyways.
sounds like a number for the new flook CD.
what would be the point of playing a whistle like some thing other than a whistle. We have the abilerty to use alsorts of ways to make the thing sound good so do it! 
Good stuff Sarah,
My mind boggles at all the technical stuff folks talk about on this site - I know I do all that stuff or I wouldn’t get a sound outa the whistle at all but to be quite honest, before I found this site, I thought some of the terms used referred to something rude! 