I have a Sindt on order, C nat is usually the issue that comes up in discussing this whistle. Half holing will do it is the general comment but going through the Humours of Scarrif recently I wondered if you can get through the second part of it on a whistle that doesn’t crossfinger the c nat. Whats experience with this in tunes like this?
Peter:
I’ve found that, when not half-holing the cnat on my Sindt, oxx oxx works better than oxx ooo or oxo ooo. After playing mine for a couple years now, air adjustment for the cnat has become second nature. It may take a bit of getting used to, but well worth it.
Teri
Peter, I’m sure you, as an experienced player, will have no trouble adjusting your breath to accomodate the slightly sharp cross-fingered C natural, whether the tune is fast, slow, or in between.
Jessie
Oops wrong button
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2001-12-30 15:32 ]
OK that helps, I have only tried a Sindt very briefly and hadn’t any recollecion about cnats not working. Now when the subject came up it didn’t worry me a lot as I imagined I could work around it, I have one whistle though that blatently refuses to cross finger cnat so that had me worried I was getting another one of those. In tunes like the afore mentioned Humours of Scarrif where the tune goes through :
ecgc acgc (really fiddle territory that one)or Sailing into Walpoles Marsh which goes through a similar movement towards the end. There’s no way you can get through that half holing the Cs. But if it just a matter of slight compensation of the pitch or put a few more fingers down I have no problem. Phew.
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2001-12-30 15:35 ]
I also use the same cross fingering on my Sindt as Teri does for first octave cnat. It has an additional advantage of giving a nice approximation to a cnat roll by quickly tapping the lower index and then the upper index on the open holes. Tapping the lower index also gives cuts on cnat. For upper octave cnat ( o x o x x x ) gives me the best results.
Best wishes, Tom