I’ve been working on recording with my bandmates lately and in addition to the accordion parts I am primarily playing, they’ve asked me to contribute some whistle parts to a couple of our tunes. Well something has been driving me nuts when playing C natural on any of my D whistles. I’ve been using both Burke DAS and Jerry Freeman’s Blackbird (my new favorite) as well as borrowing the guitar and bass player’s whistles.
For the life of me it ALWAYS sounds like my C natural is the only “wonky” pitch that doesn’t quite seem like it is in tune with the rest of the instruments on a given track. I think it’s worse on some whistles as compared to others, and I think I am using the right fingering, but are there any tips or tricks I am missing? Here is the fingering I usually use:
OXXOOO
I am sure this topic might have been covered before, but I am pretty lousy at zeroing in on a previous thread via the search tool…Any help, or link to an older thread, is appreciated.
Learn to half-hole the C naturals. Otherwise, if you use the cross fingerings, find the one that is best in tune for the particular whistle you are using. And it will vary from whistle to whistle. The 0XX 000 will work for passing notes on most whistles. I use that a lot on Burkes. Other fingerings may include 0X0 000, 0XX X00, 0XX X0X. And watch your breath control.
I agree with Feadoggie. I found consistently accurate half-holing is an art and requires a LOT of practice but is an invaluable technique to master. But there are instances where half-holing isn’t the best choice so it’s good to know the most effective cross fingering for each whistle as well. Experiment and you should be able to find a fingering that works, or a combination of fingering/breath control as Feadoggie mentioned. Cursed with perfect pitch, the c-nat issue drives me nuts as well, so I understand your dilemma all too well.
Intonation accuracy isn’t the only consideration when searching for a good c-nat. The other issue you’ve probably already run into is the c-nat on some whistles may be accurate but sounds weak with a tonal inconsistency that audibly stands out from the surrounding notes…especially noticeable when recording.
Finding high D whistles with the ideal c-nat in terms of intonation, volume/strength, tonal character, and player input isn’t easy, but they’re out there.
Other than the two whistles mentioned, what others have you tried that aren’t working out?
I appreciate the above advice, and glad to know that I am not alone in this experience. As far as other whistles go, I’ve noticed it on my guitarist’s one that has a conical bore and bears a Celtic triskellion logo on it. No clue what the brand is, but it has the same issues with OXXOOO.
I think I am going to practice doing the half-hole thing since I was aware of that option, but had not given it much of a go. Upon further noodling earlier today I noticed that the C natural sounded a lot clearer this way, but was a little harder to keep consistent. Time and patience will fix that and luckily I’ve got plenty of both!
As for the recordings, technically I am done and used the Burke for both, but if my parts stand out to anyone else in the band, or the engineer for that matter, we can always re-record me in a few minutes time. On a somewhat amusing side note, a lot of the guys in my band accept that the whistles and accordion both have a particular “wonky” sound and don’t expect the tunings to be 100% perfect. I guess I don’t want to sound like a robot either…
There is a cross-fingering that hasn’t been mentioned yet: OXO XXX
Almost all of my whistles sound best when the ‘standard’ OXX OOO is used. However, I’ve recently acquired a Copeland low D, and the OXO XXX is noticeably loads better. I’m finding it a bit awkward to teach myself to be able to switch from one to the other when swapping whistles.
If you’re an AR Perfectionist, nothing beats a C natural thumbhole. Most “tweakers” will install one for you at minimal cost. Maybe a metal Generation to start(?)
The added benefit to the C natural thumbhole is “pinching” in the upper registers for more accurate scale notes, instead of cracking open the top tonehole.
Interesting you’d say that. A few years ago I saw a video interview with Sharon Corr of The Corrs talking about ITRAD that has always stuck with me. She said what makes ITRAD so special in her mind is hearing slightly imperfect tonal and intonation interaction between intruments in a live session as opposed to a robotic, clinically perfect track in a studio. Not her exact words but the basic point made.
Definitely work on half holing. Once you learn that, it’ll work with ANY whistle, with minor adjustments. Plus, you can use the same technique to play good Fnat,G#, Eb, etc. But wait! There’s more! If you start with a note like G and start to open the hole gradually as if you were playing a G# and then continued opening the hole until it was fully open, you’d have just made a nice slur up from G to A.
Sure it takes a bit of practice and experimenting, but I can’t imagine why anyone WOULDN’T want to learn this!
The world has recently become filled with whistle makers (anyone with a drill press and a charge account at Home Depot for plumber’s pipe), yet the true mark of a properly made whistle is an in-tune C natural fingered OXXOOO. Check out the SweetHeart whistles for something that plays in bloody tune for a change. The hard, unpallatable truth is that it takes work, tons of time, and math skills to produce an actual musical instrument that works as it should. Lots of folks will tell you that all those ‘other’ fingerings are critical to some aspect of ‘art’ and that if you don’t know them you’re missing out on something important, but they’re just making excuses for wasting money on junk.
Oh yeah, just kidding guys (except for the Sweetheart part).
I resemble that remark. Actually, you don’t need the charge account. The pipe’s really inexpensive.
More seriously though… I wouldn’t agree with what you have postulated as the mark of a properly made whistle. There are a lot of properly made whistles that don’t play an “an in-tune C natural fingered OXXOOO”. Have you played a John Sindt high D? It’s a lovely whistle and one played and preferred by many. It’s all relative to what the player prefers.
One could just as well postulate that a properly played C natural is a half-holed C natural. That works on all whistles, properly made or not.
The last thing I want to do is pay anyone (or Michael Burke himself!) to drill press a C natural thumb hole in the bottom of my Burke, that being said, does this thumb hole function at all similarly to the thumb hole of my GHB chanter? Just curious…
I don’t do a lot of half-hole anything, I suppose since I only typically play whistle on our songs that are in D or G. At the end of the day, as much as I like playing the whistle, it’s not my primary instrument in the band (or in general). However, I do a fair amount of rolls into slurs, so learning it would add one more trick to the bag, and the last thing I ever want to be accused of is being a one-trick musician!
Thanks again to everyone for their advice/perspective! Now I need to go back to the drawing board and start writing some more songs for the band…
I’m not a piper so I can’t comment on the chanter matter. I do have a couple of Burke D’s with the C natural holes (bought them from friends here on the board) drilled on the back side. It really works as advertised. I just don’t use those holes. It acts as another note on the scale, the halfstep between B nat and C sharp. It’s properly sized and positioned to give you an equally strong and balanced C nat without half-holing or cross-fingering. Here’s a thread where Mike Burke explained his reasoning for the option of the extra hole. https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/michael-burke-whistles-thumbhole/54365/1
I don’t know if that answers your question at all though but I hope it helps.
I guess I didn’t select the right emoticons. Sorry if that came off poorly. It’s all in good fun. Really!
And here’s the c-nat thumbhole in action on a tune in C played on an Abell high D with thumbhole. The added thumbhole really does help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uLDuiAzajU
BTW-- having had my say about half holing, I DO use OXXOOO a lot of the time too. It all depends on the context of the note in the tune.
Sounds in tune that way too…
Actually, you don’t need the charge account. The pipe’s really inexpensive.