After recording myself playing for the first time, I notice that I am not getting the crisp, clear notes that I would like i.e. my fingers are not all coming down on the holes at the exact same time.
Any suggestions on exercises that I can do to fix this problem?
Thanks in advance 
One that you can try is:
D E D F D G D A D B D C D etc.
and back down.
Good luck with it,
Erik
By all means, continue to record yourself. Try something you think sounds better, record and review, keep making changes. Itās a real eye-opener and a great way to make improvements.
Tony
Gerry are you using any tonguing?
If you usually tongue notes try practicing without any tonguing - slur everything (legato - connected) but concentrate on finger accuracy.
Also, play slowly, watch your fingers and try to firmly place fingers over the holes, watching for accuracy. Do this for a while, then go back to playing ānormallyā. It may help. Also, I agree - tape yourself and listen carefully to which intervals are the problem and work on those. It takes time, but you will soon notice an improvement.
Good luck.
Personally, Iād say learn to listen to your playing with a critical ear. If you can be critical of your own playing (ie. listening & critiquing it as if it was someone else), you will improve a whole lot because you will be listening for the little technical things that arenāt coming out exactly āright.ā
Then you will be able to improve upon them. I find that when I do this while rehearsing, my performance will improve greatly after I find what ānit-picky little thingsā I donāt usually pay attention to, yet make a difference in my sound.
However, just donāt become so ānit-pickyā about your playing that you are beating yourself into the ground, so to speakā¦ Music is fun, and should be enjoyed, even when youāre trying to improve upon it.
Iām afraid that probably wasnāt too clear, but hopefully you got what I was trying to get acrossā¦??
I still sometimes have a problem getting good notes when I need to jump up two notes, say from D to F. Iāve found that by focusing on getting the upper finger lifted first, in my case the E finger, things are much cleaner. They really should come up at the same time but thereās a real tendency to lift the lower finger first. By over compensating you should end up doing the right thing. The simplest exercise I can think of to get you started is to work on playing D F D F D F D, etc. as cleanly as possible. You can then carry that to other two-note transitions.
Donāt despair! Itāll come eventually!
Donāt forget that recording yourself, especially at first, is hard.
It gets easier. And itās great that you are doing this now.
Recording yourself, in some ways, is actually harder than playing for other people. You are always aware of the mike, and always aware that while other people might forgive, or even overlook a mistake, the mike never will.
But the flip side is once you get used to playing for the microphone, playing in front of people is a snap.
Best wishes, and keep whistlinā!
āJames
http://www.flutesite.com
On 2003-01-06 23:22, Whistlepeg wrote:
Gerry are you using any tonguing?
If you usually tongue notes try practicing without any tonguing - slur everything (legato - connected) but concentrate on finger accuracy.
Thanks Sue. No I tongue very little but thanks for the tip anyhow.
Just to clarify, I am not a beginner, actually I have been playing for more years than I can remember, but have never actually recorded myself. It was only when I did that I could hear that my notes were not as crisp as I would like them to be (I guess I assumed I was playing them clearly ~ also I have picked up some bad habits over the years). Also, like the Elf mentioned, I have to be careful not to become too critical.
Thanks everyone for the tips. I guess itās like driving a car ~ you pick up bad habits along the way and have to refocus in order to get rid of them.
On 2003-01-07 08:06, peeplj wrote:
Donāt forget that recording yourself, especially at first, is hard.It gets easier. And itās great that you are doing this now.
Recording yourself, in some ways, is actually harder than playing for other people. You are always aware of the mike,
Thank you, James. Iāve found that I actually sound better ā ie, my ornaments are crisper on the tape than to my ear while playing. OTOH, as you said, Iām always aware of the mic, recording level, etc., and I get distracted. The worst, though, is Iām finding it REALLY difficult to play through mistakes, which I can generally do pretty well at other times.
Same problem, different level of and history of playing. My solution (instructorās actually) were scales/exercises to a metronome set at about 100 bpm, concentrating on the ring fingers of both hands which are weak, and snapping fingers down and up.
The worst is when I get tense. Iām back to thinking of so many things while I"m playing: what notes, where to breathe, relax the pinkie nagdabit, am I still on the beat? donāt tongue, donāt ornament there, WHAT NOTE? drop your shoulders, if youāre going to breathe, idiot, take a BREATH not a sipā¦
But the fingers are getting sharper with the exercises as long as I donāt rush it. I like the above suggestion of practicing successive note jumps, but Iām still on straight runs in the exercise book.
Best of luck!
If you want crisp, clear notes, try sticking your whistle in the freezer for approx. 15 minutes before playing it.
Good luck.
DONāT try this with a wooden whistle
Thanks Bloomfield. I tried it and my fingers and tongue got stuck to the whistleā¦
Tyghress:
I would love to know what book you are playing from that has exercises for whistle! Believe it or not, I am that strange sort of person that likes to do some exercises to warm up and also to keep ālooseā in between practicing tunes.
Thanks!
-Derek-