Hello everyone!
I am a guitarist and saxophonist that doubles on flute. I play mostly original music but recently decide to take up the whistle as I like the music (celtic, Irish, Scottish etc) and wanted to incorporate elements of the style into my music. I don’t have a real problem with playing the whistle as far as the fingerings go as all woodwind are somewhat similar and learning the songs dosen’t present a real issue other than getting used to the articulation. The problem I seem to be having is that the whistle takes so little air compared to the sax or flute. When I take a breath i feel the need to exhale before inhaling again or I wind up feeling like I’m holding my breath. Is there a whistle that takes substantially more air to play.
I currently have two D whistles, an acorn and a sweetone. Any suggestions?
Hi James! The Clarke original (with the wood plug) and the similarly made Shaw have rather large air requirements. They certainly require more air than a flute anyway. Or alternatively you might just try a larger calibre, like an alto whistle.
I think some people let the air out gently through their nose whilst playing. I only do it if I realise there is a chance for a good lungfull to sustain life coming up but I have messed up and not left space for it.
Does the lower pressure of a whistle make that easier to do than it would be on a double reed instrument ?
Let me elaborate a bit more. If I play sax or flute I typically breath and the end of various phrases. A fast song might take a breath at the the end of several phrases. I take a breath, fill my lungs back up and away I go. With the whistle a lung full of air lasts forever. I go to take a breath and my lungs aren’t near empty! I feel like i need to exhale first before I inhale if that makes any sense.
Maybe it’s from years of playing sax but with a whistle it seems like I can go on for along time and when I take a breath a little tiny one fills my lungs back up. After a few breath my lungs are full but i feel like I’m out of oxygen with a lung full of air! Like holding your breath.
I played oboe for a while and I can say that although an oboe has more back pressure a whistle seems to take less air particularly in the low register.
With the whistle a lung full of air lasts forever. I go to take a breath and my lungs aren’t near empty! I feel like I need to exhale first before I inhale if that makes any sense.
I’m not trying to sound cynical here, but maybe you’re just “trying too hard”? A trick I heard of recorder players using, which I do find useful on occaision, is breathing out through my nose slowly whilst still whistling “as normal”, the object being to be ready to take a breath at a pre-determined point in the tune, as opposed to as and when needed. I suspect this technique was developed to ensure, as a consort, every player paused at the same time, but that’s just a guess.
At the end of the day, the whistle is a different instrument and has slightly different requirements. Enjoy
Huh? My Clarke original is among the most air-consuming whistles at all with very little “back pressure” (I hope I’m using the right terminology) because of its rather huge windway. There are even threads here on how to tweak that for more air-efficiency. I wasn’t aware that they differ that much in this respect, so sorry for the confusion!
Try taking up oboe! An oboe teacher explained to me years ago that the oboe has such high backpressure that very little air flows through the instrument. The trouble is having a large quantity of stale air build up in the lungs. Oboe players have to learn to expel this and take in new air; in other words the requirements of the instrument and the requirements of the human body are at odds.
Perhaps the most opposite possible instrument is the bagpipe, where the breathing has no connexion to the music coming out, and you simply breathe in a natural regular breathing cycle, and exhale into the bag.
But I’m not sure that I can agree with you about whistle v flute air requirements. I played flute (mostly wooden, some Boehm) for over 35 years and playing whistle never struck me as being different enough from the flute in that regard to even take note. Every Irish trad fluteplayer, it seems, switches between flute and whistle and I can’t ever recall anybody ever mentioning this issue.
“Irish flutes” have a range of air requirement; whistles a somewhat wider range; and there is overlap. Speaking for a moment of Low D whistles (where I have more experience with different makes) the most efficient Low D whistles are comparable in air requirement to a typical flute, while most makes require more air than the typical flute.
Most ‘traditional’ high whistles, like Generations, require less air than the typical flute, only meaning that a bit longer musical phrases are possible. Burke high whistles have a larger air-appetite and my Burke high D takes as much air as a typical flute, as much as an exceptionally efficient Low D such as the MK.
About Clarkes, they will be all over the map due to no two having the windway and blade and the relationship between the two be quite the same. You can easily bend the metal to change the timbre and efficiency: lower the roof of the windway to create a narrow parallel windway, and move the blade to a position where less air is wasted. Voila an air-efficient Clarke!
The breathing while playing the whistle should work itself out with practice. And remember to relax, especially the hands/fingers. I’m still learning to not choke the whistle.
Relative newbie here, so I hope this all makes sense. I would think one would want lots of air stored up. It seems like a waste to simultaneously breathe out of your nose – wouldn’t that shorten one’s ability for long phrases? I compare my whistle playing to my swimming lessons as a kid. The longer I slowly release air, the longer I can stay under water. As such, I recently upgraded to a Goldie. I love the back-pressure in the first octave in terms of playing for long periods before needing to take a breath, but I’m just not yet experienced enough/aggressive enough for the second octave to sound as good as when I play in the second octave with my easier breathing whistles. I am not letting go because it sounds wonderful when I do play it well and I do hope to get to a more aggressive playing style, but I wonder is there a whistle out there with Goldie-esque back-pressure without quite the muscle needed to get it to sing in the second octave?
I am a sax player that doubles on flute. That would be a Boehm flute not an Irish flute although I am probably going to move to a 4 keyed wood flute in the near future for all my playing, Jazz included. I did also play oboe for a year or so. It was a long time ago but I don’t remember having a problem like this. I think it’s a matter of practice and possibly finding a whistle that I can push a bit more air through particularly in the lower octave.
