Hello, all,
I’ve been working with the whistle off and on for several years now, and I have rarely been able to get above 2nd octave G. When I do, it sounds like there’s a lot of breath in the tone. What am I missing? I’m stepping up the breath for the 2nd octave, but most of the time I end up dropping down to 1st octave after G.
Thanks,
Terry
If you’re having trouble with dropping from the second octave back to the first octave then it sounds like you’re not blowing hard enough. You didn’t say what whistles you are playing … some whistles are just plain hard to hit the upper second octave without losing eardrums in the process, while other whistles can easily get into a third octave.
I’m using a sweettone high D, and I’m not sure what my first one was, but it was a straighd-on cyllinder, while my current one is more conical. I’ve worked with putting in more breath, but I can’t get that high B…maybe I’m not supposed to with this one?
With the SweeTone high-D, you have to really blow to get above high G, and, yes, it’s very airy… with all whistles, you have to blow harder for each note you go up, and in the upper octave the amount more increases drastically as you get towards the top.
Here’s a way to start though… sit up straight in a hard-backed chair, and take in a deep breath, ‘breathing into the stomach’, that is, letting your stomach expand as your lungs fill (this lets your internal organs move out of the way and gives the diaphragm more room to pull the lungs). Pay attention to that feeling of your diaphragm, because you’re going to very consciously push with your diaphragm… think of the kind of air flow in a cough or a sneeze, but without the constrictions of the throat… or, just think of it as pushing up from somewhere inside your belly. You should be able to get a nice, strong jet of air.
I can blow a -third- octave on most whistles… mind you, they’re not in tune up there, so maybe I should say I can blow a third set of overtones…
You may get a loud squeak that’s much higher than the high-B… that would be the third, or higher, set of overtones… but it will prove to you that you -can- blow hard enough… after that, it’s just a matter of learning to -control- your breath. Which, well, takes time…
Good luck!
–Chris
Some whistles ARE just plain tough in the second octave. Windy sounding too. Try some different types/brands.
Getting the second octave is easier on any whistle if you give the note a bit of toungueing on the attack. Say the letter T as you blow and the resulting little explosion of air should help get the note to start speaking. It may take a bit of practice to get this down to where it works but does not sound excessive. It will differ from whistle to whistle, and even from note to note.
Thanks a million! That was all it took! I’ve been pumping all the breath I had into that octave time and time again, but to minimal avail. Putting the tongued note in there at least at the beginning of the phrase definitely made a difference!
On 2002-05-08 07:02, brewerpaul wrote:
Some whistles ARE just plain tough in the second octave. Windy sounding too. Try some different types/brands.
Getting the second octave is easier on any whistle if you give the note a bit of toungueing on the attack. Say the letter T as you blow and the resulting little explosion of air should help get the note to start speaking. It may take a bit of practice to get this down to where it works but does not sound excessive. It will differ from whistle to whistle, and even from note to note.
Another thing to add to Paul’s remark is that you might also want to play the highest notes staccato. That is, tongue them, but also make them short. This will conserve your breath and also save your ears.
Charlie
I tweaked my sweetone by putting piece of a guitar pick on the blade at an angle and glueing it there, and now the upper octave is no problem. I forget who put the post about the guitar-pick-tweak thing on here, but I’m eternally grateful to them.
Just exactly where does one put the pick and how? any one have a picture?
I don’t have a picture, but what I do is cut a small rectangle piece of a guitar pick (I’ve used .46mm before, but I think that’s too thin. .5 mm works alright.) that will fit over the blade. So it should be the width of the blade and about 1 or 2 cm long. I use a piece of sticky tack to hold it in place so I can move it back and forth or at different angles until it sounds good. When I’m sure all the notes sound good, I use a nail or a toothpick or something like that and put glue underneath the pick. That’s not hard because I usually have the pick at an angle anyway. Just so it can cover all the sticky tack you can see. I use a lot of glue, but make sure it doesn’t cover the top of the pick at all–just the bottom and the sides. Then I just wait for the glue to dry. Good luck!
What one really needs to get into the higher notes is: MORE PRESSURE. One way to get this is blowing harder. An other and by far more effective way to produce hightened pressure is reached by narrowing the air streaming channel directly in front of the whistle windway. This can be done by tongueing the notes, or (to my experience) even more effectively by pointing the lips outward and narrowing them (kind of throwing a “kiss” at someone). This can be made still more effective with additionnal help of the tongue. Maybe this explanation isn’t as clear as I wanted it to be. Just keep in mind: not the amount of air is decisive, but the pressure on the air.
Wilfried.