I use finger vibrato.
However it’s hard to use on the low D.
You can finger-vibrato the low D note
by half-holing.
However I’ve sometimes seen people doing finger
vibrato by apparently waving their finger
above the hole, without making contact.
Anybody know what this is?
How to do it?
I suspect that their fingers touche the whistle, even if only very slightly, as I have never found pure finger waving to work. I’d love to hear from the experts though.
Actually, you don’t have to touch the hole or whistle to affect the vibration of the air coming out of the hole. It doesn’t change the note as dramatically as actually covering and uncovering, but it definitely still gives vibrato.
yes, either one finger or more, and it works well on a low whistle (e.g. playing a G fingering and fluttering your 5th and 6th fingers over the bottom two holes at about 45 degrees to the whistle).
I’ts not a very accomplished or exciting performance but it’s one of the things I was trying to do in the version of ‘Eire’ that’s on clips and snips.
http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/slowairs.html
You could also do it utilizing a “piper’s” grip. The middle joint coverage of the hole allows the player to “straighten” the finger a bit to uncover a tiny bit of the hole. This is difficult to do with just the end pad of the finger.
…john
How do you do this?
Just wag the finger above the hole, but avoid contact?
How close does one go?
Jim Stone,
In Whistle Terminology, what you are describing is called a “trill”. Yes, you are above the hole but if you notice the finger has to be somewhere close by. Usually on the SIDE with many players.
Also try this. Play the second octave on D, now remove the top finger and trill. It’s very faint but on some Low Whistles this is really effective because of the Low Whistle mechanics. Especially Low Whistles.
P.S. Try placing your ring finger on the bottom end of the bottom hole and trill. So, you are behind the hole not in front. Trill away from you…their are so many variations to all this stuff. The best part is that you can apply these very simply things throughout scale. First and second octaves.
Have fun!
err…I’m not sure it is. A trill would require a discrete alternation between two different notes. Variably oscillating the frequency around a single note (as in the effect Jim describes) would be vibrato.
This video shows good examples of what I understand to be trills and finger vibrato. They are played at a speed and camera angle that you can see what is happening. You have to watch into the second half for the finger vibrato. Note that the holes are shaded but the finger always makes contact with the whistle in this method, which I find works well fo me.
If you play with flattened fingers (piper’s grip) on the low hand, you can vary the intensity of the vibrato by changing the plane of the fingers as a group. Try playing A, then with the lower-hand fingers straight and grouped at a 45 degree angle move them up and down together. On my low D whistle, with the fingers at a 45 degree angle the fingers are actually drumming on the whistle near the holes, not on the holes themselves. I can decrease the angle to make the vibrato stronger. The same fingers can be used for vibrato on G, A, and B and I’ve seen many trad Irish players do it in this way.
There are basically two approaches to finger vibrato, one is to drum at or near the sides of the holes with fingers at an angle as described above, the other is to fully close and unclose a hole further down the tube. For low F#, for example, many players fully close and unclose the lowest hole. This type of vibrato sounds more like the uilleann vibrato.
MarkP,
I appreciate your thoughts. Here are my thoughts.
I saw the video just now 
. It’s still a trill. The only difference is that the player uses a number of “variations” of the finger vibrato (or trill). Vibratos are really extensive & magical. Watch closely and you’ll see that he’s really handy at applying exactly where he wants it to happen. It’s experience. Matter of personal opinion I suppose. Nothing more. Cat and mouse.
P.S. Regardless of the terms or descriptions it’s more important to learn to play them well more than all else. Most folks would agree that at the end of the day they would rather play them well than all else.
Thx Man
Talbert St. Claire
Regardless of the terms or descriptions it’s more important to learn to play them well more than all else. Most folks would agree that at the end of the day they would rather play them well than all else.
Quite so, we can agree on that. On the pipers grip, yes, we had a piper along to the session last night who made a fine job of that and I found myself closely watching his fingers to work it out.