I just received a new Tony Dixon G from Thom the other day, and have had a Susato A for some time now. Fingering the soprano whistles has never been a problem, and I quickly picked up on fingering the Low D to where the flat fingered style seems pretty natural now. But the A and G have been a bit more challenging. I have wavered between normal fingerpad fingering and “the piper grip” Neither one seems natural at this point. The spread seems wide for fingerpad technique (Although flutists may not think so) and almost too narrow for flat finger technique. I am gradually leaning towards the fingerpad style, but I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this situation?
I got an A and a G from Michael Burke a month or two ago. I experimented with both fingering methods and settled on piper for the G. I’m still a little ambivalent about the A, but I’ll probably gravitate toward finger pad.
Tony
Blaine,I was also at odds with my Susato A due to the enormous holes and I had a difficult time sealing the 6th hole, even with a piper grip.My solution was to reduce the size of this hole py partialy filling it with plastic and to my surprise it made no difference whatsoever to the intonation at all,and although it’s still not my favourite whistle,it now plays like a dream.I use the piper grip on everything,even my high G. Mike
I got a Silkstone A and G a week or two ago. At first I switched between the two fingering styles, but settled into the fingerpad style pretty quickly. I haven’t had any problems with tired, aching fingers even after the many joyful hours of playing that getting acquainted with a new whistle requires.
I guess this is a matter of every individual being diferent. As I indicated above, I am gradually drifting towards the fingerpad method for both the A and G. I was at the Fresno Highland Games last weekend and Margie Butler of Golden Bough played a G whistle on a couple of tunes and I noticed she used her fingerpads.
The pipergrip seems awkward to me on something this small, but at the highland games here is Fresno last week, I toyed a bit with some practice chanters, and the fingerspread on them is really not that wide either.
BTW, I am also not very fond of the Susato A. I think I have one of the older styles - it is hard to play and sounds terrible. I wonder if the newer ones are any better?
Blaine
“To be surprised,
to wonder,
is to begin to understand.”
Jose Ortega y Gasset
[ This Message was edited by: Blaine McArthur on 2001-09-21 12:46 ]
I’ve had a Susato A for quite some time and I also have experienced difficulties with the fingering. The stretch using finger pads is not excessive, but it creates sufficient strain to make accurate fast playing really difficult for me. The piper grip seemed equally unsatisfactory because it’s tricky getting good hole sealing. Yes, the Susato A has always seemed to me to be the most awkward of whistles to play. Recently I’ve found that I’ve been able to adapt the piper grip to the whistle and that is now the method I am using and suddenly it seems surprisingly relaxing to play! Perseverance has been the key for me, but really, whatever works for you is the way to go.
By the way, I find my Susato A to be really quite a nice whistle. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but the tone is sweet and it plays very evenly over both octaves. The upper octave is very easy to produce and not at all harsh, unlike other Susatos I own.
Susato A was my first low whistle and I chose it because the low D was killing me as I have small hands and figured the A would enable a smoother transition to the low D.I’m glad I stuck with my susatos now simply because anything else by comparison is so easy to play,even an Overton low C.I tried an overton A the other day and the tone was more whistley than the susato and easier to play…maybe its my next whistle. Mike
