I have had my Shaw low D whistle for five days now. I play other instruments, but this is the first whistle I have played for more than a couple of minutes. It seems like fairly hard work, but I’m looking at it as a form of exercise. Anyway, I have a beginner’s question.
I have discovered three different “grips”:
Using my fingertip pads as I would with a smaller whistle (or a saxophone), but with the wrist swung a little and the fingers bent to bring the fingertips into the necessary straight line.
Using the second joint pad on the index and second fingers but the little finger tip pad. In this case the fingers are quite straight, and the wrist is swung in a different plane.
Second joint pad on all fingers, fingers straight.
1 seems easiest initially, it’s more familiar and the fingertips are more sensitive, but I suspect it might feel cramped and perhaps less manoeuvrable or accurate in the long term.
2 lets me close the difficult 3rd and 6th holes with the more reliable fingertip pad, but I have to concentrate to hold it like this.
3 feels more stable and “natural” than 2, but also more numb and insensitive than 1. This is the way I have played most so far.
So, which of those three you would go for, if you were me? Last night I tried sticking with 1, finger tip pads, and I realised that I had been avoiding it because it makes my wrist ache. But all these positions make something ache. If I thought the wrist ache would disappear eventually, I think I might go with position 1 after all.
hi, and welcome.
I use nr 2 for my bottom right hand and nr 1 for my top left hand. I do notice that after a while my left wrist gets a bit sore, but, so far, I never managed the transition with my left hand.
I guess nr 2 would be the “traditional” piper’s grip.
The Shaw low D has the smallest reach of any low whistle I know and own, but although I found it possible to finger-tip the left hand, there was no way I could do that with the right. Pain is bad, old chap.
Once you get used to piper’s grip, it’s a doddle. On the Shaw I had trouble sealing the raised hole on the right hand for a couple of days, but then it all fell into place once the fingers got used to it.
And good luck with the exercise. I haven’t played my Shaw low for months, takes too much breath for my liking and getting up to the top of the 2nd octave was too much of a strain. Mind you, after playing an Alba Low D for while, the Shaw felt like a Clarke’s Original!
Use one method and play for an hour straight. Then do that with each of the other two. I suspect you’ll find that after an hour you’ll prefer 2 or 3 or the combination that Amar mentioned.
I was uncomfortable with the pipers grip initially, but couldn’t play the low whistle for more than 15 minutes or so using the first joint pads. That necessitated becoming comfortable with the pipers grip. I will point out, though, that I have trouble feeling the holes of the Shaw low-D with the middle pads.
yes, yer going to need piper’s grip. but relax, it’s not that big of a deal. but you’re going to have to give yourself a good six month’s to ease into it. Do not and i repeat: do not, over work or overstretch your fingers. If your hand(s) start to hurt while you’re learning (and they will), stop and drop it for the day. if your tendons start to chronically ache, drop it for a week or two. the pipers grip, if done right, should be effortless and pain free. you should be able to play your low D all evening and not strain.
while there are a variety of tricks, give your hands and fingers permission to figure it out for themselves. and they will. be patient. what you will eventually discover is the extent to which your lower hand rotates in a roughly circular arch (about 15 degrees?) down and toward lower end of the whistle.
Thanks for the advice. I played last night using a hybrid grip, left hand finger tips and right hand in a piper’s grip, that felt pretty good so I will try to stick to it.
Gary said he doesn’t play his Shaw Low D whistle much because of the breathing difficulties. I was sort of hoping that this is something I will learn to overcome, and anyway I have a medical condition which means it is a good idea for me to breathe very deeply. But if it is always going to be uncomfortable to play this instrument no matter how long I practice, I may reluctantly have to try another low whistle instead.
Are there any Shaw low D players who can confirm that it is possible to play the thing comfortably, with practice, and if so, how long did that take?
And if not, who wants to sell me a less demanding Low D?
