Over at the Kerry Whistle website, there are demo clips of their whistles. With the low D whistles, the player tends to hold the whistle to his right side (not in front as most players on YouTube do) and he blows it from the right corner of his mouth. I’m familiar with playing the transverse flute, so after a few hours of struggling with holding my (new) low D whistle in front of me, I switched to a flute-like sideways position and lo and behold, it works!!!
Holding the low D like a flute is easier for me to play and my grip is more relaxed, although blowing it from the right side of my mouth feels odd (is this how it’s done with bagpipes?). Of course, I could blow it straight on if I kept my head facing right. The position is more comfortable than playing a true flute, because I don’t worry as much about the embouchure and I don’t have to hold up the whistle as high as a flute.
Are there disadvantages to playing the low whistle like a flute?
Well, tenor recorder is exactly the size of low D whistle. Recorder players hold it like flute, not with pipers grip. They don’t seem to have an problems with that.
breqwas, I think BigLeaf is talking about the physical position of the instrument, not just the grip.
BigLeaf: To a more experienced player, I’d say do whatever is comfortable, whatever works for you. To a beginner like yourself, I’d say try learning it the right way before you go experimenting with any wacky side holds.
There are several good reasons that players might angle the whistle … slightly. Pivoting it towards the side raises the bottom of the whistle, and may make for a more comfortable bottom hand wrist angle. In noisy playing situations, angling moves the fipple window towards one ear, and some people claim that helps to hear yourself better. Since low whistles have a wide windway, sometimes mating the whistle tip to the flatter side of the mouth instead of smack in the middle helps to create a better embouchure seal or air flow.
There are also several bad reasons. One is because you want to look cool (OK, maybe that’s not a bad reason! ). Another is because you have flute envy. Another is because another player does something quirky and you want to imitate their bad habits.
Angle slightly if you must, maybe 30 degrees maximum. Anything more - much less a 90 degree flute hold - will ruin your beginner’s embouchure. There are subtle issue of windway angle, elevation, depth, positon etc. you need to learn first.
MTGuru, I am holding the whistles sideways for a “good reason”: sealing the holes with my bottom hand is easier. It never occurred to me until you said so that it also looks kind of cool. I’d say 30 degrees to the right is about the best angle for me, but I have seen players hold high Ds (and one time, a low D) out in front of them level with the ground. I’m finding that the sideways playing is training my fingers to seal the holes if I switch back to a frontwards position.
I found another whistle player who does it sideways: Tony Hinnigan. Here is a vidcap from his Kerry Songbird low D review.
breqwas, with the whistle held at an angle, I don’t use a full pipers grip, more like a slight pipers grip. I can seal almost all the holes with the pads of my fingers.
I’ve been playing my low whistles more like I play my flute because it stops a pain developing in my left wrist. I also added some string to raise the profile of the whistle where the whitle rests on my left hand below my left “pointer” (L1?)
Here’s a link to a video of how I’m playing, on a Shaw low D.
Fingering on the low D Shaw is less of a reach than cylindrical low D whistles I’ve played. Dave Shaw uses “chimneys” in two tone holes to help with finger spacing I believe.
). Another is because you have flute envy. Another is because another player does something quirky and you want to imitate their bad habits.
I’d say 30 degrees to the right is about the best angle for me, but I have seen players hold high Ds (and one time, a low D) out in front of them level with the ground. I’m finding that the sideways playing is training my fingers to seal the holes if I switch back to a frontwards position.