I just my first 2 whistles and I’m playing them decently I think. But I am having trouble playing in the proper octave, it keeps going higher, I think my trouble is probably that I play bagpipes so I am over blowing even when I’m blowing softly. But I am also fearing that it will not be loud enough to be heard in the lower octave, my hearing might just be awful so I can’t truly gauge how loud it is. Is there a way to play louder while in the lower octave? And does anyone have any advice on how to use less air pressure?
And is this a circular breathing instrument? Or is it just like a flute where I articulate notes?
It’s very likely that you’re overblowing if you’re coming from pipes. Also, the whistle is very sensitive to fingerholes which are not fully closed.
I’ve tried circular breathing on the whistle with no luck. There’s too little back pressure, and all your air blows out very quickly.
Oh, BTW–welcome!
Welcome to C&F. This is the place to be for whistles, simple flutes and quite a few other folk instruments.
You will find that as you play more you will gain some control over volume and learn how far you can push a particular instrument.
You don’t say what brand of whistle you’re playing but that is a big factor. If you’re starting out on a Clarke for example, it won’t take any breath pressure so you will have some trouble controlling octave jump. BrewerPaul, who responded to you right away, makes fabulous whistles that you can lean into, with a strong bell note and plenty of volume throughout their entire playing range.
There are several whistle crafters who regularly post here and I’m sure some of them will chime in as they see your post.