Hi I’m Lesl. For those of you who don’t know me, I play mainly the flute.
Recently I was playing the whistle more because a mosquito bit me on the
lip.. (gardening..).
So anyway, I was reminded that I often make nasty shrieky noises in the
2nd octave on a whistle unless I stick a blutack blob in front of the
windway, in the whistle-mute position. (I have a few whistles and this is
even on the nice one.)
I would like suggestions if anyone has any, what to do inside the mouth
etc, to get a nice tone in the 2nd octave on the whistle? I tried searching
for this but didn’t come up with much. Shaping the mouth in different
vowels. Does everyone who has a nice tone do that? Using tonguing on
the whistle helps, but not always. Anything else?
How nice it would be to make it sound sweet in the 2nd octave. Mostly I
just drop the 2nd octave down to avoid it.
How long have you been playing and what is your whistle? This issue often comes up with beginners using cheap whistles. The irony of the whistle experience is that compared to virtually any other instrument (maybe excepting spoons), some whistles are very cheap and some players get wonderful sounds out of cheap whistles.
That said, beginners, even when accomplished on other instruments, are often prone to let off some truly horrible squawks in the upper octave. The problem goes away with time. Or, the solution can be hurried by investing in one of the more forgiving high-end plastic instruments like a Hoover or a Silkstone. Shortcuts like packing the fipple cavity with something like blue tack or paraffin are not really ideal, because they may gentle the upper octave but they do so by making the lower octave bland and unappetizing.
I once packed all of my cheapies that way - and believe me, its a bear to get it out, which I’d bet you’ll eventually want to do. If you don’t want to invest in a $60-$100 instrument, then I’d counsel patience and playing a lot. At some point, you’ll realize that the upper octave has quit being an issue.
How long I’ve been playing the whistle, I guess sporadically 4 yrs. I don’t
use it much except when I did a gigging project with a singer. But that
was just playing slow accompaniment stuff. I would say I’m only an
intermediate beginner on whistle.
I tend to play it just like the flute except with tonguing, and less breaths
of course. It is easier to play fast on the whistle, and I’ll play it in a noisy
group, but to play a whistle solo or even while working out fingerings,
blech, sounds bad.
I have a few d’s and a Sindt. I go between them but my Sindt is really
nice and ought to sound it.
I think I probably use too much air, due to playing it like a flute, but if
that’s the trouble, what should I be doing instead?
Any other opinions and tips would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I agree with using less air but different whistles have different air requirements. Experimentation is key. Also, on some of my whistles hitting the 2nd octave with too little air is much worse sounding than hitting it with too much.
Also try holding the whistle loosely with the lips and drop the jaw a bitfor lower notes and then tighten the jaw and the lips against the fipple for the higher ones. Even on a Susato this trick can make the second octave quite nice. The idea is much like on a flute–faster moving air but moving through a more narrow passage.
You can also cause some timbre changes (in a limited way) when playing by raising and lowering the tongue in the mouth, and doing other things that change the shape of the throat and mouth cavity.
Other than that, just give yourself some time to get used to playing whistle. You are quite a respectable flutist; I don’t think you’ll find whistle too hard to master given a bit of time.
I find that making the word “toot” with your mouth while playing in the second octave helps. Also, getting a better sound on the second octave will come when you’re a lot more familiar with your whistle. It will start to sound smoother and less forced on the high notes.
I find tightening my cheeks gives me more control over the second octave. I pull them in the same way as sucking through a straw. If it makes the air stream too fast, I lower my jaw slightly to compensate.
These are great ideas. I’m going to have to try them all. I never tried any
of these things! Well, except for what James said, that sometimes using
less air is worse. That I’m familiar with. wink
Also thinking about it, I guess I’m not actually talking about the whole 2nd
octave, I’m looking at g and up. I was playing the McKenna’s reels
yesterday and my husband covered the cat’s ears..
It seems like experimenting is the key. I just knew there had to be
whistle-only techniques, just not what they were, thank you everyone.
Hi Lesl,
Here’s my take on it.
There’s nothing you can do with your mouth that will make a difference. It’s the whistle itself.
Here’s a proposal. Send me your mailing address at tom_muckian@whitmores.com
I’ll send you a tweaked whistle.
If you like it, send me a couple of bucks for it. If you don’t like it, throw it in the drawer.
Tom.
Use slow, warm, air in a large stream in your lower octave and fast, cold air in a small stream for your upper octave. If you’re not sure about your air speed, try blowing both ways on your hand so that you can feel the difference. I’ve been using this technique for years with beginners, and I’ve never had it not work.
I have a tutorial book and CD by Cathal McConnell. He recommends tonguing and sliding up to any note that is High G or above. This technique has really helped me to get a more pleasing tone and have the guts to blow hard enough to get the desired result.
(btw, if someone has a chance to read my first post - on the Howard Whistles Rock thread, I’d appreciate some feedback…)
Tom, I’ll pass up your gracious offer, since I already have a Clarke, a
sweetone and an incompletely tweaked gen blue, as well as some other
whistle presents in other keys. But thank you very much, and you have
spurred me to get the gen out of the car and into surgery again.
I really like the Cathal McConnell method mentioned by morning girl, cos
sliding-and-tonguing together seems to be an instant fix. Doc LE
McCullough also slides all over the place too. Going back to listen to any
of our other whistle heroes, say Joannie, or Mary Bergin, Mary Raff, and
in fact any really good players, it’s there as well. Cutting the high notes
before landing on them seems to get a good result too.
These techniques must speed up the air in a more precise way than just
blowing harder, and that’s why they work. I now think the screech comes
from just blowing harder instead of shaping the air and speeding it up.
Blowing harder does speed up the air but its a “shotgun approach”. The
other methods all narrow the air stream in some way first. My challenge
now is to get some of these things onto autopilot.
Its amazing that so many of you could break down what you are doing
and describe it all, while you have it on auto already! Thanks tons.
A few days of work on the things everyone posted in this thread:
I got out my old Blue Gen from the car and examined it. Some time ago
I’d scrubbed out my wax and filed down the front bump with a strip from
a nail file, but the blade is raggy and I can’t figure out how to fix that.
The blade of my knife just follows the ragged edge of the blade of the
whistle.
So anyway, I blue-tak’d the inside chamber, using a pencil eraser. Then I
cut a piece of Scotch Magic Tape to fit the width of the blade and I folded
it half inside and half outside the blade. I never saw this suggested but it
must be a basic remedy I missed. It made the whole whistle esp the
upper notes, sound cleaner. Really noticeable improvement. It now
actually sounds pretty close to my Sindt.
In testing this I played a relaxed-paced reel and then same for a jig. I
discovered that taking care to tongue and cut the notes made me be
more precise with the breath pressure. The screetchy-ness was gone,
and this on the screetchyest of all my little d’s. I have plenty to learn
about playing whistles, but screetchy was the reason I started this
thread, so thanks again everybody.
The 2nd octave a is a bit flat this way, I assume I’ll have to blow that into
tune. Is there any other way to fix that?
Is there a class going up here on how to straighten a blade without
cellotape?
