Hey,
I’ve been playing for a few months, and I’m working on Tabhair dom do Lámh (Give Me Your Hand) on a D whistle.
There is a stretch of upper-register Bs at the tune’s climax. They are really fun to play – but they are quite loud. And I live in an apartment.
I’ve been experimenting with using my right hand to partially cover the sound hole. It seems to work. But it requires a bit of finger acrobatics.
Has anyone out there had luck with that technique? Is there another trick I should try?
(And would it be easier playing this tune on a C whistle?)
Best,
Joe
At your stage, I wouldn’t mute those high Bs with the right hand covering the fipple window. You’ll only screw up the intonation and/or force awkward breath gymnastics.
Some ideas:
Experiment with how much you can drop your breath pressure before B breaks into the lower register. Depending on the whistle, you may find you can lower the pressure (and volume) quite a bit.
Play the 3 B crotchets (quarter notes) very staccato (short) with the tongue, imitating what many pipers do. Cut or slide quickly into the staccato notes to add interest. The shorter notes will seem less loud. Of course, the other high Bs should be sustained.
Instead of fingering B as xooooo, try overblowing a fingered E xxxxxo to the next harmonic, which is also B. It may be quieter than the standard fingering.
For home playing, simply fold down by dropping parts of the melody down an octave. E.g.:
de|g2g2 de|g2g2 "fold down"DE|G2G2A2|B6||B2B2B2|B4 AG|A3G AB|A4 "unfold"gf|e2e2 ge|d2 d2 … etc.
Finally, remember that high B will seem much louder to you than to others listening. And walls can be pretty effective at attenuating higher frequencies for your neighbors (but maybe not for their dog). 
Let us know how you make out.
Nope.