I’m trying to learn an air, and it begins with a progression which I’m finding difficult to play nicely. It goes from A to high A, G, F#(held), low A, high G, F#, E(held).
Where would you tongue/slur/slide/etc?
I’m almost giving up on this and taking it permanently to another instrument, and would appreciate any pointers.
Don’t give up!
In the early stages, it is probably wise to tongue a note that jumps to a different octave - especially an A, because the differential air requirements are more significant as you go up the scale.
As for where you slur otherwise in your phrase, that’s a question of interpretation.
As you progress, you’ll find you can do smooth octave transitions without tonguing – if you like the effect. For jumping up an octave without tonguing, you can use a device sometimes called a “tap” to smooth the transition. Play your low A, and then as you step up the breath pressure to jump the octave, tap your G finger to sound a high G for a nanosecond and then remove the G finger to get your high A. If you time it right you can get a nice smooth effect this way. Especially useful if your whistle requires a big jump in breath pressure to move into the second octave.
Thanks, Steve. This is what I’ve tried, but it still sounds. . .not great. I suppose the bottom line is just practice. Are these jumps harder or easier with lower whistles?
I’ve also considered not doing the jump, just starting out with the high A and cutting it to give it a bit more interest, to see if I can smooth it out a bit.
I suppose that the higher the breath requirements of the whistle, the harder it gets to jump up without tonguing. You just need to be more determined about it. Nothing wrong with tonguing, anyway. What whistle are you using?
I’m curious to know what tune you’re attempting. There may be a different version, that’s just different enough to be interesting and nice, but it may be a WHOLE LOT easier to play! 
I’ve found this out with a lot of the tunes I play in the sessions out here. Seems like everyone knows a ‘slightly’ different version of the main tune, but when we all come together, it sounds flawless!
B~
For jumping up an octave without tonguing, you can use a device sometimes called a “tap” to smooth the transition. Play your low A, and then as you step up the breath pressure to jump the octave, tap your G finger to sound a high G for a nanosecond and then remove the G finger to get your high A. If you time it right you can get a nice smooth effect this way. Especially useful if your whistle requires a big jump in breath pressure to move into the second octave.
I know I didn’t ask the question, but thanks much for the tip. I never did start out “the right way” - with a book or two, video, tape, whatever - so when I learn something it’s just trial and error! So far I’ve despised playing octave jumps, so I just “mess with” whatever I’m playing until I like how it sounds but conveniently avoid those jumps. 
~DW~
On 2001-08-29 11:03, StevieJ wrote:
…Nothing wrong with tonguing, anyway. What whistle are you using?
I’m playing the themes from Legends of the Fall, taken from the Lover’s Waltz CD of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. Wicked good tunes, and I’m playing on a Burke Pro D. I think part of my problem is that there is a bit of breath change between the G and the A, so just tapping from G up doesn’t always ‘do it’, and I’m not smooth on it yet anyway.
The second theme poses another problem, in that it either goes too high for my meager skills (high D and C#) or too low for my whistle (A below D), so I fuss with the tune to keep it in range. This takes a major hunk out of the theme’s effect, but then, so would massacring the high notes.
Third and fourth themes are fine as they stand, then we go from low D back to theme one and the killer A’s. Nice challenge, though! (first challenge was getting it down on paper…listening, jotting down notes…relistening…never did get anything but the notes themselves, but that was enough to do it for me).
I’ve never heard that CD as such, but I tried to play what you’re describing, and I didn’t have any more trouble with it than I do with everything else I play!
If you can give me a day to get it done, perhaps I can record a couple of different ways to play it for you, and send them off in an email.
Again, my timing is probably off since I’m not familliar with this tune, but maybe it’ll help shed some light on the piece in question.
Bri~
A gentle slide into the high notes would soften the abruptness of the transition nicely.
I really like the sound of slurred octave switches. I tried that passage all slurred on my el cheapo Acorn, with its low air requirements, and it’s nearly effortless. The down side is that it’s really easy to squeak on it. I’ve just ordered a Clarke Original, with the Whistle Shop modifications, and it should be interesting to see if it’s as easy on that.
Tyghress,
Just wanted to check and see if you got your email. Was I close?
Bri~
Jomac, how do you do an octave slur? Are you just pressuring from the low to the high A? I don’t seem to have the knack.
Bri, I haven’t checked mail today. . .but I’m going to do it now .
Thanks for the help, folks!
I think it depends on the whistle.
I can slur cleanly with just breath pressure on the evil Sweettone C that happened to be laying near the computer when I read your message. (Stupid whistle had to be good for something, I guess.) It’s dicey on my O’Riordan D (A to high G slur works okay), and just plain awful on my O’Riordan low D.
The tap method works great on all of them. I also like making a tiny little slide out of it – more or less dragging your finger across the hole quickly instead of just tapping it. Gracing into the second note works pretty well, too.
On a similar note, I’ve been wondering if there’s a good way to get the beginning of the third part of the Random Jig, with all the octave jumps. I’ve been toying with the notion of doing long rolls with the first note in the lower octave and the other two in the upper, but I can’t do it cleanly at all.
Tyg: Yes, I do octave slurs just by pressuring. But it’s not like I’m blowing harder, it feels like I just sort of change my mouth shape or something so that the air gets a little intenser. Again, it probably is whistle dependent; my Acorn is almost too responsive to that sort of thing, you constantly have to watch out for squeaking. Plus, I used to work on similar octave slurs way back when (20 yrs ago??!!) when I was a brass player. Soon I will get a Whistle-Shop-tweaked Clarke, I’ll let you know if octave slurs are as easy on that.