After considerable persuasion, I’ve been talked into playing duets on my High D whistles with my violin instructor for Christmas. I’ve been looking over possible music for the past few nights, and am finding many of the songs have accidentals. Of course, this music is written for other instruments, but it’s all in the keys of D or G.
I’m wondering if anyone has any tricks or ideas on how to go about practicing half hole notes so they come through more consistently throughout a song? I’d rather like to get through the night without anything thrown at me.
Ah, if it is all in D or G then I don’t see an issue.
If some are in A then you’ve got the potential of G# to deal with.
If it is in C then you have F natural to deal with.
Worse would be anything with more sharps than A or anything with flats (play cute little frolicy arpeggio things and leave the real note to the violin)
Sorry, I should have explained the music a bit more clearly. The music is in the key of D or G, but in that music are accidentals, such as a G# which re-occur and throw me. Obviously accidentals are always a pain, but I’m having difficulty just getting the fingering down for the note.
Straighten T3 to allow the hole to leak
roll T3 toward yer face
roll T3 away from yer face (I do not like this one)
futz with XXO ??? (where ? is either open or closed, different for each octave most likely) fingerings in hope that there is one that you can live with (doubtful)
Try all of 'em then pick one and practice it.
or play bubbley things instead of the G#
note: I don’t play whistle enough to admit that I have a couple of 'em
I can’t do any of these! T3 (left hand ring finger) is straight, so nothing to straighten, and I can’t roll it. To half-hole the T3 hole for G# I bend the ring finger, so the tip is more vertical on the tube and only covers the left half of the hole.
Some whistles may allow a forked fingering of XXOXXX, but it may not be accurate enough, and weak in any case.
It is actually not that hard to play accidentals on a whistle in non ITM music. Practice half holing by playing chromatic scales or if you only need the G# you could practice the scale of E major on a D whistle as it only requires half holing B3 and T3. By practising a scale you will hear if the note is in tune of not. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to train the fingers to half hole through practice.
A few accidentals can be cross fingered, but really good whistle players will half hole all the notes… For example, Mary Bergin will half hole the B finger to get a C natural, instead of your more typical OXXOOO fingering. She can do this at full speed and play F naturals, G#, Eb… anything. But it probably too her years of practice.
I personally half hole the G hole for a G# and F# hole for the F natural, but to be honnest in fast tunes these notes won’t be in tune, I’d have to practice a lot and I’m too lazy. Much easier to use another whistle, like a whistle in C for D minor tunes for example.
[* Actually, I love Montréal. If you make me come over there, I won’t complain! ]
She also uses a plethora of other techniques that go along with that, to compensate for the awkwardness of the half-hole. Including:
o Tongue C-nat and notes around it, to avoid “sliding” effect
o Cut C-nat short, to avoid exposing pitch
o Hold C-nat as long note instead of rolling, cutting, etc.
o Alter melody by substututing B or cB or (3BcB for C-nat
o Alter melody by substituting another note entirely
o Play C# instead of C-nat, and pull the breath down to flatten the pitch to C-nat or C-supernatural (C-half-sharp)
These are all part of her signature sound - particularly the ambiguous and variable C/C# pitch. If you’re willing to master the whole technical package, it works. Otherwise, cross-fingering C-nat is a more straightforward.
For other notes, sometimes there’s not much choice. I use at least 4 different ways to cover the half-hole
o Angle/straighten the tip from the 1st joint
o Slide / roll / pinch finger up or down
o Touch fingertip or knuckle to side or edge of hole
o Roll whistle tube under the finger
The best choice for a given note depends on the notes around it. So you experiment and work it out.
As a still-relative-beginner who is learning to half-hole, I’ll offer the follwoing: I find angling the fingertip down and covering half the hole with the edge of the pad easiest to hit consistently. The edge of the pad can feel the edge of the hole so I can feel how much of the hole I’ve covered. Having this feel helps build the muscle memory to hit the spot consitently. Oh yeah, practice, practice, practice. YMMV.
Either you don’t know the meaning of “accidentals” or I am contradicting my signature. However there is little in your post, as a salient response to the OP et seq, that would support the latter charge against me.
If the whole of the piece that you are playing has notes that will comply with one of 12 key signatures you don’t have any accidentals. If you are playing, say, D natural minor scale on a D whistle, of course you will need to to replace the F# and C# with F and C respectively. That doesn’t mean the notes are accidental but that your choice of instrument is.
But that is not a situation suggested by the OP or the experience of ITM where the majority of accidentals are so because they are notes that aren’t in the key signature/s that the majority notes of the piece is in or the set in which the piece is in.
I knew if I got on here, I’d get some ideas for practice. Thanks everybody for the tips on this. I’ve been playing the whistle for eleven months now, and I’m somewhat surprised that this is the first time where the need for half holing has come up. Of course, this is also the first time I’ve had to play in public with someone, so I guess I’m just more concerned about it. Thanks again!
One of the tunes I play on a C whistle is Kathryn Tickell’s slow waltz “Roly Gentle”. It has a few C#s.
I’ve found that in half-holing this, my right ring-finger doesn’t touch the hole at all, it just hovers near it. Works fine.
Thanks everybody for the tips on this. I’ve been playing the whistle for eleven months now, and I’m somewhat surprised that this is the first time where the need for half holing has come up. Of course, this is also the first time I’ve had to play in public with someone, so I guess I’m just more concerned about it. Thanks again!