Rank Amateur Newbie Dave here - please be gentle with me.
A friend of mine gave me a Clarke whistle recently (it’s the black one with gold lettering and a wood plug in the fipple), and I’d like to learn how to play it. I perform in some local Renaissance Faires in my area; I’d like to add some music. Thus, the friend’s gift since she’s aware of my desire. That same friend recommended this (chiffandfipple.com) website to me; I’ve been getting a big kick out of Dale’s posting style on the various pages (BTW, Dale, if you’re reading this, there are a few pages where the image(s) are broken - I can mail you the URLs sometime if you’re interested). They’re nice and informative, and I definitely enjoy his sense of humor. I’ve been learning quite a bit about the whistles and some of their histories; it’s an interesting instrument! Much thanks to Dale for providing this site and its information, for RANs such as myself to be able to learn more about the tin whistle!
Some background on me: Some 25+ years ago, I played violin for about 3 years (haven’t played anything since). I could sight-read music; I’d have no idea what note I was playing unless I stopped to look at it and figure it out, but my brain did a wonderful job of translating the little dots on the sheet into finger positions on the neck of the violin. The upside of this was that you could stick a piece of music in front of me that I’d never seen before, and I could play it all the way through with very few (most often, no) mistakes. The downside was that the music was something I depended on so heavily that if you took the music away, even if it was a song that I’d played a thousand times before, I was lost.
So while I’d like to be able to learn to read the music again and translate it into finger positions on the whistle, I’m hoping to avoid that kind of dependence on the music this time around (it’s kind hard to have music in front of you when you’re walking around ).
I’ve been playing with the whistle a bit, to get a general feel for it. I know that you can blow harder to get the higher octave on it, although I’ve discovered that it’s really hard to get the highest-two notes (the two holes closet to your mouth) to play on the upper octave side on this whistle - it tends to just screech instead of playing a note. Is that just inherent with this particular whistle? Should I go out and buy another one that might be easier for a RAN to learn?
So, I come to y’all here, asking for help/advise/stories on some good ways to learn to play this instrument. Are any of the buy-via-the-web tutorials any good? Which ones are “best” (he asked, knowing that’s going to be a subjective question)? Anything in particular I should do?
Any help/suggestions/advice/etc that anyone/everyone can offer would be welcomed! I’d like to play some music again, and definitely would like to be able to add some melodic music to the guild I perform with at the Faires I attend (currently I get by by banging on a tambourine ). So any pointers would be just wonderful!
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings here. I look forward to your replies, and to learning to play this rather interesting instrument. Who knows - someday I may become the next victim of WhOA!
Hi, Dave, and welcome to the WWW (Wonderful World of Whistling).
My favorite everyday whistle is the very Clarke that you describe. I have played the older one so much that all of the much-maligned gold diamonds and logos are long worn away.
However, they are a bit breathy as they come from the factory. Both of the ones that I play regularly I have mashed the top of the windway down slightly - aka “the thumb-mash tweak”. You may or may not feel brave enough to beat up your whistle while still so early in the relationship. Then again, as the old joke goes: “Q: What is the range of a whistle? A: Some people can get them to go 30 yards”
Upper octave, especially the upper end, is largely a matter of not shying away from the whistle. I regularly play pieces that hit the top of the second octave, and occasionally up to E or F# in the third octave. You don’t want to stay up there long!
A Clarke Sweetone might be good to try as a comparison for cheapie whistles. The design of the mouthpiece makes it a bit easier to control up in the stratosphere.
My advice on upper octave playing is to focus on the speed of the air, not the force. A more even, faster stream of air will give you more pleasing results than a bit whoosh.
Here’s an exercise: Try holding your hand out at arms’ length, and blow a thin stream of air - like you are mouth-whistling. When you can feel the breath on the palm of your hand, make the opening in your lips as small as you can and try to speed up the air. You should find that the muscles in your mouth will also change. That’s kinda, sorta, what you want to have hapen when playing in the upper octave.
My favorite tutorial is The Clarke Tinwhistle, by Bill Ochs. It is a book/cd set that starts from the very beginning and takes you all the way up through fully ornamented jigs and reels. The CD lets you hear what each exercise should sound like. Teaches you music reading too, in a very slow stepwise fashion.
Do you still have that old violin? Haul it out, call it a fiddle, and you can play all of the same tunes that you play on the whistle. There are tons of great fiddle books out there and most of the tunes will work just fine on whistle. Most of the tunes are played in first position only, so your learning curve will be relatively easy.
My first whitle was a Clarke original too. I still have it and play it occassionally It is in terrible shape with its fair share of dents and dings and a wooden plug that moves all over the place but it is my dear friend.
I think it’s great you want to learn by ear. That’s absolutely critical to good whistling in my opinion. Just toot around with the thing and try to play some simple songs you know well enough to hum to yourself. Your fingers will soon do the rest.
I guess I’ll try to reply to everyone (so far) in one big reply. If that’s not considered appropriate here, let me know and I’ll change.
Thanks!
My favorite everyday whistle is the very Clarke that you describe. I have played the older one so much that all of the much-maligned gold diamonds and logos are long worn away.
However, they are a bit breathy as they come from the factory. Both of the ones that I play regularly I have mashed the top of the windway down slightly - aka “the thumb-mash tweak”. You may or may not feel brave enough to beat up your whistle while still so early in the relationship. Then again, as the old joke goes: “Q: What is the range of a whistle? A: Some people can get them to go 30 yards”
LOL! I think I’ve felt that way a time or two, already. Tell me, though: I’ve seen the term “breathy” used a few times now while reading Dale’s reviews of some of the whistles and so on, but I’m not quite sure exactly what that term means. Could you explain it a bit? From the way it’s been used, it seems to be used referring to the way the thing sounds, but then other times it seems like it means that you have to use a lot of breath. So which is it? (Or maybe it means something else and I’ve just got it all wrong…)
Not sure I’m ready to try smushing down the windway just yet… I’d hate to break the thing, even if tin whistles are cheap.
Upper octave, especially the upper end, is largely a matter of not shying away from the whistle. I regularly play pieces that hit the top of the second octave, and occasionally up to E or F# in the third octave. You don’t want to stay up there long!
Oddly enough, at this point, I believe you.
A Clarke Sweetone might be good to try as a comparison for cheapie whistles. The design of the mouthpiece makes it a bit easier to control up in the stratosphere.
I’ve looked that up, and it says that the mouthpiece was designed by Michael Copeland. A name which shows up a lot in my various web searches now that I’m determined to learn how to play this $#@!ing thing (grin), and seems to be a name that everyone respects. So that might be a good idea for me.
My advice on upper octave playing is to focus on the speed of the air, not the force. A more even, faster stream of air will give you more pleasing results than a bit whoosh.
Here’s an exercise: Try holding your hand out at arms’ length, and blow a thin stream of air - like you are mouth-whistling. When you can feel the breath on the palm of your hand, make the opening in your lips as small as you can and try to speed up the air. You should find that the muscles in your mouth will also change. That’s kinda, sorta, what you want to have hapen when playing in the upper octave.
Keep us posted.
Mark
I’ve tried that now without a lot of luck just yet. I’ll keep at it a bit and see if I can mange to pull that one off. Thanks for the encouragement! OBTW, that web site in the link on the bottom of your message looks interesting at first glance; I’ll probably start browsing around there soon.
Ah, now that sounds like something I could use.
Do you still have that old violin? Haul it out, call it a fiddle, and you can play all of the same tunes that you play on the whistle. There are tons of great fiddle books out there and most of the tunes will work just fine on whistle. Most of the tunes are played in first position only, so your learning curve will be relatively easy.
Um, 25+ years. No, I’m afraid the violin is long gone. Interesting thought/suggestion, though. I’ve occasionally wondered if I could pick it back up (well ok, pick up a new one) and relearn to play it. Fiddles tend to be highly sought after in the guild I perform in at Faire. Perhaps at a later date I’ll look further into it.
“Dave,” actually. But thanks!
My first whistle was a Clarke original too. I still have it and play it occasionally It is in terrible shape with its fair share of dents and dings and a wooden plug that moves all over the place but it is my dear friend.
Even if I move on to a different whistle for regular playing (once I’ve managed to not kill the nearby cats with it), I’ll still hang on to this one, if for no other reason than it was a gift from a friend who wanted to encourage my curiosity about the instrument.
I think it’s great you want to learn by ear. That’s absolutely critical to good whistling in my opinion. Just toot around with the thing and try to play some simple songs you know well enough to hum to yourself. Your fingers will soon do the rest. > >
Have fun.
Doc
Thanks. I can kinda manage to get “Mary Had A Little Lamb” out. Does that count? I’ve been playing around with it, trying to get my head to translate a desired sound into a finger position (much like when I played the violin and it would translate musical notes on the sheet into finger positions on the violin). So I guess I’m already going sort-of in that direction. Glad to know it’s considered an “ok” way to play it. I do still want to relearn the music reading as well, since a lot of music is available that way. If I can do that and then train myself to play the song without the music in front of me, I’ll be a happy camper!
I just did some searching, and found that pennywhistle.com lists the book/CD available, including either the Original (which is the one I have now) and the Sweetone whistle. I think I’ll order that one, since it sounds (both from the comment here and from the description they provide of both whistles) like I might have a better time of learning this thing on the Sweetone.
I agree about the fiddle. It seems a waste to bury your violin /fiddle skills.
Well, after 25+ years of not touching the thing, I’m not sure I have any violin/fiddle skills anymore. But I think I would like to try taking it up again someday.
Oh, and WELCOME!
Thanks very much! I’m looking forward to learning how to play the whistle and learning some of the songs that I’ve been wanting to play (namely, songs that the guild I’m in plays regularly during their sets ). There’s one song in particular that we play (ok, currently they play and I beat on my tambourine ). If I learn to play no other song by June when I next get together with them at the first Faire of the season that I attend with them, I want to learn to play that song! So I’m well motivated.
Thanks to those who have responded! A nice welcome, to be sure! Anyone else have any helpful advice/recommendations/etc., I’d love to hear them!
As long as you don’t have your fiddle any more, you might consider looking for a cheap used mandolin. Same fingering, but no bowing to worry about. I sometimes play Renaissance type tunes on mine, and it works out really nicely.
Yes. But we fiddlers and even the mando players call it GDAE, Low to High. If you do get a mandolin, make sure it’s one that has a truss rod in it. Lot of tension on the neck from the strings, so it needs that extra support.
Learning by ear is a hugely underrated skill. Not being tied to the dots allows one to truly feel the music. With any instrument.
Oh, ok. I never knew there was a preference in the order the strings were named. I’ve always tended to think of them going from high to low because that was how I’d tune my violin back in the old days (and for me, yes it was a violin - I was playing classical ). I’d use a pitch pipe to get my E, and then I’d tune the rest of it from there by ear.
Thanks for the info (to both of you). I never knew about the same strings on the mandolin.
). So any pointers would be just wonderful!
