I have played bagpipes for a number of years and decided to take up the tin whistle. I have the starter kit put out by Waltons with the D whistle.
My comfort range now is low D through high D. Problem is that I find my tone to be very inconsistent, especially with low D, E and F sharp. My tone ranges from really clear to almost indistinguishable. My question is whether this is caused by lack of experience and will work out with more practice, or is it caused by the very inexpensive starter whistle or is there a secret to how I should be holding my fingers. I play pipes, so I am accustomed to using the pads of my fingers on the pipe and practice chanters.
Cheap whistles - the Walton sure counts among them - are by no means the easiest to play. It’s quite probable that you’ll need some time to get it down - breath control is important and not as simple as it might seem (if you come from another wind instrument that needs a lot more air, you’ll have some trouble “taming” your breath). It took me several weeks to get a consistent tone on a Feadòg - at the beginning, my impressions and results resembled yours on the Walton (harshness, ringing, and, additionally, bad tuning…). I’m just beginning to be able to handle it after a couple of months now. If you know what can be done how, you’ll probably like it a lot better. Keep going!
On the other hand, most inexpensive whistles (and a big number of expensive ones) do have weak spots - but you’ll need to work on breath control first before you can judge a whistle sufficiently. Again: Stick to it!
Anyway, there are whistles that are really easy to get started - the Clarke Sweetone is one of them, though some people don’t like its tone. It’s also got a even cheaper sister, the Meg (I own both - the Meg’s an even better offer for its low price tag).
I also started on the Walton D and had the same issue as you. Part of it is the whistle but also is breath control. I have a hard time of “overblowing” (oh boy…here come the remarks ) the lower notes due to playing the trumpet for 10 years.
I noticed that I really didn’t like the sound of the Walton…it was kinda harsh sounding instead of a sweet mellow tone. So I fixed this by getting a Blackbird. Much nicer sound, easier in the upper octave and the tone is more consistent. I still have the occasional blowing too hard on the lower notes…but that is all me.
The penny whistle is essentially a $10 instrument, and is therefore fraught with inconsistencies. The best way to overcome them is to play while truly listening to yourself, which means playing stuff you know by heart, closing your eyes and listening. It won’t happen in a hour or a week, but you’ll make progress.
As whistles are often pretty cheap, it wouldn’t hurt to try another whistle,
possibly one that has been tweaked and so is unlikely to be a lemon, e.g.
Jerry Freeman’s whistles.
A vanilla Walton, right out of the box, is the worst whistle I’ve seen. I know there are others who would disagree, some who even cherish them, but the ones I’ve played are fraught with (correctable) manufacturing defects. I would suggest you look at the tweaking guide on C&F (http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tweak.html) or perhaps just pick up another whistle or two. The Waltons I’ve seen (and I have one) have huge chunks of plastic inside the fipple that have to be shaved off with an Exacto knife, then sanded down. The poster putty tweak was a must, too. They become playable at that point, though it’s still the least favorite whistle I have in house.
I heartily recommend Jerry’s work. I have a few Freeman Tweaked and they’re all quite nice. Jerry does great work. Alternatively, I’ve had a good experience with Oak whistles and Clarke (I have a Sweetone, though I hear the original is fantastic, too). If you want to sink a little more money into it, I hear nothing but good things about the Dixon Trad, which is still only ~ $25 - $30.
That’s good advice. If you’re very new, taking Jim’s advice or at least asking a more experienced whistler to give yours a toot so you can determine if the problem is you or that whistle is a good idea.
Practice and time will do it.
Assuming your whistle is OK (and I agree with having an experienced whistler try it out for you), try playing long steady notes. Try going up and down the scale, playing each note for 5 seconds or more. Boring as all getout, but it works.
A little late to the ball game, here, but figured I’d throw in my two cents.
Paul’s absoloutely correct in that it’s the whistler in many cases, and not the whistle. BUT I can speak from understanding a perspective very close to your own. When I was trying to learn on a Feadog, and even the Clark that I loved, I just hated the way I sounded. And it was that frustration that sort of stymied me, which sounds like the point you’re getting at. That was when I ordered a Tony Dixon polymer whistle in D for about ~20. It showed up, and within five toots I noted that I still sounded awful, but the whistle itself sounded wonderful. May sound a bit out there, but that whistle stopped me from throwing my hands up and quitting.
So to piggyback on some praise for the Trad, since I got my trad last April or so, it’s been my go to whistle on a daily basis. My poor O’Briens and Syns don’t get nearly as much play as they deserve, much as I love them. The great thing about the trad compared to Mr. Dixon’s standard polymer whistle is that it’s not nearly as easy to over blow. I’m not sure if it’s refinement in the fipple design, as it looks pretty similar. Considering it doesn’t put much of a dent in the wallet if you’re a spaz and fubar the thing, like I’m prone to, I think it’s one of the best deals out there price wise, alongside Jerry Freeman’s tweaked whistles.
/2cents
Matt
[Edit] Just as an afterthought, back when I first got into all of this, my pop bought me two D Waltons at the same time. Both were almost unplayable out of the box, but the blue tack tweak to fill the empty chamber at the bottom of the fipple, and the sound blade sandpaper tweak (Look’em up, if they’re still floating around the forum dungeon) helped one out. The other sounded just as miserable after tweaking. This is just to back that you could have been sold a horribly manufactured mouth piece.
) the lower notes due to playing the trumpet for 10 years.