Hi everybody! I will appreciate all the advice I can get! I have reached the point of learning to recognize and play the “high” notes. Now, I am fine with the usual higher registar…but these are the REALLY high notes. You know…high A, high B, High G, High F and EVEN HIGHER D.
Oh yeah, and C too! I just CAN"T seem to do it! What a horrible racket. On the tape it sounds so sweet and effortless and when I try it it sounds like the racket in a slaughterhouse. ARRRGHHH I am not going to make much progress until I get this. Any advice will be SO appreciated!!! Thanks!!
If you play a high-end whistle it really helps to focus the air stream directly into the instrument, no tilting the whistle left or right. Keep the mouthpiece out on your lips, not inserted very far into your mouth, certainly well in front of the teeth. Narrow the air stream. This will help you play the highs in tune. A good exercise to help identify the differences in technique is to begin an A in the lower register, then bounce immediately up to the high A. You will, I believe, find the physical differences well stated in the posting of Sandy Jasper under the thread “Beginner Having Trouble”. Nicely communicated Sandy.
Aside from that, finding fingerings that work out better for your particular instrument may also represent a solution. Be patient enough to develop the solution that works best for you. All the best.
He died to take away our sins, not our brains.
[ This Message was edited by: U2 on 2002-09-13 14:57 ]
I’m a bit confused by this message, as you say “you’re fine with the usual higher register”, but then seem to say you’re having trouble with 4 of the 6 notes in what I would consider the high register. What do you mean?
As for the highest of those notes – I don’t think I ever go up to high C# or the third octave D (on the D whistle) in actual playing. It’s not a terribly pleasant sound, and almost nothing Irish calls for it. I do play the occasional high C-natural, but I don’t like it.
Let me see if I can clarify this a bit.
I have no trouble playing the usual registar from low D up to High D. I can play High E (with some trouble) The notes I just cannot seem to get are as follows: High F sharp, high G, high A, high B, high C sharp, and extra high D.
I am sure the problem does have to do with the way I am directing my air stream..but I just can’t seem to do anything except SHRIEK these notes, IF I manage to it them at all.
I’m using “THE WHISTLERS POCKET COMPANION” by Donna Gilliam and Mizzy McCaskill. They have a fair amount of tunes which have some of these high notes.
Hope this helps…
Y’know, it amost sounds like you’re starting in the upper octave.
Try blowing very softly with all holes covered. As softly as you can, while still making sound. There are a number of whistles which have very low air requirements where it’s very easy to shift into the upper octave.
a lot depends on which whistle you’re playing. start practising on a sweetone perhaps, very easy to play the higher register. i hope you’re not trying to play a chieftain cause that’s really a more difficult instrument for high notes, unless you’re more experienced.
cheers
I tried these on my Oak high D. But who wants to play that high, except for last notes of a song, like to play a high A as the “toot-toot” at the end of the Sailor’s Hornpipe, provided you start it on high D.
Just thinking of those notes makes my eyes bug out. Besides, I agree with whoever said that you CAN play them but they sound unpleasant.
Given Andrea’s problem, I really wonder if it isn’t just her whistle. Many of the cheapies just don’t seem to like going above the high G much.
The only whistle I own which goes easily the third octave is the Hoover Narrow Bore D, but the tradeoff there is the difficulty in not overblowing the lowest D and E.
On 2002-09-13 18:00, msheldon wrote:
Y’know, it amost sounds like you’re starting in the upper octave.
What he said. Unless you’ve got a really bad whistle, hitting the E should be nearly effortless. (It’s usually just a touch easier than hitting the lower E, I’d say.) But the E in the third octave is can be pretty hard to play.