Hello, I just started to play the tin whistle some months ago, but I’ve very little time to practice. I play some easy tunes by now.
I was wondering if you, more experienced whistlers, could tell me your opinion about how I play the tune “Londonderry Air” because I think I may be overblowing in the higher octave part. Also it has been very difficult for me to keep the breathing and to play the highest note.
Please tell me what you think about my recording, what am I doing wrong or something I should practice more.
It is a MEG by Clarke’s D tin whistle.
Actually, it sounds like you are **under**blowing the higher octave. You really need to support those high notes with the breath, even though it may seem like it makes them too loud. You’ re hesitating. The difference between the loudness of the lowest and highest notes of the whistle can be dramatic, and that’s normal. So play those high notes out, so that they start clearly and steadily. And for recording those notes, back away from the microphone a bit so you don’t introduce distortion.
Your timing is also off. On those long notes, think about counting them carefully in your head, or with the metronome. Basically, you’re holding them too long. Those big gaps/delays in the melody shouldn’t be there.
As for breathing, discipline comes with time and practice. But you should be able to get through an entire phrase (roughly 4 measures in this tune) on a single breath.
Hope that helps, and good on you for posting a clip.
Hello, I’m a new player too, and have a quick question that seems to be related, if that’s okay.
The higher notes on my Feadog D whistle sounds extremely… erm, bad. To be polite. Do you think this is a result of underblowing too? Is that a common error newbs make? I live with other people who aren’t quite so enamoured with the sound as I am, you see…
Welcome to the forums. Under blowing the higher notes is a very common problem when starting the whistle. It takes a steady, confident flow of air to make them sound good. It’s not just blowing harder, but also controlling that breath. You want it to be the same the whole time you’re on the note. Try just blowing a note in the second octave and vary your blowing until it sounds pretty good. Then try to hold the note and keep it sounding nice and clear until you run out of breath. As you do that with the different notes you’ll begin to get a feel of how much breath to give each note. Generally you’ll find that the higher you go, the more push it takes. And of course each whistle is different so it takes time to get used to a new one. I personally would suggest practicing both technique in blowing as well as simple tunes as you begin, then once you get better you can move to more advanced tunes and more complicated techniques like ornamentation.
Keep at it and enjoy the whistle.
Thanks for replying guys, I really appreciate your recommendations. I will practice a lot to get those notes sound beautiful and hopefully I should record this tune again without mistakes.
