I decided yesterday that 2013 was going to be my year for learning an instrument and I wanted it to be portable so I could practice at work so it was a toss up between the tin whistle or harmonica. After a quick nosey around that great thing called the tinterweb I settled on the whistle as there were more learning resources available, I like Irish folk music and I confess because a basic whistle I’d very cheap which I’d great as I tend to quit if things don’t go my way straight away.
So I ordered my first whistle from eBay last night, I have a clarkes meg (in d) winging its way to me and am spending today avoiding the housework and looking to see what I need to know before I start.
Now some questions:
How do I keep my whistle clean both inside and out?
I can’t read music will this be a problem?
Who’s shoulder can I cry on when the only sound I can produce after a week of practice is an ear splitting screech?
Welcome. I hope you’ll enjoy learning the whistle. I also like the portability of the whistle.
To clean it, give it a wipe outside, and you might need to stick a pipe cleaner down the tube. To clean the mouth piece I poke a bit of plastic fruit net label cut to size.
Not reading music is fine. Start by playing tunes you already know like Happy Birthday, or Christmas carols. Learn some other tunes so you can hum them then play on the whistle.
You’ll get loads of support here.
heres a couple of absolute beginners’ tips
Beginners always need practise to cover the holes properly, faiing to do this produces shreech.
Don’t use the tippy tips of your fingers but the pads.
Make sure you know if you are left or right handed. most common right handed position is left hand on top.
Vent the high d note by lifting the top finger when you play it (low d note is all fingers on, high d the same, blow a bit harder and top finger off)
The reason for these tips is to try and get you started with a couple of good habits which are a bit of pain to correct later.
Hello Whiskey9890.
Welcome!!
You’re going to enjoy your new Meg. It’s a decent starter whistle, for sure.
Keeping it clean is easy, just rinse with warm water and set it vertically to dry.
Your also right about resouces for beginners to learn music on tin whistles.
There is a huge amount and and a wonderful variety.
Whiskey,
Welcome to Chiff & Fipple, you have certainly come to the right site. Both Infernaltootler and Maki have given you good advice to your initial questions. Additionally, not reading music should not be an issue if you are true to your desire to learn how to play Irish
Whistle. Many great players do not read music and that as Maki mentioned is both acceptable and in alignment with traditional learning style of playing by ear. You already have perhaps unknowingly taken steps toward learning as you expressed your love of traditional Irish music. Just listening to good Irish Traditional Music (ITM) players regularly and taking in the melodies, rhythm, and other nuances of onamentation as you listen, will aid greatly in your eventual ability to play.
There are some great online tutorial resources available for free and that are specific to various levels of proficiency including those for beginners. Do a search for beginning tin whistle lessons by Ryan Dunn on Youtube. His intruction is straight forward and will provide you with a good basic foundation and and a progression toward more advancing technical ability.
Your reference to giving up on things that don’t come easily is my only concern regarding your ability to learn to play whistle. Remember, few things of worth in life come easily. Everyone who plays whistle was a beginner at some point. Advancement in playing comes through regular practice, repetition of things learned and building on those early lessons. Keep a whistle handy and take advantage of any free moments in time to play. At first, keep lessons reasonably short in duration 15 minutes to a half hour, and try to play a few times each day. Expect to make mistakes, we all do and it is part of the learning process. Most importantly, make it fun and don’t be afraid to put the whistle down and come back to it, should frustration take hold on you. I will guarantee that if you set your mind to stick with it, even when discouraged, you will be glad you did in the long run.
Another thing to keep in mind to keep things simple at first, playing scales, easy to remember melodies such as Mary Had A Little Lamb and others that were etched into your brain as a child, such familiarity being your musical friend.
The support you will receive here on C & F is second to none and will be most useful in your desire to learn to play whistle. Just remember to have fun with it and it will come along for you. Like others on here, I have been the recipient of the kind words of encouragement and advice of other C & F members. I believe in paying things forward and in that regard, do not hesitate to contact me via private message if you have questions or just need a slap on the back to get you over the walls we all face in trying to become better players of ITM and whistle. Good luck, now get to it!
Thanks for the welcome.
Have enjoyed today just lurking around here and YouTube feel like I’ve learnt things already just hope my whistle arrives tomorrow so I can practice. And don’t worry I’m not planning on quitting I’m leaving that to diet and exercise programs.
So am I right in thinking the fipple is essentialy the mouth piece and the chiff us the air passes over the blade in the fipple. I did read the FAQs but I kept trying myself in knots.
To be exact, the fipple is the block which forms the bottom of the windway, which then directs the air onto the blade (labium). More loosely, fipple may refer to the all the sound-producing bits: block, windway, blade and window. And then, by extension, the entire mouthpiece.
Chiff is a term from the world of organ pipes, and it refers to the slight “chirp” you hear when the pipe begins to sound. In whistles, it loosely describes the slightly “dirty” and perhaps “airy” quality of tone and articulation which is much prized by many players.
Even if it is, of course, possible to learn and play the whistle without being able to read music…
… Think about, this now, will be a great chance to learn to read music and even if not neccessary, it is very usefull.
There are different ways of notation and it mustnt be “the dots” … i would recomend, to give it a try and playing by ear is still possible when bein g able to read notation
Welcome to the Chiff & Fipple whistle board. As a beginner “you are not alone” myself and quite a few others have only in recent months picked up the whistle and if you keep your eyes open on the board you’ll find there are a number of beginner threads that’ll help provide you with an indication as to how the early months of whistle playing will pan out. There are lots of topics covered all perfectly good consumption for hungry new bloods (whistlers) Listed below are a few of my favourite newbie topics to get you reading without the need to go searching. Good luck for now and remember have fun
Welcome to the forum. I have to put in my two cent’s as well. Everybody’s been giving out great advice so far. Like you and many others here I have some issues with reading music and it’s no problem at all. It just means you have to get better at listening and picking out the notes you hear. I started out on my own and didn’t find this wonderful place until I had been playing the whistle for a couple years. It’s possible to figure it out on your own just by listening to things and trying to reproduce them but it’s a whole lot faster and easier when you have some help.
As you first get started, take a good while to just work on getting good notes. Finger something like a G (top three holes covered) to start and just blow into the whistle. Try blowing slowly and try blowing fast. Try blowing fast and gentle and hard and slow. Do everything you can with the way you blow and see how the instrument responds. and work on being consistent with how you blow. Then do that for each other note. This will help you find the right breath for each note. You’ll find that generally a gentler breath gets a nice tone from the low notes while more push is required for the higher ones. Once you can make them all sound good then you’re ready to move on to things like scales and simple tunes. Always work on a tune so you keep feeling like you’re really getting somewhere. If all you play is scales then you will get discouraged more easily. But also always work on scales and/or intervals. That’s how you’ll improve your overall playing and get those tunes to sound better. One exercise I like to use is starting on low D and going from there to each other note and back, with and without tonguing. Then up to E, then F and so on. the transitions from low notes to high ones is a bit more challenging without tonguing but I think it really helps with control if you can do it.
Most of all though, enjoy the instrument and the music you make with it. I think one of the greatest joys in life is playing music with other people. And of course you can always come cry on our collective shoulder when things don’t go as you expected.
Thanks for the great tips am slowly working through the links that have been provided. My whistle wasn’t waiting for me today so more waiting, have also ordered the bill ochs book which may arrive tomorrow, I just can’t wait to get started.
Well 2 days in and I’m having fun, Mary had a little lamb is almost second nature, twinkle twinkle and London bridge are doable and I can do a teeny bit of down the sally gardens. Got my bill ochs book today so going to be working through that, although reading the bits about all the ornamentation make my head hurt.
The downside is my whistle sounds like a recorder to me and I seem to be playing it like one, blowing each note (not even tounging them, actually blowing them) but it’s improving… Slightly
Just follow the book step by step … and you will learn it on a good way
you will also learn to tounge (not blow recorderlike as u say) with that book
follow the book step by step during the lessons and you will learn on an improoved way
i have that book but i did start with another one first, than i got the bill ochs book but didnt follow it step by step… i am still not very far in it but i do know that way i went “i lost plenty time on wrong roads” which i wouldnt have lost when i would have started with and followed that book
this book teaches you how to play, how to read notation, how to do ornaments, plenty tunes … its usefull, use it
So now you have everything…
All that is required to improve is lots of practice.
Don’t neglect to listen to as much good music as you can take.
‘Program’ your brain with the right beat, lift, and lilt of the music you most want to play.
Take a deep breath, and relax, this will take years. But thats OK, we have the time,
and it really is about the journey, so enjoy learn to enjoy the growing pains.
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