My style of whistle playing is not to use a fourth anchor point, and so I rely on balance, sometimes keeping my 6th finger down or putting the pinky down to stabilize when I’m playing C-sharp.
But on my Burke, which has been my favorite lately at sessions, even those methods aren’t good enough for the slippery aluminum. I’ve tried beeswax and that helps a bit with grip. Michael Burke suggested rubber cement or latex glove piece on the thumb – but I don’t think I could endure the laughter that would cause at a session
i use a couple of small pieces of masking tape (the blue stuff) on the underside of the DAN where my thumbs go. works fine for me. i usually anchor the pinky on my bottom hand, though.
I have a Burke low D in aluminum, and have been having the same problems with slippage. Others in this forum have generously made some helpful suggestions, though I haven’t completely solved things, yet.
This probably is not applicable to a high whistle, but I’ve been trying out a non-piper’s grip on the low whistle with my left hand, only. Sort of a flute grip with the left hand, combined with the piper’s grip for the right hand. Seems to be working OK so far.
Take double sided tape or perhaps better some blue tac. Cut a thin strip of sand paper and attatch the sand paper to the whistle with the sticky substance of your choice…works well..the double side tape does tend to come off fairly easily, but somthing similiar would work
I had the same challenge when I bought an aluminum Burke whistle.
I started playing with pinky down. With smallish hands and a short pinky I could barely get the end of my pinky on the whistle. This was ok on the Sweetone and Shaw which were my first whistles. When I got my third whistle, a Burke aluminum narrow bore, it became a challenge because the finish is so smooth.
I read a couple threads on the board about pinky up vs. pinky down and couldn’t make up my mind. Finally I watched some video tutorials (like Brian Finnegan) to see how the players I like manage the situation. I started playing with my finger down covering the bottom hole on C# and sometimes B depending on the note before or after. With a little practice the problem was solved.
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i don’t have this problem, i also don’t have an aluminum whistle. this is just theoretical but i would think applying some rubber cement to the whistle would give your fingers some good traction. the rubber cement is removable too and wouldn’t damage the whistle any. i have used rubber cement for a lot of different applications over the years. and now since you’ve made me think about this, i am going to put some rubber cement on some slippery guitar picks to see if that helps matters. long ago, i moved solely to nylon guitar picks but may try out the other materials if this works.
you might even try applying a great big dawb of rubber cement at the foot of the whistle and let it dangle. that would look like snot hanging from your whistle and truly gross out everyone.
You know, I’ve been a member of this forum for several months now and I still have absolutely NO idea what the heck a piper’s grip is. On the other hand, I probably have no idea what a proper whistle grip is either, so what the hey.
If somebody would please post some pictures, showing a piper’s grip and a proper whistle grip (or even a flute grip - I’m easy) I would be content
Currently, to play my whistle, I hold the thing in the “Neuman” grip.
Thanks everyone for the, uh, colorful suggestions (mutepointe and vomitbunny). I actually tried out rh’s suggestion of painter’s tape and it worked great for me. Though I happened to have only purple painter’s tape in the basement, and it made it look quite girlie, like I was trying to make my whistle look really pretty Maybe I’ll start a trend of decorating our whistles – I see sequins and ,oooh, maybe those bicycle streamers hanging off the end
In my first post I forgot to add that I had tried rubber cement and it worked well. I just didn’t like making my fingers sticky as well. Then they stick to the Guiness in between tunes . . .
Zoe
oh, and by “style”, in my earlier post, I actually meant my newbie inability to anchor with my pinky and still lift my fifth finger
OK, from the picture URL, I assume that you are showing me the piper’s grip in this photo.
According to what I have read about playing whistles, you are never supposed to use the tips of your fingers to cover the holes in a whistle, but the fingertip pads. I see from the picture that the piper’s grip involves placing other sections of your fingers over the holes, some fingers actually curling around the pipe in doing so.
Am I getting this correctly?
I am assuming that the picture is of an alto whistle of some indeterminate key, that there are six holes on this instrument and that the player’s fingers are covering all of them. Is that correct?
Thanks for finding the picture. I think that I saw this once, while I was wandering around Chiff & Fipple, but I was not sure what I was seeing.
I think that I will take a picture of my own “Neuman” grip and post it on the forum for the amusement of the masses.
As always, I am constantly in debt to the forum for my continual education. . .
It’s a piper’s grip. Fingertip pads, of course. Even the best dictionary can’t give me the word for everything… I think it is a low D whistle, but I really don’t know. Yes, there are six holes, and they’re all covered. The picture below shows my hands/fingers and my Kerry Songbird Low D. I might be able to cover the upper three holes with my fingertip pads, but I won’t be able to play very much. The last three holes do need this piper’s technique to get me covering the holes properly. Especially when the E hole is larger than the diameter of my Feadóg high D whistle!
About these anchor points… More specifically the one for the bottom hand pinky… I can’t seem to make any good use of that. My fingers seem to have just the right amount of shortness to them, my pinky won’t comfortably rest on the barrell of the whistle. It’ll reach, but, it’s bent uncomfortably in order for it to reach the barrell, and usually hinders my playing for the bottom hand anyways. Especially my E rolls. If I do rest my pinky comfortably, it doesn’t do good enough for the purpose of it being there. Anybody else have this problem? I’ve trived moving my fingers countless different positions, no dice. Is this bad?
Many people have the same challenge as you (and I). In videos of great players you can see that many do not use their pinkie (probably 50/50). They learn to use the ring finger of the bottom hand. You just drop it down on the bottom hole when you play a C# and sometimes when you play a B. It becomes easily part of regular play, it doesn’t change the pitch of the note (maybe a tiny change of voice character), and provides the same (or better) stability as the pinkie down all the time.
I started playing with my finger down covering the bottom hole on C# and sometimes B depending on the note before or after when I found the pinkie anchor was clumsy for me. Works fine when you get used to it.
Well, That’s good to hear. And even better yet that I already utilize my ring finger for that missing pinky anchor point. Just how you said it. Sometimes on the slow tunes, I even just slide my ring finger below the bottom hole, because as you said, and as I’ve experienced with my whistles, covering that bottom hole does slightly change the note some. It flattens the note it seems. Which is probably how and why finger vibrato works… But for the fast tunes where covering that bottom hole for B, C natural and sharp, you can hardly (if at all) tell a difference.
post some pictures, showing a piper’s grip and a proper whistle grip (or even a flute grip - I’m easy) I would be content
Maybe I’ll start a trend of decorating our whistles – I see sequins and ,oooh, maybe those bicycle streamers hanging off the end 
