Range of the Howard

[Impempe]

I recently got myself, in a moment of weakness, a new Howard low D. I am totally in raptures. It is just what I wanted, very little breath required, nice solid bell note and good volume. I have a question however. I notice that without some serious blowing, I cannot get passed the A in the second octave. Is this normal, is it just me, or is this a quircky whistle. It seems to need an abnormal amount of air passed this point, making it unplayable and yet the rest of it is so fantastic, I cannot put it down. Any advise welcome.

Ian

[anniemcu]

@Impempe

I recently got myself, in a moment of weakness, a new Howard low D. I am totally in raptures. It is just what I wanted, very little breath required, nice solid bell note and good volume. I have a question however. I notice that without some serious blowing, I cannot get passed the A in the second octave. Is this normal, is it just me, or is this a quircky whistle. It seems to need an abnormal amount of air passed this point, making it unplayable and yet the rest of it is so fantastic, I cannot put it down. Any advise welcome.

Ian

I felt that way until I managed to practice with it enough to learn better how to tighten my mouth to get more pressure for those notes. When I do it right, it sounds fine. I love my Howard… I may not be able to do it full justice yet, but I love it!

[Jim_W]

Don’t know if this applies here - for some whistles, I find it easier to get the high B (on a D whistle) by closing the three lower holes.

[Jack]

@Jim W

Don’t know if this applies here - for some whistles, I find it easier to get the high B (on a D whistle) by closing the three lower holes.

I do, too. I think it works best on whistles with smaller holes. I don’t have any empirical data to back that up, though. It’s just a hunch.

[peeplj]

The secret on the Howard is to keep playing; once you are familiar with the whistle, you will find this much easier.

–James

[kevin_m]

@Jim W

Don’t know if this applies here - for some whistles, I find it easier to get the high B (on a D whistle) by closing the three lower holes.

I find that this definately helps with the high B on my Howard.
I almost sold it a while back,as I hardly ever played it due a perceived problem with the Howard’s large holes and my skinny fingers.
However,I’m pleased that I kept it now- more practice has got me better acquainted with this particular whistle and my ability to cover the holes more accurately has improved.
James is right when he says keep playing.
The Howard has a voice all of it’s own.

[Macoco]

Stick with it and you will get there, you just need to get aquainted with it a bit more. I seam to suffer with the opposite in that i keep slipping up into the higher octave and sometimes struggle to get the lower notes. As they say practice makes perfect.