I taught myself the whistle; simple as that, and now it looks like I’ve suffered dearly for it!
I peeked onto the “proper posture” page just for fun, and noticed something strange. The whistler appeared to have his or her left hand above his or right hand; in other words, his left fingers covered the top 3 holes, his right, the bottom three. I learned it the opposite; I play with my right hand above my left. Am I totally wrong? Will I have to re-teach myself? Or does everyone play differently? Help!
Well, I remember reading many posts about that many months ago. Yeah, the ‘standard’ way is to play with your left hand on top. On whistle, I don’t think it makes any difference. I think you problems might start if/when you want to pick up the flute. Then I don’t think you’d be able to play a standard flute, especially with keys.
I would tell you to re-learn if it’s not such of a big deal for you, I think you’d be happy about the decision in the future, but if you only intend to play whistle then it’s really not a big deal.
Well, you’re in good company at least! John Williams plays that way, as does Seamus Egan, I believe, but they’re both left-handed!
I’m no expert, but seems to me if it ain’t broke…
Carol
Yeah, was about to ask you if you were left handed, which could make a big difference, as you’d play that way on the flute anyway.
Well, if JOHN WILLIAMS does it… 
Thanks for the reassurance guys. I have no intention of picking up the flute at this moment in time; maybe years from now I’ll give it a try, but since I’m sticking with the whistle for now, I think I’ll just continue with how I learned. Especially since it isn’t some horrible tinwhistle faux pas as I was afraid!
breaths sigh of relief, continues JW-style playing
By the way, I’m not left-handed. Which I guess makes my method even weirder, but hey.
“All things by immortal power, hiddenly,
to eachother linked are;
though canst not stir a flower
without troubling of a star.” (Madeleine L’Engle)
[ This Message was edited by: Soineanta on 2002-09-22 15:16 ]
I’m by no means an expert (though I thought about playing one on TV), but I don’t see a problem. Sounds like you just play left handed. As long as it’s comfortable it shouldn’t interfere with your playing.
Of course I have almost no experience to base this on…
Snuh
Well, if JOHN WILLIAMS does it… >
If you ever want to get a flute, nearly all the flute makers will make you a left-handed instrument if you request it.
Only in the Boehm-system world would it present a real problem, and even then I bet it’s fixable if you got the ca$h.
Best,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
Edited to fix a typo…seems that I type faster than I think these days.
[ This Message was edited by: peeplj on 2002-09-22 15:32 ]
When I started learning, I didn’t have anyone to tell me the ‘right’ way, and I picked it up left-handed myself (even though I’m a righty).
Funny, I spar in kung fu southpaw too…go figure.
Greg
I´m also right handed but when I picked up the whistle this spring, I intuitively(?) placed the right hand closest to the mouth.
After a couple of weeks I realised most people did it the other way around so I thought about change it because I suspected I would play a flute soon.
However I realised that a flute can be played (or be made to play) both ways so I decided to do what was the most natural to me, and that is play “left handed”.
/Peter
IMO you’d be much better off to switch now, while you’re still new at this. If you stick with whistle for very long, you’re going to want to play flute eventually, then you’re screwed. Fofget about Egan, Williams and the rest - we ain’t them, and aren’t likely to do well trying to switch hit: Right handed on Flute, “Left handed” on whistle.
Sure, any decent maker will make you a lefthanded flute, but you’ll be severly limited in you’re choices of used flutes, and any (wooden) flute you buy will depreciate drastically the moment you take possesion of it.
There’s absolutely no problem with the way you play whistle, but I promise you - you’re going to sorely regret it in the future if you ever take a serious liking to the wooden flute - I strongly suggest you switch while you still can…
Just my opinion though.
Loren
Azalin and Loren do make a good point. When I first started playing the whistle I didn’t think I’d ever be interested in the flute, and now I am hopelessly addicted. I’ve had some wrist problems adjusting to playing the flute, and for a very brief time I tried it left handed, thinking maybe since I was such a beginner that switching early on made sense. It was VERY hard to do even at that early stage and I went back to right-handed and coped.
You may THINK you have no intention of playing the flute, but sooner or later…
Old recorders were made with a bottom hole on either side. You would plug one or the other depending on whether you played left top or right top.
I spent some time trying to play right-handed, and it just feels so wrong. 
I dunno if I can make the switch, guys! You’re right that I may want to pick up the flute, but I guess I would just have to get one made left-handed. There are downfalls to that, but, I think my left-handed playing is just too far engrained. I’ll keep trying though!
Well geeze, it’s not like you’re going to be able to switch in one day! 
Sure it will be tough to switch now, I’m simply saying it will me MUCH tougher to switch later on. Take it from someone who has had to learn several skills both right and left handed - the better you get the way you’re doing things now, the longer and harder you’ll have to work later to make a switch.
This thread actually makes me wonder: Of all the people who start on whistle, and then stick with it (actually practicing) for 3-5 years, what percentage DON’T end up moving on to flute (or even other instruments such as UP’s or Fiddle)?
I think very few people (who actually practice) would stick solely with the whistle for much longer than 3-5 years…the whistle is just so limited compared with other instruments…Of course it’s simplicity is certainly it’s beauty as well, especially for the beginner. I just wonder what the actual stats are.
Loren
Cathal McConnel plays left handed on flute and whistle. The strange thing is that he plays a right-handed keyed flute in the left-handed position.
I grew up playing in fife and drum corps, where everyone had to play in the same position. Over the years, I’ve acquired anecdotal evidence to suggest that left handed people who are forced to play the fife in a right handed position seem to comprise a surprising number of the best fifers! Maybe it’s having the dominant hand on the fingers that do the most work, or maybe it’s the whole right brain, left hand artistic thing and has nothing to do with position.
Still, I’m with Loren. I’d switch now. You’ll adjust in a week or two.
Just my $.02 ($7.83 Canadian).
Hi, Loren
I think you raised an interesting point about the number of us who are eventually tempted to branch out into flute playing. Just to start the ball rolling, I am one of them.
I guess the what did it for me was listening to tons of Irish music to help with my whistle playing, which of course exposed me to flute playing also. It sounds gorgeous of course, and has loads of dynamic possibilities which are rather more limited on the whistle. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t imagine leaving the whistle behind for one moment. I’m really looking forward to seeing how thr flute studies help with the whistle playing, and vice versa.
Flute arrives in a few days…
Best wishes, Adrian
p.s. I’ve enjoyed your enormous contribution to these forums…good on you!!!
I would advise changing now while you can as it is almost like giving yourself a handicap in the future. The amazing thing about a whistle is the fingering is almost the same for the flute (as mentioned) the recorder, clarinet AND Saxophone. The possibilities of where this information you are now gathering could go is endless, but these instruments are all played (unless you have a rare left one) with your left hand on top. I have known people who have started one way and remained that way and they spend an awful amount of time sighing and saying “But I learned it this way!” The good news is you will probably gain more dexterity from exposing your brain to both ways and may end up being a better player! (At least you can hope!)
In all fairness, I should mention the one advantage to playing it wrong hands up, it is easier to learn a song from someone else as you are looking at a mirror image of their hands!
Best of luck,
Sandy
Well, I’ll stick my neck out in the minority and say if you really don’t want to switch, don’t feel like you HAVE to. (BTW, Larry Nugent also plays “upside down” as I think of it, and he’s right handed. He also plays the flute in the weirdest way, I can’t describe it). In my opinion, the important thing is to have fun with the whistle, and not worry about if you are doing it “right” or not. But you have been warned of the possible repercussions of not switching, and yeah, the sooner you do it the easier it will be.
I guess I’m also in the minority in that I have been playing whistle for over 10 years and still have absolutely no desire to play the flute. I like flute music, just don’t want to make it myself. Go figure. I do wish to play the fiddle, and still long to pick up a saxophone every once in a while (haven’t played that since high school). Of course, who knows what the future holds…
Whatever you do, happy whistling!
Beth
Mary Bergin plays the whistle with the Right hand on top.