Can somebody tell me how to use that moveable thumb/finger rest thingy on this wonderfull new whistle I just bought?
Brian
I use them by fitting it in hight with the top hole pointing downwards. Then you put your thumb under it so the whistle can rest on the thumb more easily. It might seem pretty unnessecary but it’s good to have when your playing an ooo ooo so you wount drop the whistle on your foot.
Cheers
Welcome to the board!
The thumbrest should be placed somewhere between the holes for the right hand 1st and 2nd fingers (a.k.a. the 2nd and 3rd holes up from the bottom of the whistle).
Best wishes,
Aldon
.
1: Take it off;
2: Put it in a drawer;
3: Forget which drawer!
It just gets in the way and can ruin your grip for other whistles.
I agree, Chuck. I have a Susato wide-bore low F myself. I have found that it is very handy for holding the head up high in the pouch so it can be reached easily. so I just slide it out of the way and finger the E with
o o o o o x
Slan,
BB
My hands get tired holding a brass Copeland low D, especially the thumb muscles. I was wondering if it might make things easier in terms of fatigue. Yes? No?
Tony
Probably, yes. Because you wount have to squeeze the whistle to keep from dropping it. But I’ve found it especially useful for helping me play the C-sharps.
Wow what an immediate response. Thanks guys. Natch I couldn’t wait for replies and found it useful to put above the right hand thumb which helps in two ways. It doesn’t drop on the floor when I play C# (well it would be C# if F was D !). Which raises another newby question: When I said C# above what is the official way to write it. Maybe C#keyD-F ??? is there a rule? Anyway where was I. Oh yes the other advantage fixing the thumb helps positioning of the other fingers.
brian
What do you mean Brian? The ooo ooo on an F whistle would be an E#. I’m not totally sure. I will have to dig deaper into that or maby someone with better whistle, scale knowledge could answer that. And the rule for that would be D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#,D. Or in your case: F,G,A#,B,C,D,E#,F. Simple tin-whistle scale.
Actually, there are no sharps in an F scale. All holes open would be an E. So, an F scale is F G A Bflat C D E F. 
~Larry
Must agree with Chuck. They are more in the way then anything. My thumbs ached horribly when I first started playing the low whistles and even my Dixon flute but two things have eliminated the problem.
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Release the death grip. I found that when trying real hard I squeezed the daylights out of the instrument. Relax
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Strength through repetition. In other words. Do it enough and the muscles will get used to it.
Brian,
One of the great things about diatonic instruments such as whistles is that you can usually learn to play a tune just one way, then when you get in a situation where the tune is in a different key, just change instruments and play it the same way.
That said, whistlers have a tendency to relate everything to a D whistle, so if you hear a whistler say “C-sharp”, and he is holding an F whistle, he is really talking about E.
Do you own a Dixon flute? Is that one of those cheap polymer pvc ones? I just ordered one but haven’t recived it yet. I’m very curious to hear what you thought about yours.
Must make mention that for some folks, a thumbrest is more help than hinderance… in my case, I have a weakness in my left thumb that no amount of “strength through repetition” will aid. Thus, there are thumbrests on all my whistles, and that makes it not only easier but possible for me to play them, all the way down to bass Bb. (I use a neckstrap for my bass A…)
For a lot of folks, it’s true that the t-rest isn’t necessary. But, for those who really need it, go ahead and use it. Again, in my case, trying to “tough it out” actually made it worse for my left hand. Another example of “different strokes for different folks.”
Thanks for all the replies. I developed the trick of closing the bottom hole for most notes thus keeping my right hand in position to close bottom holes as needed. Even with the thumb rest C# (all holes open) was wobbly.I now have a Dixon low D which came without a thumb rest. Further the Low whistle book recommends a (pipers’) grip with little finger on top of the tube - as you do for the usual D whistle. At first this was awkward since right hand fingers spread don’t like to lift with little finger down. But I am getting used to it and beggining to think a thumb rest is redundant after all.
Brian
Hey there, you with the stars …
When the moon hits your eye like …
I’m just not in an Irish music mood tonight.
Anyway, as to how to tell other people about the fingering on an F-whistle that would be C# on a D-whistle, I say: “On an F-whistle, C# as per D”.
Whatever Lola, wants; Lola …
Hey mambo; Mambo Italiano …
You do the Hokey-Pokey and …
Just use it so your whistle dont roll off the table.
In reality, all whistles are really in “D” because the bell note is always called “D” and it doesn’t matter what pitch “D” is relative to any “standard” frequency or any other instruments.
Pipers come from the same tradition because the relative “pitch” is only relative to yourself, or whoever else you need to play with, which until recent years wasn’t a big consideration. The old “flat” pipes are said to have been in C, or C# or B or Bb, but they really were just coincidentally near those standard “pitches” and they were all in D.
Royce