The novice who knows well..... err... Nothing.

Whistle
1

Hallo allo…

I thought I might stick my nose in here, where it most likely does not belong, and see if someone might be able to aid me in my quest.

Up until this point in time, I have played a nice, safe, mellow Cedar native american flute in the key of E. It is not an instrument that is suited for quick playing, and I have to admit that I use it mostly for improvisation, nothing you would recognize as an actual song you see. Just raw music…

Now normally this is fine and good. But you see, I have an obsession with the Tin whistle, the sound that comes out of this instrument in the capable hands of someone much more talented than I has given me this drive to be able to play it myself.

Enter the whistle… the first one I bought was a Nickel B flat, rather than the lovely D that every site Ive seen has reccomended for a beginner such as I. (I, of course, did not listen -sheepish grin-) I could not play this whistle if my life depended on it, I am only able to conjure up squeeks and squealing that would surely torture your poor eardrums, and might cause an experienced whistler to pull the poor metal victim from my rather ungraceful paws.

So… recently I have acquired a lovely D, and lo and behold I can make somewhat less offensive noise on this one, than the B flat. But this is not enough you see. I am still a bumbling novice with the poor object. My husband, and my father who had the misfortune of hearing me trying to get a feel for this whistle, both have said… “Only YOU could make a pennywhistle sound like a native american flute.”

I fear I am just beginning to learn to read sheet music, I still cannot find my way out of a paper bag with neon signs pointing the way out just yet. And Im praying and hoping that someone might take pity on me and offer some advice -smiles-

Your time is very much appreciated, as is any advice or direction you could give.

-Shay

2

Scoiltrad beginning lessons.

Conal O’Grada on whistle.

This is one way to start out right, and learn from the Real Thing.

They are at http://www.scoiltrad.com. There is also a freebie sample lesson you should download rather you plan on buying any lessons or not. After all, why not get a free lesson?

Best wishes and good luck,

–James
http://www.flutesite.com

3

Shay, send me an email and I will send you some doc files that I wrote up for my beginning whistling student. It will show you whistle tablature, a type of music notation that is based on where you place your fingers.

Remember to remove the spamblocker from my email address.

–Beth

4

Try any of the online stores and get one of the tutorials…the Clarke tutorial is a nice start, but nearly any one gives you the basics

If you do NAF fingering, you may well find that pennywhistle fingering is actually more straight forward. For a simple scale you simply lift one finger at a time, from the bottom up, then for the high d, all fingers down and lift (or ‘vent’) the top hole. The upper scale is the same as the lower one, but blow harder. Time, patience and practice let you know how much to blow.

Best of luck! Explore the whole Chiff and Fipple site because there are links to very good spot tutorials.

5

Ahhh thank you very much for the advice! Off I go to take a peek :slight_smile:

One thing that is a huge change at the moment is the change from flute to whistle… My flute is -huge- whilst this whistle is… well.. much smaller. The adjustment is a bit to get used to :slight_smile:

6

Nyt, as I’ve mentioned before, for me to swap my fingering and breathing techniques, I had to entirely drop my other woodwind. I have no particular reason to go back to it now, and thanks to some unnamed C&Fer I’ve got a wicked bad case of the gotta-haves.

Can you pick out and play some basic piece like Twinkle Twinkle? Are you familiar with Irish session music, or do your tastes run more toward Americana?