… and if it is, I wouldn’t be at all offended if you linked me to the answer and locked the thread. I’m not very skilled at searching message boards
I got my first tin whistle just two days ago. The last two nights I played it after I got home from work, and it sounded great - at least to my extremely untrained ears. Tonight though, it sounds awful. It sounds almost as though there’s some sort of blockage … it’s a high C whistle, and the D notes are all wonky. The notes down there are all overly breathy and don’t project well, and it’s not responding well to changes in my breathing down there … sometimes it’ll go up an octave easily, and sometimes I need to blow like crap before anything happens pitch-wise.
Again, these problems weren’t happening before tonight … at least not in such an inconsistent manner. I checked the inside to see if I managed me get any sort of foreign objects in there, and I see nothing. The whistle is a Clarke, if that helps any … I think it’s the “original” Clarke? It’s black with gold accents, and a wooden mouthpiece.
Again, any help would be much appreciated, since I’m having trouble tracking stuff down on my own. If I’m lucky, it’ll just be some sort of weird n00bish fluke. I hope
I’d guess that the mouthpiece on the whistle may have bent a bit. This happens with the Clarks pretty easily. Maybe others will suggest some other things to check. If it is a bent mouthpiece, you can probably fix it without too much trouble. I’d check the metal on top (above where you blow into) and see if it’s been squashed or opened up a bit.
Might want to check the blade, too…Clarke orginals are fairly fragile, comparatively speaking. While I was still new at the whistle, I probably broke a half-dozen of them sitting on them, putting stuff on them, dropping them, etc.
Checked the blade and the mouthpiece … both look okay but I haven’t got much experience with it. I do see that the the glue or plastic they used to seal the wooden mouthpiece in isn’t tight, and I can see light through part of it. Maybe my playing got the mouthpiece wet, which caused it to warp away from the tin? I don’t know, really.
Can anyone suggest a (preferably inexpensive) instrument that is very durable and easy to take care of? If this keeps up, I’d rather not go through Clarkes like crazy, the way Wanderer did As long as it sounds okay in the upper registers and sounds halfway decent with good quality control, I’m happy. I’m at a point now where I don’t care how good it is, as long as it doesn’t suck and it works.
On the cheap side you could get a walton or feadog or clare
they are brass tube with plastic mouth piece I’m a big guy and have sat on my whistle without any damage I have even stepped on my one walton without it falling apart they are available in the ten dollar range and with a little home tweaking sound great
Define ‘little’ home tweaking. If I can avoid it, I’d rather get something that sounds good out of the box, and doesn’t require me doing any modifications which I could possibly (probably) screw up.
Jean
when you first buy a low end whistle most play well out of the box the beauty of the tin whistle is that they are mostly dirt cheap way of making music.Like every thing else in life though we sometimes get a lemon.If you have whistle that won’t play go to the start page for chiff and fipple and read the articles on home tweaking they are easy to follow here is the link http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tweak.html
just be carefull and take your time the tips from Jerry freeman are excellant
You could buy a Clarke “Meg.” I bought a Sweetone as my first whistle (though in D), and it’s pretty resilient. I managed to ding it up a bit playing flips. It plays very well, as far as my untrained ear can tell. Later, I got a Meg for my 2-year-old nephew so he would quit stealing mine, and it plays exactly the same, as far as I can tell. Maybe even a little better in the high-high notes, though it prolly just seems that way 'cuz the silver Meg is way better looking than the black Sweetone.
If you decide you don’t like it, you’re only out $3 and shipping.
Jean, you’ve had the whistle just two days, and only played it a couple of evenings after work. Don’t be too quick to blame the whistle, particularly if it sounded good first time out.
If you can’t see any sign of physical damage (squashed metal at the fipple end, or squashed blade) and there’s no visible sign of foreign bodies in the tube or blocking the tone holes, then it’s likely the whistle is in the same store-bought quality as when you got it two days ago.
Whistles do clog while you’re playing them, and in Clarke Originals the condensation builds up on the lip of the blade fairly quickly (in my experience). Put your finger over the windway and give it a short sharp blow to clear it out.
It’s very common for beginners to suffer ‘wonky notes’ first off. Make sure you’re sealing all the toneholes with your fingers… it’s easy to miss or to fail to cover them completely until your ‘finger memory’ develops.
Concentrate on your breath control. Breath is the heart of the whistle, after all. Don’t expect perfection out of the box, learning takes time and everyone needs to adjust to a new whistle to learn its characteristics and breath support requirements.
As for seeing a small sliver of light between the fipple and the whistle body, that likely would’ve been there when you bought it. I have a couple of Clarkes and Shaws which show the same thing, and they still play very well.
Unless you know that you’ve likely damaged the whistle (by sitting on it/treading on it/squashing it somehow) don’t at this early stage blame the instrument and get caught in the trap of spending more money when you probably don’t need to.
Find a more experienced whistler and have them try your Clarke. This should determine whether it’s damaged or not. It’s really useful to learn the difference between playing problems caused by technique vs. playing problems caused by issues with the whistle such as junk in the windway.
It appears to be. I’m sure I’m just being paranoid here, but I can’t help thinking something is wrong with it, since it actually sounded BETTER when I had less practice. I checked the Clarke site as soon as I got it out of the box to find out if there was any maintenence I needed to run, and it basically came down to “don’t play it right after eating, and be careful with it.” So I grabbed a soda, and started playing.
Only afterward did I read that soda is bad for it
I’m have to practice like crazy the next week or two, and see how much difference it makes. I don’t know anyone else that plays around here, but maybe I’ll be able to track someone down for a few pointers, if I hang out in enough pubs The things a budding musician is willing to do in the name of his craft.
Well, soda isn’t good for it, but I don’t think that one soda is going to be the death of your whistle! The acid might eat the metal eventually, so perhaps you might want to rinse out the whistle.
Did a little bug get into it? Or a little spit, perhaps? That might have dried?
What you describe sounds to me like wet whistle. It can happen so quickly that you don’t rationally accept that condensation settled in!
In addition to blowing out the whistle, you can sling it. Hold it by the distal end (the narrow end–opposite the fipple) and shake it in a arc toward the floor. It’s a lot like shaking down an old mercury thermometer. Same whipping action. You have to be vigorous, because it can be difficult to get the moisture out.
You may be able to use a bit of thin cardboard or a piece of paper towel folded to get in there and dry it out.
Something just occurred to me! Was this a sugar-sweetened soda, by chance? That is, it was not a diet soda?
If that is the case, you might have dried sugar syrup in your whistle. That would explain the persistence of the problem! Try slinging your whistle again and, if it doesn’t work, you might have to wash that whistle (don’t soak it or the wood fipple plug will swell) in a bit of cool water and a drop or two of dish soap. (Fairy liquid if you live in Ireland!)
As long as it sounds okay in the upper registers and sounds halfway decent with good quality control, I’m happy. I’m at a point now where I don’t care how good it is, as long as it doesn’t suck and it works.
The things a budding musician is willing to do in the name of his craft.
Something just occurred to me! Was this a sugar-sweetened soda, by chance? That is, it was not a diet soda?