Hi, I’m new to playing the tin whistle (a couple of months) and i’m really enjoying it. But it’s very frustrating because i can’t consistently get my right hand to stay put for playing the lower notes. I end up moving my hand, and frankly it doesn’t sound very nice. I practice scales to try and help, but i just seem to reinforce bad habits. Any tips on how i can correct this, please?
I started to rest my little finger on the whistle…light pressure gives me friction between it and thumb and keeps my right hand in place.
Welcome! Keep your thumb on the back of the whistle, and drop your right pinkie below/to the side of the bottom hole (wherever it’s comfy). That should keep your right hand in place. Also, play scales slowly to train your fingers not to fly high. Instead of ‘lifting’ your fingers as you go up the scale, imagine ‘not putting them down.’ Your movements will be smaller.
This is about the best tip I would have to give you, too. Go really, really slow, no matter how frustrating it might feel. It will eventually pay off. Also play the parts which you find troublesome over and over again, seeing that you do the right thing with your hand, and if you make the mistake, take it from the top.
This is my personal systematic method: play it seven times in a slow tempo, have a short break (or play something else you’re already familiar with), and repeat seven times. After that, repeat as needed (but always seven times) and slowly increase the tempo. I call it a set of seven (original, right?). Works for me, but I’m obsessive like that I guess. 
It’s common with woodwinds of all sorts to have “anchor” digits which help a hand stay indexed in the right place.
With the lower hand, as mentioned above many players use their little finger.
Some Irish whistle and flute players leave the lower-hand little finger down all the time. To me playing and patting E that way
xxx xxo|x
is awkward, but it doesn’t appear to slow down Matt Molloy (and many other great players).
I’ll often put down the little finger for G and higher, but play F# and E with the little finger off:
xxx xxx|o
xxx xxo|o
xxx xoo|o
xxx ooo|x
xxo ooo|x
xoo ooo|x
ooo ooo|x
Many old-school players use the lower-hand ring finger that way:
xxx xxx
xxx xxo
xxx xoo
xxx oox
xxo oox
xoo oox
ooo oox
I do that often, too.
Here is Mary Bergin doing it, playing G and upper-hand notes with the lower-hand ring finger on the whistle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdJYbOkbetQ&list=PLB8267A6F609C9370
Thanks for the tips. I think i am lifting my hand too high which is the problem. I’m going to work on that. I found watching my hands in the mirror has helped a bit, too. Sounds weird, but i can see the right hand shifting, so i can correct it.
Many very very good whistleplayers lift their lower hand very high off the whistle.
Here’s Mary Bergin. Note that in some passages she keeps the lower-hand ring finger on the whistle, the lower hand fairly close. But in other passages she has the entire lower hand far from the whistle (yet it always gets back when it needs to!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEW1HQBk4WM
This video shows the fingers held consistently fairly high off the whistle in a precise way. Brilliant playing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsdXrNo3-BE&list=PL11C44C9838230709
I noticed that for the lower hand she always keeps one finger on the whistle (but never the pinky). Looks completely automatic. I haven’t noticed that with others, but then again I probably haven’t really looked. A technique to adopt, maybe?
Mainly, just keep playing and that tendency will go away.
A pinky anchor isn’t a bad idea. On a modern Boehm flute you have to keep your right pinky down except for a few notes and it doesn’t seem to hinder Joanie Madden any.
I looked for a video to remind me how Joanie handles the whistle and came up with this one of a house concert which shows that she does not anchor her pinky, and that her fingers fly up pretty high at times. Ironically, I’m pretty sure I was at that house concert in upstate NY. The room looks familiar, and the date is about right. What an experience!
Interesting observations…I’m realizing that I do the same thing…somtimes fingers closer to the holes but other times quite high…I’m doing it (edited to say" it" being holding fingers high sometimes), I do it when I do pats/strikes/taps…Kinda like cocking the fingers to get a good slam down when ornamenting…Playing a polka or hornpipe, with much less ornamentation, I tend to keep my fingers closer the holes…I suspect this is a bit of what’s going on.
It might help to place something on the back of the whistle where you want your thumb to “home” in.
I use thin rubber “non-skid” pads designed for the concert flute that work a treat. You can get them in either black or white from Carolyn Nausbaum Flutes.
Also they really help prevent the whistle(s) from sliding around. 
JD
Very interesting, you’re right she doesn’t use any anchor fingers on her lower hand.
From what I’ve seen that would make her in the minority. Most players use L4 and/or L3 as an anchor at least part of the time.
Most Boehm fluteplayers-turned-whistleplayers carry over using L4, which depresses the closed Eb/D# key most of the time, onto the whistle.
(In like manner many Recorder and Uilleann pipe players lift their upper-hand thumb when playing Middle D on the whistle, though there’s no hole there for that note.)
Exactly. What I think is happening is that the finger needs the extra distance to achieve the velocity required for an extremely quick pat. Fiddle players do it too.
It’s why, when I’ve taught Irish Flute classes, people with Boehm flute backgrounds have difficulty making their pats quick enough: on the Boehm flute, to avoid key noise, you keep your fingers very close to, or in contact with, the keys. This makes the pats sluggish.
I use a small bead of beeswax with similar results. It’s “slightly” tacky so is very non-slip, but will wipe off and not leave a trace if you decide you don’t like it or want/need to reposition it.