I’ve heard people say that you need to warm up certain whistles, and I’ve got a Chieftain A that definitly sounds better when it’s warm. But what do we mean by warming up your whistle? Do you mean, play scales on it for a while until it’s “warmed up” OR physically warm it up? I usually lay the Chieftain under one leg until my body warms it up–and just play my Dixon while I’m waiting. Am I weird or is this how you warm up a whistle?
I suppose that works. I have an low D aluminum whistle made by a friend of mine that works better when warmed up. I just cover the window and blow hard 6 or 8 times to warm it with my breath. I learned that playing brass instruments in band. I got nervous right before playing in church once and started blowing hard to warm it up BEFORE covering the window. I’ll leave the degree of my embarassment to your imagination. Actually I just pretended I was supposed to do that – I don’t think anyone knew any better. Or they were just being polite.
Whitey
~. . . . . .
I usually warm mine for a few minutes by tucking it under my shirt, next to my body. If nothing else, it reduces condensation (and hence clogging) when I start to play. For that same reason, I wouldn’t warm it by blowing into it, since that would have the same effect, condensation-wise, as playing it cold.
I’m not sure this is what people mean when the speak of “warming up” their whistles, but that’s what I do.
Redwolf
Warming up means bringing it to body temperature.
If you ever see Mary Bergin play you will see her put the end of the whistle down cover the airway and blow into the fipple. She holds this for about 10 seconds. This brings the whistle temperature closer to her body temperature and their should be less condensation.
It still seems to me that, if you’re blowing into the whistle to warm it, you’re going to get the same amount of condensation as you would if you were to just start playing it. After all, it’s the same issue…warm, moisture-laden breath coming into contact with the cold metal or plastic of the whistle.
Has anyone ever done an informal experiment, blowing into the whistle vs. holding it against your body to bring it to proper temperature? It would be interesting to see if one method produced less condensation than the other.
Redwolf
Most of the time just blowing into the fipple will cause condensation, but when you warm up the whistle in this way, you are blowing harder than you normally would be. So you do not get as much condensation as you would normally, because you are clearing it away as you are blowing. There are many ways to warm up a whistle, if you have a pollishe metal whistle, you can rub it with a cloth held tightly around the whistle and this will warm it up also. /|
Redwolf, you do indeed get moisture in the mouthpiece when you warm it up by blowing, but after it’s warm, just give it a couple of really hard puffs to blow out the moisture. (Once the whistle is warm, the breath doesn’t condense as readily.)
Hold it in warm drink e.g. tea for a few seconds.
easily D I L U T E D fool??
IT does seem as though warming
an alloy whistle makes the
upper register easier to
reach and sweeter to the ear.
Or is that just me?
As to warming it, I believe
anything that raises
its temperature will do.
Holding your hand around the fipple end and placing the whistle under your arm like a riding crop makes it warm up pretty fast. Give it a go.
billg
If you are wearing a long-sleeved shirt, stick it up your sleeve - it’s good for hiding the l’il sucker too.
PR
- Warm-up means physically warming the whistle by conduction from breath or other heat. Pitch sharpens when whistle warms, and alloy whistles sweeten right up.
-Plastic whistles will also be flat when cold, but tone doesn’t seem to suffer as much as with alloy whistles. I just cover the tone holes and blow through the wrong end for a minute, or lay the whistle near (not too near) the forced-air heat in the cold season.
Brian O.
[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-11-11 21:56 ]
[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-11-12 01:05 ]