I’ve really fallen in love with my old Feadog and the new Feadog pro d . . .
I have noticed something. Sometimes, when I first pick it up, I get some of those sounds where lots of notes in the second octave have a squeaky, creaking door sound . . . not a squawk, not missing the note. . . it is the note I want to hit, only rough and raspy. But after I play a while, the whistle gets to sounding very sweet and clear.
Is it because the whistle has warmed up, or is it there a possibility that I am warming up instead?
I’m really curious, because I am really trying to notice my technique and notice exactly what I am doing. I cannot tell that my technique is that much different when the whistle gets really sweet and when I start out and it sounds raspy.
I think it is a little bit of both. I know for myself, I usually need a few minutes of playing to get the proper breath support and embouchure that the whistle needs, especially if I haven’t played it for a while. Any whistle is going to need phyiscally warmed up to some extent before it will play its best, some materials and models more than others. Once it gets warmed up there will be less condensation and the whistle will be at it’s proper pitch and probably other things that I don’t know about. It really starts to become an issue when you start getting into thick-walled metal whistles, especially ones in lower keys. Anyways, I hope that helps!
The Feadòg is hard to play well - not in the sense that it’s not doable, but it needs some attention - which means that it’s probably you getting used to the way it has to be done again. I experience similar “problems” if I take up the Feadòg (especially the “standard” one) after playing other whistles a lot (or not playing it for some time, anyway). That would be YOU warming up, then…
Did you “blow out” the windway after playing last time? I’d recommend doing this at the end of each session/practice: Cover the outlet above the labium with your finger(s), then blow short and hard - in order to remove most of the moisture within the windway. If you don’t do that, it might still be clogged next time you take up the whistle. I don’t know if that counts as “warming up” the whistle, but it’s definitely “cleaning out”
Since the head’s made of plastic, I don’t think warmth (of the kind you can produce with your breath) changes a lot there…
Actually, there can be a reverse effect, too. As a whistle warms up and normal condensation accumulates in the airway and around the fipple blade, it can mute the tone a bit and reduce the harshness of an aggressive whistle. If blowing out the condensation temporarily restores the original harsher tone, then there you have it.
I also find that our perception of tone/timbre is a very relative and subjective thing - much like taste or smell - and highly conditioned by other sounds. Play up a Feadóg, and within a moment or two it may sound perfectly nice. But switch to a Feadóg immediately after playing, say, a Clarke or Burke, and it may sound quite aggressive. There’s a refractory period that your ears need to adjust. All of which makes evaluating whistle tone a tricky art.
You’re absolutely right about perception - but there are some whistles that make coming back to them a pleasure whatever one comes back from. At least that’s the case for me and my Dixon Trad - whereas the Feadòg takes getting used to every time I play it (well, I’m a newb, it’s to be expected to be a challenge for me to play this whistle; it’s a tough teacher all by itself - which isn’t all bad, mind).
I didn’t think of positive effects of clogging yet, though - I definitely know that some wood and bamboo instruments (not only whistles) play better when they’re warm and thoroughly moistened from within.
When it comes to sound impressions, I think every effect perceived can be enhanced by circumstances and setup - a Feadòg’s always easy to drive to the topmost level of “crisp”… Clarke (original) marks the opposite end of that particular spectrum for me; I can’t make it sound harsh any way I try (which is a good thing, most of the time). That’s why I think it’s particularily probable to run into the kind of questions discussed here with a Feadòg.
I think you nailed it. Once I was playing an Oak and noticed that the raspiness in the second octave (most notable in the e) was gone after playing for a while. I looked down the windway, and there was condensation hanging from the top of the windway exit. Shaking it off seemed to bring back some of the raspiness. Playing it some more brought back a more clear tone.
Plastic fipples don’t change temperature that much, so I don’t think it’s the whistle physically warming up. I think it’s the condensation mellowing out the tone. A spontaneous moisture-tweak.
All I know is my Oak sounds a lot better after five minutes than it does when it’s cold, and this is even after I’ve been playing another whistle and am personally warmed up. For five minutes I’m not a fan of my Oak. After five minutes I love it.
My Burke seems less susceptible to that phenomenon.
The whole thing here . . . that the perceived change in tone is due to moisture make me remember when I used to play a harmonica. It wasn’t uncommon to give a harmonica a dunking in a glass of water. It made them louder and the notes bent easier. It didn’t do wooden harmonica combs much good, though. And maybe it shortened the life of the reeds, though I still have most of them somewhere, and they still play.
Don’t know that I really want to intentionally run water through my whistle to get the sound I want, though I don’t know that it would really hurt it if it is metal with a plastic mouthpiece like the Feadog. The only time I have done deliberately dunked or soaked a whistle was to flush out CPVC dust on homemade low tech whistles. Come to think of it, they did sound pretty good after washing them out. I was concerned with the water on the wooden plugs . . . causing them to swell or something.
I find that a good dunking works for my cornet too, as long as all the excess water is blown out first. Maybe we should encourage more whistling in the shower or even in the sauna.
