A question for the Scots/Irish :

[300win]

Love to play Scots/Irish music on the mandolin, have even made up some of my own. Although I primarily play Bluegrass. Now my question, and it ain't about strings; I recently ordered a penny whistle from Ireland, has not got here yet, but my question is; is it difficult to learn to play ? I hope I can learn as I really love the sound, and it is a lot easier to carry around then a mandolin while say I'm out in the woods exploring, or on a trip somewhere. What say you ?

[Jim MacDaniel]

Like the mandolin, the whistle is easy to pick up and play well enough to have fun with it, but hard to play well.

(Unlike the harmonica, which is easy to play badly... )

[Mike Snyder]

It takes a LOT of air. I tried, ended up winded and blue in the face. I love the sound, but haven't the wind.

[foldedpath]

Whistles are great! Well, unless they're played too loud and out-of-tune at a session, but that's not the subject here.


About six months ago, my S.O. bought a couple of cheap Clarke whistles (rolled metal, with a seam) at the local general store, in C and D, just for fun and to have in the house. I was able to pick out tunes I already knew on mandolin like "Merry Blacksmith" without too much trouble. I didn't have the breath problems Mike mentioned, but YMMV. The typical starter whistle for Irish fiddle tunes would be a D whistle, so hopefully that's what you're getting, but anything close will get you started. A C whistle will take a little more air.

Placing the fingers on the holes and making a decent sound isn't too hard. The first real hurdle will be managing the jump from the lower to the upper octave, as a melody crosses that line. You'll have to learn how to control that shift with breath pressure, and re-wire your brain on tunes you know, so you can anticipate the shift from the whistle's low to upper octave.

That octave jump will feel weird if you've never played a wind instrument before, but it will become second-nature if you stick with it. A whistle is a great instrument for direct translation from your brain, to fingers, to sound, because the mechanics are so simple compared to many other instruments. Where it starts to get complicated is when you learn about ornamentation, but that comes later and it's optional if you're just playing the whistle solo, for fun.

If you don't already have it, I'd recommend getting Grey Larsen's "Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle (book and audio CD). It's a good introduction to the history and techniques for playing both instruments. I bought it recently after developing an interest in flute playing. I'm not going there yet... just checking out the scenery...

[michaelpthompson]

Breath control can be difficult on the tin whistle, but I find that the greatest effort comes from making sure you don't blow too hard. It actually takes very little air to blow a tin whistle, especially on the low end. The higher notes take more air, but I've had asthma since I was little and I don't have much trouble. Breath CONTROL is hard, but a standard flute takes way more air than a tin whistle.

[foldedpath]

Good pointer from michaelpthompson above, about not blowing too hard! Take it easy.

The other thing about breath control, is that you actually have to stop to breathe. You can't just go continuously like picking a mandolin. You'll have to learn where to breathe during a tune, maybe even dropping out a few notes here and there, because Irish fiddle tunes run nonstop and your lungs don't work that way. The Grey Larsen book I mentioned has a chapter on dealing with this.

[JeffD]

You have to check out http://www.chiffandfipple.com/ the closest thing to "the penny whistle cafe" out there.

[Dagger Gordon]

More people are using low whistles these days, for which you need a pretty big hand stretch, and often play very expensive hand made instruments.

Still, you can't really go wrong with learning on a D whistle and take it from there.

Incidentally, a C whistle is not really what you want. Everyone plays D whistles, and they use them for several keys - not just D - although the key of A major is a bit trickier for the G# note. You need to learn to half cover the third hole.

It's pretty easy to get fairly simple tunes going, but there are a few techniques you need to learn like 'tongueing', which is very important.

It's mostly essentially an Irish style, though you might care to listen to Alex Green who plays in a distinctly North East of Scotland way.

http://www.footstompin.com/artists/alex_green

[Ravenwood]

More people are using low whistles these days, for which you need a pretty big hand stretch, and often play very expensive hand made instruments.

For the low whistle you will need to learn to use the piper's grip. There is an excellent desciption on the Chiff and Fipple website that JeffD mentioned.

Like most instruments, there are inexpensive options for getting started. Unlike most instruments, however, inexpensive doesn't also necessarily mean inferior. Mary Bergen, for example, played and recorded with a cheap Generation whistle for years. It was for her a perfectly servicable instrument.

Another nice thing is that even the top end low whistles price substantially less than many factory made mandolins. I think my most expensive was a Burke low D that I paid around $300 USD for. One of my favourites is a Howard low D for which I only paid $100 USD.

[300win]

Many thanks for all the good info. The one I got is a "D", only $15 for it and a instruction book. I think I'll have fun with it. As long as I can get to where I can play a few tunes, I'll be happy. Again, thanks.

[michaelpthompson]

A standard D will take you far. Most Irish whistle tunes and a whole lot of TRAD is in D, or something compatible. You can cross finger to a couple of other scales. Your book should cover this. With that and a C, you can cover the majority of Irish tunes that are played in sessions.

For playing along with male singers, I find that a B-flat is very helpful. You just play as if it were D, and it is automatically a couple of steps lower. For instance, Red Haired Boy (the tune) is also Little Beggarman (the song) but the key it's played in most sessions is really difficult for me to sing.

Which really points up one of the nice things about whistles, transposition is as easy as changing your whistle.