Trouble in second register

[n0to]

Hi, I'm a fairly new to whistling, and yesterday I received my new brass Clare D. It plays very nicely, but I have trouble keeping it in the second register when playing anything higher than a high G. I have to blow quite hard to get it any higher, and the tone gets kind of shrill. Is this just a characteristic of an inexpensive whistle? Thanks!

[s1m0n]

I'm seeing this as the PERFECT title for that 'Chief O'Neill goes to St Trinians' mystery novel I keep meaning to write. Dale, what do you think - Can I affordan exemption from the 'no triple exclamation marks' rule? What if I make the middle one italic?

Trouble in the Recond Register !!!

ps: if we get this thing off the ground, will you lend me some interns?

[McHaffie]

Hello there!

Without knowing just how new to whistling you are, I am unsure what / what not to ask you here so I will just make a few suggestions that might help out...

With any whistle, as you play higher into the second register, it will require a bit more and more air as you go up. Not tons... just more. You should get the hang of it in no time if you run the scales a note at a time for a while.

To help figure out squeaks or shrill sounds - stop. lift your fingers off the whistle... put them back down and 'feel' for the holes. make sure all of them that are supposed to be covered are indeed completely covered. Just a tiny amount of 'leakage' can cause this very thing.
- Also it is always a good idea to warm up your whistle before playing it to reduce the moisture build up just using your hands or blowing gently into it. Be sure to clear your whistle if and when it needs it. Condensation is a big contributor to shrillness, squeaks, and such that would seem uncharacteristic to your whistle normally.

In the end there are two overall possibilities... you just need to keep playing around a bit with your new whistle and see if by breath control, finger position, etc. it smooths out quite nicely, OR - there is the occasion when a whistle might have tiny burr or flaw somewhere left over from manufacturing.

Either way, a good bit of tinkering will get you a long way

I hope some of that made at least a slight amount of sense, and my best wishes to you and your whistling!!

Take care,
John

[n0to]

Hey, thanks for your answers... Not sure to make of the first one though. Was I a bit too vague with the subject? I didn't want to give it a title totally betraying my entry whistler status, fearing no one would respond. Anyway, the second response pretty much answered my question. I just was wondering if the higher notes were supposed to come out so loud. It's a little difficult to tell in recordings, and I don't really know of anyone around here that is proficient on the whistle.

[Ceili_whistle_man]

Welcome n0to

Not sure to make of the first one though. Was I a bit too vague with the subject?

Not really n0to, be prepared for irrerverance by the bucketfull when you are on these forums. (fora? fori?)
As to your little problem, could it be that you are overblowing into the third octave rather than the second? You say you are blowing quite hard to get second octave G, that seems odd as there really is not too much difference in breath pressure (on most whistles) between first and second octave.
If you are covering the holes correctly and there is no air leakage, then you should get a clean sound with no squeaks, unless like McHaffie says there are bits of plastic from the manufacturing process causing the airflow to be disrupted.
I mention the third octave scenario as I have had people new to the whistle who have been playing in the second and third octave not realising that they were overblowing and missing out on a whole octave below where they were already at.
I am not saying that this is the problem with you, but I have never found a newbie to whistling who didn't overblow when first starting out.
Drat s1m0n!, beaten to it once again. When I first saw the subject matter I thought of a movie like 'Big trouble in little China' or one of those play on words around a Poirot novel something like 'The case of Champagne'.

[s1m0n]

To answer your question seriously, I suspect this is one of those mysterious problems that will go away on its own as soon as your diaphragm figures out exactly how much air pressure every note needs to sound good, and once that occurs you will never think about it again.

Every note, especially the higher notes, (& even more especially G and above in the second octave) needs just the right amount of puff to sound good. Blow too hard and the note breaks up; too soft and it drops the octave or turns to mud.

But there's also a chance that your whistle is in need of some tlc. If you can find another whistle player, get them to give yours a toot and tell you if it's working.

[Mitch]

Ah yes.

Presuming that you are playing in the correct octaves .. and just generally anyhow:

The pennywhistle is a "fixed-embouchure-flute" The downside of that is that the notes usually become louder as the note goes up the scale.

The notes in the upper second octave are more than 3 times as loud as the lower notes in the first octave - it's just the way of whistles.

The "shrillness of those 3X loud notes has to do with where the energy is going - if they get translated into side-harmonics (read "character") then the shrillness gets forgiven by the listener. If the whistle insists on producing perfect sine or sawtooth waves, then the listener will quickly get annoyed and the player risks a lifetime of increasins tinitus.

Ears are not passive sensory devices - there is a lot of very active prediction and adjustment going on in them. If you give them simple high-power overloads, they can get damaged .. but if you give them something worth listenning to, they will find the means to accept with minimal damage.

If your second octave notes are feeling like your eardrums are flatlining ... run some very fine sandpaper over the edge of the blade - A little flattening can drive teh high notes into lower harmonics .. even a little extra chiff can make those shrills a little more interesting .. mind you, it might also make them harder to hit. Another idea is to play with vibrato and throat resonance to explore the potential harmonics in the high notes.

[GordonH]

I have found the Clare whistle to be the easiest to blow so it sounds like you just need time to get used to it. You might actually be trying too hard. I notice that with my wooden whistle, if I blow it too hard I get nothing at the top of the second octave.

[n0to]

Mitch's reply helps a lot. I understand now that the volume will get quite a bit louder as I go up. I really have no problem flipping up to the second register up to high G, as I said. In the lower register I barely have to breathe into it, it takes very little air. It's just that as I go higher, the notes break up and flip back down into the first octave. I assume you are right, that it just takes some getting used to as I learn to play higher. I also took the mouthpiece off and cleaned some nasty plastic shavings out of it. That's sweetened the sound a little as well. The only other whistle I have to compare it to though is a Clarke Original, which is very breathy and I also have a hard time going high with. But I'll keep at it, I'm sure it's mostly an experience thing.

[Ballyshannon]

Not saying this is your problem, but I've found that nearly all beginning players tend to be gentle and blow from their throats when they soon discover how little air is required to blow clear notes in the first octave and into the second. However, good breath control necessary to play well and concentrate a consistent, stronger air flow for the high notes comes from the diaphragm....your gut. All experienced players I know and share music with play whistle from the gut, including myself. It truly makes a difference.

[brewerpaul]

Adding a bit of tonguing to the higher notes can help them speak more easily. Instead of just "huffing", start the note by moving your tongue as if you were saying the letter "T" at the beginning of the note. Don't over do it-- just a bit.
Once you get the note started, you need to support it to keep it from dropping back down.