Apparently My Tendons Have a Limit—Advice‽

[The Laughing Imp]

Can you manage high whistle without strain or pain? If so, why not forge ahead, if it doesn't interfere with any treatment. For most technical issues, whistle is whistle, high or low.

Nope. Can't do it for long. As I stated above, I get about 25 minutes of playing in before I have to stop.

Been taking a break for a while. So far, so good.

[MTGuru]

Well then, OK. Listen to your body.

[david_h]

My ring finger seems to need more practice that the others. If I overdo it on flute (which is a bit of a stretch) my hand gets sore, on high D whistle it just 'feels funny'. I'm thinking that with me it has more to do with all those little muscles having to learnt work together, and independantly of those in the other two working fingers, without any unecessary pulling against each other, rather than 'strength' or 'stretch'.

I'm doing what brewerpaul suggests.

[The Laughing Imp]

Just an update:

My attempts to play the Howard Low D were definitely the culprit. Since my fingers are thin, I would strain to create a seal on the high and low registers. This gave me an RSI. I ended up not playing tinwhistle for over a year and getting physical therapy. I started playing again a few months ago, slowly at first—10 to 15 minutes tops. I can now play again without pain, but that left hand just won't do rolls faster than 116bpm w/o complaining. My dream to tour with Lunasa has been cruelly doused.

However, I can play as long as I'm mindful of the fatigue. That's the important bit. It has been frustrating relearning and starting from scratch, but I'm now almost back up to my pre-injury competence.

Too bad that isn't saying much!

Thanks for all your concern and tips.

[benhall.1]

Nice to know you're back in the game, Imp. I always like to see updates - especially if they've got some good news in. And I take getting back into playing the whistle as being very good news.

[MTGuru]

One idea as you move forward again, Imp ... I have no idea what level you're at. But have you ever had a teacher take a close, physical look at your playing, one on one?

When I look at YT videos and such out there in the cloud, sometimes I'm amazed at what I see people doing with their finger positions, playing positions, posture, etc. And I don't mean amazed in a good way. People (myself included) are often unaware of the quirky things they do that can lead to physical problems. And sometimes even a few well-directed pieces of ergonomic advice in a musical clinic setting can make a big difference. The changes can be quite subtle and require literally hands-on intervention - put your finger there, angle your hand like this ...

If you have access to a teacher, or someone to sit down with you for a few minutes at a festival, it might be worth a try.

[The Laughing Imp]

One idea as you move forward again, Imp ... I have no idea what level you're at. But have you ever had a teacher take a close, physical look at your playing, one on one?

I'm an intermediate player. I've taken eight months of webcam lessons with Bill Ochs and my playing is fine, but after finishing lessons with Ochs I decided to teach myself the low D. I now realize that was a mistake. At the time I didn't think it would matter because of the similarities between the whistles, but in practice it mattered quite a bit. An expert could have told me that my fingers were all wrong for the Howard Low D. He could have saved me months of struggle and injury. And if my fingers weren't all wrong for the instrument, then he could have shown me the proper grip for my hands.

But hindsight is 20/20. Now I have RSI in my left forearm. For example, I performed tonight for my wife's concert with my Burke whistle and my arm never hurt once. But testing my Howard yesterday before listing it for sale aggravated my arm and I'm going to need to give things a rest for a few days.

So from now on, I am taking things very easy. I'll just have to accept that I can't play as much as I'd like. Or as fast.

Then again, I could learn to play the whistle with my right hand only. Haha! Perhaps it's time to get a tabor pipe.

[benhall.1]

Bit of an 'off the wall' comment, Imp, but I'm wondering if you should change your profile image. Are you still thinking of yourself as a low whistler? I was wondering if, by putting up a snazzy new image of yourself as a high d whistler, you might change, or at least, enhance, your own perception of yourself and, psychologically, that might be a good thing? Mind you, even amateur psychology isn't my strong point ...

[The Laughing Imp]

Bit of an 'off the wall' comment, Imp, but I'm wondering if you should change your profile image. Are you still thinking of yourself as a low whistler? I was wondering if, by putting up a snazzy new image of yourself as a high d whistler, you might change, or at least, enhance, your own perception of yourself and, psychologically, that might be a good thing? Mind you, even amateur psychology isn't my strong point ...

Haha! As soon as somebody buys my Howard, I'll change my avatar. But worry not about my psyche. I may be saddened to let low d playing go, but it's not as if there aren't other instruments to capture my fancy.

[fearfaoin]

I'm just impressed that you managed
to put an interrobang in the title.

[crookedtune]

Good catch! I'd never heard of one. Oh, the wasted keystrokes....