Tin Whistles, Ideal Stocking Stuffers
Irish Penny Whistles Make Great Gifts for Players of All Levels
Oct 7, 2008
Only a few instruments produce a pleasant noise on first meeting a new owner. Frustrated musicians huff and puff for weeks, while their brass or flute remains stubbornly silent. Violins on the other hand, protest loudly with grating screeches against novice players for months. The tin whistle, though, is almost certain to please its new owner with a bright scale or two on first acquaintance. And, if that new owner has dabbled in music to any extent, the whistle is likely to reward him with a few songs right off the bat.
Picking up a Tin Whistle
Musicians with any experience in woodwinds will be instantly familiar with the simple fingering of an Irish tin whistle. The whistle has six holes. The first three are covered by the pointer, middle, and ring fingers of the left hand, and the bottom three by the pointer, middle, and ring fingers of the right.
Tin whistles are generally in the key of D. This means when all the holes are covered, a D will be heard when the whistle is blown. Raising the ring finger of the right hand will sound an E and so on up the scale until no holes are covered for a C.
Two octaves are possible on a tin whistle. To hear the higher octave, a whistler will need to blow slightly harder. Many brands of whistles make excellent stocking stuffers. For under ten dollars, Generation, Oak, Waltons, Clarke, Sweetone, Acorn, and Feadog, all offer great basic whistles. In some of the cheaper whistles, quality varies from instrument to instrument.
A good whistle shouldn’t crack on the highest notes or be hard to play on the lowest. Some people tweak inexpensive tin whistles to improve sound and playability. Some popular tweaked whistles are available from Jerry Freeman for around $15 to $35.
Tin Whistle Technique and Ornamentation
The instant gratification a musician experiences on hearing his first pure notes from a tin whistle is wonderful, but tin whistles are hardly the kazoos of Celtic music. The tin whistle offers enough room for growth in technique, style, and repertoire, to keep many musicians busy perfecting this one instrument for a lifetime.
It’s easy to miss the subtle ornaments in an accomplished tin whistler’s playing because their technique sounds so natural. Any novice whistler who records a few bars of his own playing is in danger of losing all that instant gratification when he hears himself in comparison.
Anyone coming to the tin whistle from a recorder or classical background will most likely start off by playing each note with a separate puff of air. This technique, known as tonguing, is used, but isn’t typically associated with a tin whistle. The characteristic Celtic sound people recognize on this instrument is smooth and flowing.
To prevent notes from pouring out in one slurred jumble, players have several ways of making each note distinct from another. To cut a note, a whistler will lift one finger to raise the pitch a note higher for a fraction of a second. Instead of hearing two notes, listeners perceive a slight fluctuation that adds to the rhythm of the tune. A strike or tap is similar, but accomplished by adding a finger below the note being played then raising it almost instantaneously. To ornament longer notes in a tune, cuts and taps can be combined to make rolls. Whistlers also enhance a melody by sliding either up or down to the note they want to hit.
Employing--but not overdoing--these embellishments is essential. A player’s precision and sense of timing need to be flawless for these ornaments to blend into a carefree and natural melody. All that to say, a tin whistle shouldn’t be an insult to stuff in any musician’s stocking.
Some musicians have the dedication to devote themselves entirely to one instrument, and others like to experiment. The whistle is perfect for either and can take players as far as they want to go. A tin whistle, like a great friendship, will start out on the right foot and only get better with time.
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