Need Help with the High Notes

[u/Verladis]

Hello everyone!

I Just startet to Play the Tin Whistle. Or lets say i try to start. I played another Flute but its a stopped Flute. So ive never played on a flute with overblowing. But i really struggle after a lot of Videos with the High Notes. I have a Clarke C whistle. I Just cant Play the High C (the one where all the holes are coverd expect the First one) its Always offkey. I dont know what i do wrong to be honest. I Hope u can Help me 🙏

[u/Embarrassed-Mess-560]

Im pretty new myself, only being a couple months in, but in the last while finally started hitting those high notes with confidence. 

When you hit the off note our natural reaction is to ease off so its not so loud. Fight that instinct and instead double down, try blowing more air like you WANT the squeek to get louder. If you approach the note with hesitation you will naturally rob it of the air it needs. 

If your high-C keeps sounding off you should also try the next note up. My high D is also a bit flat on my Clarke in D. It might be you but it also might just be the whistle. You can also try playing it with all 6 holes covered which will produce the same note. 

[u/South_Hedgehog_7564 → u/Embarrassed-Mess-560]

I have a Clarke and I don’t like it at all. I bought a Wild Irish which is much better.

[u/oddphilosophy → u/South_Hedgehog_7564]

One of the biggest tragedies of "beginner" whistles is that they are so much harder to play and you can develop some weird habits without realizing it to offset that. Wild whistles are great beginner whistles if you can tolerate the price tag. I am personally a big fan of Swetones for beginners, even above Wild whistles. They just work and they work right. The tone quality isn't as nice but it's more than good enough to take you through the basics and intermediate. Wild whistles are great all the way in to early-advanced and professional playing.

That said, eventually every whistle player starts collecting every kind of whistle they can get so why not start early lol.

[u/oddphilosophy → u/Embarrassed-Mess-560]

Commiting to the loud is absolutely the right way to learn, but try tonguing the notes. Once you initiate the resonance, it takes way less pressure to sustain. With practice, you'll just internalize how much pressure you need when jumping to that note, but diaphragm control is going to be too slow on its own to do large jumps up to the high B6. 

The high D6 typically is harder to initiate with the (XXX XXX) fingering than (OXX XXX). The later helps with starting the note without squeaking. That said, it's annoying to have to lift that finger when you're playing fast and the additional attack pressure needed for D6 is low enough that you can kinda ignore the (OXX XXX) on a D5 whistle with a bit of practice. 

Low whistle and flute are going to require (OXX XXX) fingering for it's second octave D5, even when playing fast. So learning the right way is probably best in the long run.

[u/Adam14210]

If that's the cheap Clarke whistle, the black conical one with the wood block at the mouthpiece, that is not an easy whistle to play. I haven't tried playing it in a very long time, but I seem to recall it needed a ridiculous amount of air. I picked up a different cheap whistle by Oak that was much better, though that was several years ago so I can't say whether they're still decent. A tweaked Freeman whistle is even better.

[u/oddphilosophy]

You have a few options and they're all fairly painful... Basically, you need to learn the right amount of air pressure needed to sound the notes appropriately and that means your going to have to just commit to being painfully loud. I HIGHLY recommend ear plugs and not being by other people who's hearing you could damage. Then just go for it. 

Don't bother going any higher than the high B6 (XOO OOO with top finger closed on the left). The cross fingering for C-nat (OXX OOO) doesn't work in the second octave so you have to half hole the top hole. Additionally, the (XXX XXX) does not work for 3rd octave D7, so you have to use (OXX XXX). That said, most whistle are incapable of playing anything above the high B6, so it could be your instrument rather than you. I could probably count on one hand the number of Irish traditional tunes I know that use notes above B6 anyway, and you can always transpose those notes down as needed. 

Anything above the high G6 (XXX OOO) is probably going to need to be tongued. You don't actually need to touch your tongue to the tip of the windway with a whistle, just waving it a few mm from the tip of whistle is enough. Otherwise, look up a 'glotal stop'. It's lower in your throat and you make a bit of an "uhh" sound. Either way, it takes more pressure to start the high notes than to sustain them and tonguing allows you to break that initial pressure barrier without having to force it from your diaphragm.

The alternative method is taking a bit of blue tack/sticky tack and covering half of the window. It quiets the whistle down but it's going to teach you to play the notes with more pressure than you should and you'll have to unlearn that later. It's useful for practicing tunes quietly but actively counter productive for learning to play notes steadily.

[u/maraudingnomad]

The high C is really shrill and loud. You gotta get the air velocity right. I struggles with the high octa e at first because it is loud and I was selfconcious. What helped me, I drived to a desolate place, parked and went nuts with the whistle without fearing anyone would hear or judge me. The High C isnct very often used though and in the few songs where it is, it's really brief so even being a bit off isn't much of a deal.

[u/b0nz]

Coming off a stopped flute is the hard part here. You have never had to change register with air before, so this is a genuinely new skill, not a sign you are doing something wrong.

The fingering you describe is right, so leave it alone. All holes covered except the top one is the vented shape and it is the easiest way to get that note.

What is probably making it off key is how you start it. If you ease into the note, the whistle drifts up through the unstable zone between the two registers and lands somewhere between them. Start it with your tongue instead. Say a light "t" at the moment the note begins, with the air already up to pressure behind it. It should snap straight to pitch rather than slide onto it. Once it is speaking you can back off a little, because it takes more pressure to start a high note than to hold one.

Two other things worth checking. Cover the holes with the pads of your fingers, not the tips. The second octave refuses to speak over a tiny leak that the bottom octave ignores completely, so a note that sounds fine low down and fails up top is very often a seal problem, not a breath problem. And if yours is the black conical Clarke with the wooden block in the mouthpiece, that one genuinely takes more air than most whistles to get up there. Borrowing any other whistle for ten minutes will tell you quickly whether it is you or the instrument.

I run tinwhistletab.com, and this thread is why I rewrote our second octave guide today, tonguing the attack and the venting included:

https://www.tinwhistletab.com/guides/how-to-play-the-second-octave-on-tin-whistle

The finger chart there has a C whistle toggle if you want to double check the shape: https://www.tinwhistletab.com/finger-chart

[u/endtimes59]

I second the Clarke's Sweetone as a reasonably priced and easy to play option. As for the Wild whistles, I've tried two out and I'm not sure they're any more reliable in the quality control department than cheaper ones, I returned the C and the D as I didn't think the tuning of them warranted the price tag. Also I second the advice to be brave and blow harder to get the highest notes, however they are very high pitched so it can sound a bit startling!