Tin whistle

The tin whistle, also called the whistle, pennywhistle, Irish whistle, or, anachronously, the flageolet, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. The Irish words for the instrument are feadóg ('whistle' or 'flute') or feadóg stáin ('tin whistle'); feadóga stáin is the plural. It can be described as an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, Native American flutes, and many other woodwind instruments found in traditional music.

Playing technique

Fingering and range

The notes are generated by opening or closing holes with the fingers. With all the holes closed, the whistle generates its lowest note, the tonic of the scale. Successively opening holes from the bottom upward produces the rest of the notes of the scale in sequence: with the lowest hole open it generates the second, with the lowest two holes open, it produces the third and so on. With all six holes open, it produces the seventh.

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The second octave is achieved with the same fingerings as the first, by over-blowing (blowing more forcefully), although the octave of the tonic itself is an exception: it can be produced by covering all the holes and overblowing, but gives a better tone if the top hole is opened. The note at the top of the second octave is also played with this fingering, but with more intense breath pressure.

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The standard range of the whistle is two octaves. For a D whistle, this includes notes from the second D above middle C to the fourth D above middle C. Music for the soprano whistle is always scored an octave lower than it is played, which makes the score more easily readable. (It is possible to make noises above this range, by blowing increasingly forcefully, but the resulting sound will often be loud and out of tune.)

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Ornamentation

Traditional Irish whistle playing uses a number of ornaments to embellish the music, include cuts, strikes and rolls. Most playing is legato with ornaments to create breaks between notes, rather than tongued. Vibrato can be achieved on most notes by opening and closing one of the open holes.

Related Topics:
Ornaments - Legato - Vibrato

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