Clarke tinwhistle tuning
Kevin Quain
little sharp, almost a semi-tone, which is little too far out to be
interesting.
I'm wondering:
a) is it unusual for Clarkes to be a little off?
b) is there anything I can do to "flatten" it out?
Post or e-mail, whatever you like.
Thanks in advance!
--
------------ Kevin Quain (kev...@io.org) Toronto, CANADA ---------
Brad Hurley
Uilleann pipers will often put a thin piece of wood or grass in
the chanter to flatten it; I suppose you could try the same
thing with a Clarke whistle, though I don't know what it will
do for the tone.
Brad Hurley
Bob Pegritz
Since Clarke whistles are essentially "one piece", it would be difficult
to tune such an instrument. Another variant of the Clarke is the Sweet One, a
metal, conical bored whistle, with a plastic head joint. These whistles are
usually "on" and require little or no adjustment. If you read this usenet
regularly as I do, you will find many favorable comments on this whistle. It's
only a couple of bucks so the expense is minmal. So to answer your questions,
most Clarke whistles are "a little off" and second, it is very difficult to
"tune" these whistles since they are of a one piece design. Hope I was of
some help to you Kevin. Good luck. If I can be of any more help, please
e-mail me direct.
Bob
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
I love my SweeTone but have one minor problem with it. When I play C
with the 2nd and 3rd fingers it is slightly sharp. Is there any way I
can fix this? When playing slow it's noticeable and I have to try to
half-hole it (which can be quite precarious).
Thanks - george
Bob Pegritz (bobpe...@delphi.com) wrote:
: Dear Kevin,
lvm...@primenet.com
>From: c...@ari.net (Chesapeake Bay Foundation)
>Subject: Re: Clarke tinwhistle tuning
>Date: 7 Jul 1995 01:29:21 GMT
>Bob -
>I love my SweeTone but have one minor problem with it. When I play C
>with the 2nd and 3rd fingers it is slightly sharp. Is there any way I
>can fix this? When playing slow it's noticeable and I have to try to
>half-hole it (which can be quite precarious).
>Thanks - george
George and Bob, I hope you don't mind if I throw in my $.02.
Quite often with whistles the C will be a little off. Sometime - it varies
from whistle to whistle - I can fine-tune the C note by also closing the index
and/or the middle fingers of the right hand (the F# and E holes).
On the slow tunes : I raise the tip of the left index finger slightly while
still keeping the pad of the finger on the left of the B hole so that only
the right part of the hole is exposed - it's kind of like a "see-saw" effect.
But this technique only works if you play the whistle with straight fingering
like the pipers do as opposed to curved fingering (recorder style). One
advantage of the technique is that you can actually learn to "half-hole" with
a bit of speed and fluency. It also helps in playing the more difficult notes
like Bb and F.
BTW, until I get my new Copeland I've been having loads of fun with my new
Shaw whistle. It looks real similar to the Clarke, but I think it has better
sound and seems more suitable for dance tunes as well as airs. My biggest
complaint about my Clarke is that you can't hear it 10 feet away, but then
maybe that's a blessing for others. ;-)
Hopefully I'll get to try a SeeTone sometime. I guess you just can't ever
have enough whistles.
If you have more questions I'd be happy to confuse the matter further.
All the best.
Joe Root
jcha...@intele.net
>
> Bob -
>
> I love my SweeTone but have one minor problem with it. When I play C
> with the 2nd and 3rd fingers it is slightly sharp. Is there any way I
> can fix this? When playing slow it's noticeable and I have to try to
> half-hole it (which can be quite precarious).
>
> Thanks - george
>
to tune the individual holes to match the rest of us. You might want
to try that.
Phil Preen
>>I love my SweeTone but have one minor problem with it. When I play C
>>with the 2nd and 3rd fingers it is slightly sharp. Is there any way I
>>can fix this? When playing slow it's noticeable and I have to try to
>>half-hole it (which can be quite precarious).
I've joined this thread late, so I hope I'm not repeating anything.
(I assume you are playing the D Whistle). Although many tutor books
tell you to play C natural using fingers 2 & 3, the book I learnt from
tells you to use 2,3,4 & 6 (the alternative is to half hole 1). I
don't know if this will make any noticeable difference on your
whistle, but it might be worth a try.
Although I have been learning to play for a couple of years I am still
very much a beginner. When I first started I found the C natural very
difficult, like this, but now I much prefer to play in G (with C
natural) than in D (with C sharp). I think this is because going from
C <-> D and from C <-> B is very much easier this way.
The only disadvantage with this fingering is that it doesn't work when
you go up to the high octave. Instead you have to use 2,4,5 & 6 (my
original tutor book didn't acknowledge that the whistle went this high
- I found this in another book somewhere).
Michel Sikiotakis
Their was an old man in Co. Sligo how used to tune himself his
Clake whistles (He was only playing Clake's whistles).
Unfortunalely he's no longer with us to show his technique. He
was able to get almost a "flute sound" by working on the
embouchure. I got that information from the man himself an also
from Desie Wilkinson.
The name of that gentleman was Jim Donoghue.
Anyway, if your whistle is "only" sharp it is not too bad. Very
often the scale is out too.
To flaten a whistle you can cover the side of the embouchure with
some tape. Try even with your finger while blowing, you will
notice that the sound is flattening. Usually one millimeter is
enough, but sometimes you have to cover both sides. That's
actually the tuning method used on organs.
All the best,
Michel Sikiotakis, Paris, France
HMTRAD
> with the 2nd and 3rd fingers it is slightly sharp. Is there any way I
> can fix this? When playing slow it's noticeable and I have to try to
> half-hole it (which can be quite precarious).
>
Ah, I have the reverse problem when using my standard
Generation-type-whistle C natural fingering (2-3-4-6): on SweeTone, Shaw,
and Copeland whistles, my C comes out too flat, so I use your 2-3
fingering, which sounds just right to me. I'll bet at least some of the
problem is wind pressure and embouchure; easy enough to correct on slow
tunes, and on fast tunes it doesn't matter.
And anyway, the true Irish scale (as I have been told by various fiddlers
and pipers), has a C natural which is _supposed_ to be a bit on the sharp
side, possibly one reason why some fiddlers dislike fixed-pitch tempered
instruments like accordions and concertinas?
BTW, another poster mentioned that the 2-3-4-6 C fingering won't translate
into the upper octave. In my experience, on some whistles, like the
Generation, it does, and I also find it the easiest C fingering to do a
roll out of.
Wendy
Give me coffee and no one gets hurt
cathy rytmeister
>
>
> >>I love my SweeTone but have one minor problem with it. When I play C
> >>with the 2nd and 3rd fingers it is slightly sharp. Is there any way I
> >>can fix this? When playing slow it's noticeable and I have to try to
> >>half-hole it (which can be quite precarious).
>
Ditto.
> (I assume you are playing the D Whistle). Although many tutor books
> tell you to play C natural using fingers 2 & 3, the book I learnt from
> tells you to use 2,3,4 & 6 (the alternative is to half hole 1). I
> don't know if this will make any noticeable difference on your
> whistle, but it might be worth a try.
I've found this C-natural to be much "truer" and also give a better tone
than just using 2 & 3. It doesn't matter much when playing fast, so I
tend to be lazy in those cases and just 2 & 3, or half-hole, depending on
the tune. But for slower things, it's better to use the more complex
fingering to get the best result. This works on all of my Clarke whistles,
as well as my Feadog. With the Generation whistles it doesn't seem to make
much difference either way, but I don't have a Generation D so the problem
doesn't arise much (I rarely play in B-flat, let alone E-flat!!)
> The only disadvantage with this fingering is that it doesn't work when
> you go up to the high octave. Instead you have to use 2,4,5 & 6 (my
> original tutor book didn't acknowledge that the whistle went this high
> - I found this in another book somewhere).
T'anks! I'll try that - I've often wanted that higher-octave C!
Bob Pegritz
play whatever sounds best to your ear, using any variation you like. Oh, the
beauty of this instrument. Take care and have fun.
Bob