Talk:Irish Pennywhistle

Request for Expansion
I have a request for expansion of this Wikibook because I do not feel like it gives enough information for a beginner to learn how to play the pennywhistle. I am a beginner and would like very much to use this Wikibook (in my attempt) to learn how to play the pennywhistle. A suggestion in addition to the actual playing of the pennywhistle would be instructions on how to make a pennywhistle. --Think Fast 02:05, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality
I feel that this module is let down by a lack of NPOV. Namely the following: -Tin whistles are NOT exclusive to Irish traditional music. For a long time now they have been a core part of Scottish folk music, and though I'm not an expert on these, I'm aware of tin whistles being prominent in English and Breton folk, Victorian middle-class revivals and South African Kwela. Some of these also feature their own distinctive playing styles, and even if they aren't yet covered for completeness' sake, it should at least be acknowledged. -The recommendations for whistle makes ARE good ones in my opinion, but you can't offer subjective reviews of products on wikibooks -especially not just these few and ignoring the vast majority out there. I'd be in favour I think of rewriting that section to remove all reference to individual brands. There are after all, fairly comprehensive review sites already out there -which I am just not going to make links for. -Zaepherius 00:10, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

There is a section on how to play the Whistle under the Wikipedia entry for "Tin whistle", which contains more information than held here. See 80.176.152.10 19:37, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Corrections
A good start! Just a few things I noticed:

"it's" is ONLY a contraction of "it is" or "it has". The possessive has no apostrophe.

"Bore" refers not to the tube itself but to the cavity inside the tube. For example, to make a tube, you bore a hole through the length of a rod or dowel. The diameter of the bore is the inside diameter of the tube. The bore can be tapered, even if the tube is not.

The Sweetone is a new model by Clarke. The whistle you refer to simply as the "Clarke" is now called the "Clarke Original".

What does "semiconical" mean? The Clarke Original is conical (shaped like a cone). I don't think "semiconical" is a proper word. And if it was, it would seem to mean half a cone, whereas the whistle tube is a complete (360-degree) cone.

The block of wood is inserted not "as" but "into" or "as part of" the mouthpiece.

Long notes and phrases are certainly NOT "all but impossible" on the Clark Original. They require more air than on a Sweetone, but are hardly impossible. (Maybe it's time to quit smoking!)

The idea that a whistle can be tuned by moving the mouthpiece is not entirely true. By altering the length of the tube, yes, you adjust the pitch; but you also adjust the relative pitch of each hole as they are no longer spaced apart at the same percentage of the overall length. Truly tuning the whistle would also require adjusting the hole sizes and/or positions. If a whistle is somehow far out of tune with other instruments, then it can be altered so that one of the notes is in tune and the rest not too far off; but if it's that far out of tune, it's either improperly made, or someone put it out of tune - probably by adjusting the mouthpiece.

Painted whistles come in several colours besides black.

Keys are offered for plastic whistles as well as wooded ones. Sharps/flats can also be achieved by alternate fingerings, called "cross fingering".

"Sharp" is not a verb. One can "sharpen a note" or "make a note sharp", etc.

PVC is not the final nor the most unusual non-metal whistle. There are plenty made of ABS and other polymers.

Buying a whistle in another key is not the solution to encountering a sharp/flat in a tune. Half holing or cross fingering is. And it's easier to half hole or cross finger than transpose the tune to another key.

D is the most common key, but G is less common than C and Bb. Qb is not a key.

Low whistles are in fact less (not more) likely to have a wooden fipple block than high whistles. Professional whistle makers that use wooden fipple blocks do not make low whistles. Homemade whistles are more likely than professionally-made ones to have a wooden fipple block, and people make their own high as well as low whistles.

"Hold the whistle so that it comes from your mouth at about forty-five degree angle." - To the left? Right? Up? There are photos of players holding it off to one side, so beginners might be confused.

The "correct" way to hold the whistle is with the left hand above the right. However many don't consider it important to use this convention, and if not, then whichever feels more natural, comfortable, and capable is far more important than adhering to a rule based on left- or right-handedness.

"For a higher octave" should be "For the higher octave" as there are essentially two octaves available, with a few notes of the third available to some players on some whistles.

The conventional fingering for high D is to lift the top finger as well as blowing harder. On some (but not all!) whistles it makes little or no difference.

In English there are "ornaments" and there is "ornamentation". "Ornamentations" is a French word.