blowing into whistle

There's really two schools of thought to what you're describing, and it comes down to a matter of preference. There's a more staccato style which utilizes a lot of tonguing (blowing each note independently) and a more legato style which would use far less tonguing between notes. Personally, I'm more of a legato player but I do make a point to use tonguing as something of an embellishment. That sounds best to my ear -- using it sparingly as rhythmic ornamentation -- but it's just what sounds best to you that you should try to emulate.

As a suggestion, it would be good to listen to a variety of whistle players and take note of to which style each player favors and decide what direction (or mix of both) to learn. This is a topic that's hard to explain and demonstrate with words so perhaps I'll work up a video tutorial about it and see if that helps.

dear sean,

I have tried to post the mp3 on your email but could not do it. After sending it it keeps returning to the sender.It just shows bad mail recepient. Kindly give me another email.
nick

Hmm...are you sure you tried sean at whistletutor dot com? You can also try webmaster at whistletutor dot com.

the primary types of articulation (separating the notes one from another) in Irish Traditional music are, as noted above, of two types. one is to separate the notes by tonguing. the other is to separate the notes using "finger articulation." in both cases, you blow into the whistle in a steady stream of air. do not start, stop, start, stop,start....etc... i guess another way to say it is don't huff and puff every note. keep a steady stream of air going. when using your tongue to articulate the notes... a quick flick of the tip of your tongue is all it takes. and the most commonly taught method of "flicking" is to say the syllable "too" for each note. sing "mary had a little lamb" to yourself, but instead of using the words... replace all the syllables with "too." that is tonguing. you can achieve quite a variety of articulations by using other syllables such as "doo", "loo," "tee," "dee," and so on....

as for finger articulation... check out the tutorial here or... check out Brother Steve's whistle website. great information there regarding articulation. there are also a lot of excellent books on the topic as well.

good luck.

be well,

jim

I just received my Whistle and I'm thrilled, I guess it's great that I can play a simple song in the first hour, never before having touched a Whistle.

About the schools and the original question by Padraig, I prefer the smoother passage between notes, but i admit that in some tunes the tonguing artefact makes that special diference.

Keep whistling!

That's great, glad you're enjoying the whistle!