Tin Whistle too loud

[Baz79]

Hi there,

I play Gaelic trad guitar and would like to take up an instrument better suited to learning tunes on.

I played tin whistle as a child and have a Michael Burke tin whistle but trying to learn it again is driving my wife mad. Therefore I need to come up with an alternative. I was wondering if there is a comfortable way of playing the tin whistle at a more suitable volume.

I love the sound of the low whistle and Irish flute so I would be interested in these also as an alternative. Is the low whistle a different monster with respect to the tin whistle?

Thanks for your help!

Barry

[Hotblack]

You could try a Parks Every Whistle which has a volume control and can be played at full bore or at a whisper (I've got one on order).

A low whistle is a very different beast to a high whistle as regards air requirements and fingering can be difficult at first and practically impossible if you have small and/or slender hands.

[Makar]

The every whistle works well - I take with me on travels - but you can always just stick some blu tak (poster putty in US) in the window to adjust volume. Low whistles may not be so shrill in upper register but still make noise... You could buy your wife ear plugs or make her walk the dog during your 'practice'.

[Hotblack]

There's also a Dixon SV (soft voice) and Shush tweaked Generation and Clare High D whistles. Not as quiet as the Parks but may be of interest. Available from Big Whistle Music HERE

[jim stone]

Search on 'whistle mutes.' You can mute your whistle.

[hans]

A low whistle usually is much more lady-friendly than a high D

[Wanderer]

you can get some scotch tape and cover up part of the windway. I used to do this a lot when i lived in apartments.

[Maihcol]

I don't really have this problem anymore where I live but in this situation, I just get a short strip of that white crepe tape, a bit longer than the mouthpiece window. Then I lay the tape on the window so that it covers most of the window - you can leave just a millimetre or two of the window open if you want to really mute it to where only you can hear it. You get an increasingly windy or breathy sound as you cover more of the window but you can still hear the notes all the way to the top, which is good enough for basic practise, as long as you don't get frustrated by that quiet, windy tone. The other thing is that the breath pressure required to produce the notes remains the same which is important. You have to lay the tape lengthways along the window and not across it.

Garry

[pipersgrip]

Maybe try to get your wife into the whistle or another instrument to play along with.

[hans]

The wife in the whistle... I can just hear her screaming!

[brewerpaul]

You might want to start with a lower pitched whistle such as a Generation Bb. Once you have the feel of that, you'll probably find that you can control the D whistle better and not have it sound as shrill.

[m31]

Eventually you will have to play "loud" assuming the goal is to play in public. Ironically whistles are often not loud enough in noisy sessions.

[s1m0n]

Maybe try to get your wife into the whistle...

Use plenty of lube.

[pipersgrip]

Maybe try to get your wife into the whistle...

Use plenty of lube.

[HissingSid]

You could buy yourself a quantity of disposable ear plugs. The sort bikers wear.

You then have two choices.

1. Persuade the wife to wear them so she can't hear the whistle so loud.

2. Wear them yourself so you can't hear the wife complaining.

Cheers

HS