How to hold the tin whistle

Take a deep, slow breath. Next, relax. Don’t hold the whistle too tightly and don’t bite the mouthpiece. If you don’t feel comfortable, that is the most important rule. Here are some basics:

You can cover six holes with your middle fingers. Do not try to make it more comfortable or less natural.
To balance and hold the whistle, place your thumbs on its backside. You should hold it tightly enough to ensure it does not drop. However, you shouldn’t press too hard.

Place the mouthpiece tip in your mouth. Make sure the whistle’s windway is between your lips. Keep your teeth away from the whistle. It should feel natural. To ensure you can breathe comfortably while holding the whistle, stand or sit straight up.

Your dominant hand should cover the three bottom holes. This is the general rule. If you’re right-handed, your dominant hand should cover the bottom three holes. The left hand should be on top.

It doesn’t really matter if you have six fingers. You can also pick the opposite direction. Most people place their right hand on the bottom, with the left on the top. However, we recommend that you choose the position that feels most natural to your body.

We need to ensure that our fingers completely cover the holes in order to create clear sounds from any note we play. This means you should not use your tips, but only the pads. To seal the holes, simply flatten your fingers to align them with the whistle surface.

Keep in mind that the diameter of holes varies from whistle to whistle. Also, lower keys can sometimes have larger holes. For example, if you’re going to play a low whistle you will need to use the “piper’s grip”. To cover larger holes, you will need to rotate your hands and stretch your fingers across the body of the whistle.

Okay, enough about the tin whistle. Let’s move on to the tin whistle blowing techniques, and let’s start making the sound.