I Posted this elswhere but it is the best advise I have While I was first learning there are a few things I found to be helpfull. Cover all the holes you want covered completely. Any gaps make for funny noises. Half-holing is an advanced trick that will come with time, dont mess with it till you get the regular stuff down. As for fingering speed that comes with practice and becoming comfortable finding notes. Most important is to blow the note properly so you get the audio feedback to reinforce the right fingering techniques. Breath controll is also VERY important. Practice an ascending scale. When playing the lowest note practice using the least amount of air to get that note. You will need to blow slightly harder to get the right sound of the next higher note. This continues up the scale of the octave. If you are blowing the strength you need for the top note, or higher note in the scale then drop down two notes you won't get the right sound, you need to blow more gently for the lower notes than the higher notes. You can get three octaves out of most whistles but that usualy does not sound great in the top octave. Most tunes are written for two octaves.Sometimes people blow way too hard to begin with and are actually starting in the second octave. Use the least amount of breath you can to get the lowest note to make sure you are at the low end of the scale. Another concept I found usefull was thinking about blowing faster, rather than harder to go up the scale. This is just a mental thing to conceptualize the idea of putting less air or more air through the whistle. Softer=slower=less air ... Harder=Faster=More Air There is virtuall no air resistance to the whistle so it feels like you are not blowing hard even when you are moving enough air top pop the scale up to the second octave, and it's pretty easy to overblow and go up to the third, and you don't want to go there! Hope this is helpfull. WFTD Nick
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