> The secret to not sounding crappy on the tin whistle (apart from practice, of course) is confidence. Those things are loud and piercing and shrill and in-your-face, all the things I'm naturally not, and unfortunately I'm more accustomed to stringed instruments where you can play as loud or soft as you like. With the tin whistle, however, the pitch of the note depends a lot on how *hard* you blow. I've found that if I try to play softly and not disturb other people, I get flat wimpy squeaky notes, and of course the higher octaves don't work at all. Trying to play the tin whistle is a constant battle between my personality and my desire to play Irish music.

I like to classify the pennywhistle with highland bagpipes in a class of instruments never intended to be played indoors. My whistle never seems as shrill when i practice outside, where the sound can escape and not reverb all over itself.

Aside from the force of blowing, i've found (as not a brass player or woodwinder) that tighter lips on the mouthpiece help, too.

It's a fun thing to play, and i'd really like to use it as an intro to a song i might sing with my guitar, but the whole "indoors" thing sort of shoots that for virtually any venue i might perform in.

Cheers, me hrite Scaw'ish hladdy (OK, so i can't type dialect),
Penny *also toying with the harmonica* stamp.