March 14, 2005

 

This issue of Chiff & Fipple brought to you by the letter

F

 

I.   FREAKING WRITER'S BLOCK

Hi, everybody.  I just haven't been able to come up with a good comic "hook" for this issue.  I have writer's block.  Here are some ideas I considered and rejected:

1. Chiff & Fipple's Gag Order Lifted by Judge: Can Now Tell Jokes About Jay Leno.

(block:  All I can think of is the guy's chin and that he's not nearly as funny as he was before he got the Tonight Show).

2. Chiff & Fipple Leaves Prison, Feeds Horses, Meets With Interns

Chiff & Fipple's Undisputed King of Tinwhistle Journalism, Dale Wisely, was released from a minimum security prison over the weekend and will now begin a period of "house arrest," confined to DaleForce One, Chiff & Fipple compounds in Bora Bora, Paris, and Birmingham, Alabama.  (block: although you gotta admit seeing Paris and Birmingham, Alabama in the same sentence is sort of funny.)

3.  Chiff & Fipple Wrote This Issue In Pajama Bottoms

(block:  Not that funny and partially true.)

4.  Chiff & Fipple Quits, Ends With "Courage," and Then "What's the Frequency, Whistlers?!"

(block:  Perhaps to obscure in its references.)

Ok, I give up. I'm forced to actually do tinwhistle journalism......

 

II. FREEMAN!

Jerry Freeman Tweaks

In my opinion, humble as it is, there's hardly been a more exciting development in the world of whistles in recent years than Jerry Freeman's decision to become a full-time whistle tweaker.  Only in America, right?  Jerry obtains a variety of the inexpensive whistles, makes changes in them ("tweaking"), and then resells them at a somewhat higher price. 

There is actually a long history of tweaking inexpensive whistles.  For many years, the only whistles available were the inexpensive whistles.  Generations and Clarkes and then a few others came available later. 

Initially, players only had the inexpensive instruments and for many years and up until this day, some players preferred the inexpensive instruments.  But Generations, in particular, were (and are) notoriously variable in quality from instrument to instrument, a topic written about extensively in this newsletter over the years.   

As a generalization (no pun intended) one can say that all of the inexpensive whistles have limitations and problems associated with them, to one degree or another.  That's ok, considering the price.  Over the years, many players would search for "good Generations" and "good" examples of the various cheaper whistles.  And players sometimes modified their instruments.  Stories abound:  Red hot wires used to heat-treat the wooden blocks in Clarkes.  Various changes to the plastic in the Generation mouthpieces--shaving this, dulling this, sharpening that, widening this.  Pieces of tape slightly decreasing the size of finger holes, enlarging finger holes, etc.  When I interviewed Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains some years ago, he commented about tweaking Generations.

I used to tweak cheap whistles a bit myself, in a highly subjective and amateurish way, and have maintained a little page about whistle tweaking for several years.  A handful of people have offered tweaked cheaps over the years, notably Cillian Ó Briain's much admired tweaked Feadogs.  I've always been particularly fond of a tweaked Clarke original offered by Thom Larson.

So, Jerry Freeman has been tweaking whistles and his business has expanded and he now tweaks, principally in the key of D, Generations, Shaws, Clarke Sweettones, Feadogs, and Walton Mellow D.

Now, rather than detail and review these whistles individually in these pages, I will say that I think they are all very fine whistles and real bargains.  For those who are ready to upgrade from stock inexpensive whistles and who can't put together the fundage for a high-end whistles, this is the way to go.

And, we're fortunate to have a set of excellent reviews of these instruments from Greg Mahan that have appeared on the Chiff & Fipple message board, and on Greg's own website at http://www.tinwhistler.com (CLICK ON THE WHISTLE REVIEWS LINK) . Greg has actually been writing about whistles on the Internet longer than I have.   That should scare you a little.  Anyway, check out Greg's splendid reviews at the above link.

 

III. FLOOK!

Flook To Tour USA

Tragically, we don't get many chances to see the great band FLOOK in the USA. 

FLOOK are pleased to announce their 2005 USA Spring tour dates.


USA TOUR DATES
 

Friday 22nd APRIL Hartford CT University of Hartford (800) 274-8587 Saturday 23rd APRIL Philadelphia Crossroads (215) 729-1028 http://www.crossroads.calvary-center.org/philacrossroads.htm Sunday 24th APRIL Pittsboro, NC Shakori Hills Grass Roots Festival http://www.shakorihills.org/ Monday 25th APRIL Wilmington, DE Green Willow Folk Club 4 W 5 Cafe (302) 798-4811 http://www.greenwillow.org/ Tuesday 26th APRIL Washington DC Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage 6pm http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/ Wednesday 27th APRIL New York City Satalla 37 West 26th St. (6th / Broadway) 212.576.115 7.30pm http://www.satalla.com Friday 29th APRIL Asheville NC Pack Place/Wortham Theatre (828) 298-3434

Saturday 30th APRIL Charlottesville, VA   The Prism http://www.theprism.org/  Sunday 1st MAY Minneapolis, MN        Cedar Cultural Center 612.338.2674 ext. 2 http://www.thecedar.org/ Monday 2nd MAY Chicago, IL Martyr's (773) 404-9494 http://www.martyrslive.com/ Tuesday 3rd MAY Cedar Rapids , IA  CSPS 1103 3rd St SE 319 364 1580 / 319 364 1580 www.legionarts.org Wednesday 4th  MAY Champaign, IL Univ of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Gregory Hall Friday 6th MAY St. Louis, MO Focal Point http://www.thefocalpoint.org/ Saturday 7th MAY Kansas City, MO Missouri Vlly FolkLife Overland Park, Carlsen Center (816) 763-8663

 

IV.  Flageolet joué avec une main derriere le dos!

 

Several weeks ago I heard from Canadian composer and musician Jean Duval who sent me his CD with accompanying score in book form.  "Twelve Suites in Traditional Style for One-Handed Tin Whistle."

  

Jean writes:

I composed these suites ... as a challenge, to see whether I could make tunes that could be played on an ordinary six-hole tin whistle using only one hand in a variety of modes and keys. The styles of the suites are all inspired by traditional music, mostly Irish, Scottish and Québécois. In form and spirit, they resemble some works of the baroque period. That is why I have numbered them and given them old-fashioned titles.
 

Truthfully, I had to wonder if this was a bit of a novelty. So, I get the CD and the darn thing is astounding.  It does have a decidedly baroque feel. The playing is precise, lively and fully entertaining.  The accompanying musicians are also quite skilled and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening.

And, it's depressing, only because this is the one case in which I can listen to this music and LITERALLY say that the man plays better  than me with one hand tied behind his back.

There is a full website on this project, put up by C&F friends Brad Hurley and Steve Jones:

http://www.rogermillington.com/jeanduval/homeen.html

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Not Polite to Point

A tentative blog by Dale Wisely

click

 

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V.  FLEADH!

Midwest Regional Fleadh will be held May 7, 2005, in St. Louis, Missouri

Hi Dale,

Many of your readers no doubt live in the Midwest Region (that includes Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, most of  Canada, anything west of the Mississippi, etc.) and perhaps are not familiar with Comhaltas or the fleadhs (qualifying competition for the All-Ireland fleadh)  in North America.  I am asking you to help us out by mentioning the fleadh in a newsletter. 

The Midwest Regional Fleadh will be held May 7, 2005, in St. Louis, Missouri. The fleadh is more than a competition; it is an opportunity for Irish musicians to get to know each other.  Many young students enjoy the music  but do not have the chance to connect musically with their peers. The fellowship is important to a lifelong enjoyment of Irish music.

The Midwest fleadh has grown each year and now welcomes approximately 250 participants.  Only a few players will walk away with medals but each competitor learns more about how to improve their skills.  Everyone has a terrific time playing together as the sessions range in age and skill levels to be inclusive.

 

Many thanks for your time and consideration.

 

Sincerely,
Laura Crites

Midwest Regional Fleadh Chairman, 2005

St. Louis Irish Arts Comhaltas Branch

 

VI.  FONT

Reader offers whistle font

Hello,

I recently created a tin whistle font, see attachment, at the time I was not aware that someone had done this before. I suppose this should have been obvious really.

Anyway, the zip archive attachment to this e-mail contains; the font, a word doc using the font and a pdf of the same doc for those who do not have word.
This font would have been useful when our children first started playing whistle.

Have a look and let me know what you think.
If you see that others might be interested please pass them a copy or put it on your site as a download.
 

Best Regards
 

Alan Sinclair
 

If you're baffled by this:

You install this font in your computer and then you can type the obvious letters for the D-major scale (d,e,f (for F#), g,a,b,c and D,E,F,G,A,B,C) and instead of the letters you get little graphic images of a whistle showing how to finger the corresponding note--first octave with lower case and 2nd octave for uppercase.  It works well.

I'm making this font, with explanatory materials, available for download at http://www.chiffandfipple.com/whistlefont.zip

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If you use amazon.com, please support chiff & fipple financially by navigating to amazon.com via these links

And here's a link for amazon.co.uk

 

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VII.  FLUTE RING

 

Actually, I guess it’s a RingFlute:

 

 

There’s been some interesting discussion about this instrument (http://www.ringflute.com)  on the Chiff & Fipple board since I brought it to attention there.  There’s some feeling that the sound quality of the clip is iffy.  There’s some discussion about the ergonomics.  It looks a tad awkward to me.  And, if you think about how then airflow works on this, it would require a really different approach to fingering because you’d actually have to reverse the usual fingering on the hand closest to the blow hole.  Right? 

I myself am holding out for a rhombus flute.  Maybe a triangular flute.

 

 

VIII. FLUTE FORUM, NATIVE AMERICAN 

For those of you who play the Native American flute, we’re trying to get the Chiff & Fipple Native American Flute Forum going at

http://www.chiffandfipple.com/nativeamericanfluteforum/

 

Come join and contribute!

 

 

IX.  FREE BILL OCHS WORKSHOP

 

Free Tin Whistle Workshop with Bill Ochs in New York, Sunday, March 20th

It’s not a workshop about freeing Bill Ochs, although I wouldn’t completely rule out that there may be a need for that at some point in the future.

 

Dear Friends,

I will teach a free tin whistle workshop on Sunday, March 20th from 2:00
to 5:30 PM at The Irish Arts Center, 553 W. 51st St. between 10th and
11th Ave. in Manhattan.

The workshop is divided into three sections: Absolute Beginners (Starting
from Scratch),  2:00 to 3:30 PM; Advanced Beginners (Playing Simple Dance
Tunes), 3:30 to 4:30 PM; and Intermediate (Intro to Ornamentation), 4:30
to 5:30 PM.

In addition to the free workshop, I'll offer a full complement of whistle
classes and uilleann pipes and Irish flute lessons at my home/studio in
mid-Manhattan this spring, beginning the week of March 28th.

For workshop reservations or information about classes, etc.,  please
e-mail me at bill@pennywhistle.com or call me at 212-247-3231.

Bill Ochs

 

X. FOUR WINDS

The 4Winds is now with Keltic Dead

Hello Dale.

It's been a long time, since we last talked. Just finished designing my new 4Winds Copper Whistle with help from Glenn Schulz and Paul Busman. Stop making the PVC flutes, as soon as I learned that there was the remotest possibility that the gas that comes out of polyvinyl chloride was harmful.

I'm pretty happy with my round embouchure design on my 4Winds Whistle, and once I figured out how to get the whistle channel to the right shape and how to place the tone holes to hit the notes perfectly, these little copper beauties play a bright sound. I've got a couple of sound samples on my new Web site, KELTIC DEAD MUSIC (www.kelticdead.com). I'm working up more pictures as we speak.

Like Paul, I'll make these as crafted items, if anyone is interested in playing copper for their tin whistle experience. I'm updating my links, and get you on it.

Best Regards,

Shaun

Keltic Dead Music
www.kelticdead.com
4Winds Whistles
4windsfor@comcast.net

 

XI. FINGERING BIG RECORDERS

 

dale,

I'm a beginner recorder player.  I'm also interested in learning to play the Irish Tin Whistle.  Hence, I arrived at your site.  Although I'm progressing on the soprano/descant recorder, I was having trouble fingering the longer alto recorder.  Tonight, I found your page on fingering the low whistle by using the "piper fingering".  So, I tried that technique on the alto.  Works like a charm.  Unfortunately, must still finger-tip the 6th and 7th holes (double holes on each to achieve sharps).

But, at least, now I can play the bloody thing.  Thank you for your help.

I'm also interested in the Irish Flute; I've been reading your flute page and following the links there as well.

rick

I ran across this image on the web.  I gather this is a bass recorder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XII. FLYING TO VIETNAM

The Angela Wisely Story

Let's review.  This appeared in the January issue:

 

Greetings Chiff & Fipplers,

My name is Angela Wisely. I am Dale’s second daughter and that means I am one of the three heiresses to the Chiff & Fipple Empire. 

I would like to tell you a little about myself before getting to the point of my letter. I am a sophomore at the University of Southern Mississippi. My major is International Studies. I am a part-time employee at D.R.E.A.M. of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. D.R.E.A.M. is a non-profit organization that focuses on prevention and education of drug use in the Hattiesburg and surrounding areas. On campus I am an active member of Amnesty International. I am a Judiciary Board Member for the campus’s residence life.

Recently, I was invited to work with an organization called i-to-i during the summer of 2005, in Vietnam. You can check out this organization (i-to-i, not Vietnam) at their web site www.i-to-i.com. I am signed up for June 2005 and have paid a deposit. I will be a volunteer at a soup kitchen in Ho Chi Minh City. The program is important to me due to a special situation in Vietnam. Hospitals there have different policies than  hospitals in the U.S. and other Western countries. Patients are not provided with meals while they are patients in these facilities. This leaves the responsibility to families to feed these patients. If the families cannot afford to feed their loved ones then these patients do not eat. The program I will be working with is focused on helping these people. While there, the other volunteers and I will be working in a soup kitchen in the city. We will prepare, cook, and deliver the meals to the patients at no cost to them.

The program is three weeks long. The estimated cost is $3500. (Plane ticket $1200; program costs $1000; travel fees, visa, food, supplies $1300.)  Because I am a full-time student and a part-time worker at a non-profit organization, I’m not able to pay for this without help from others. My two sisters and I looked into selling our shares of the Chiff & Fipple Empire, kind of a Lisa Marie Presley deal, but this is not going very well, at least in the early stages. 

I’m looking for financial support. I am writing to all friends, family, and whistlers seeking any contributions or advice for this project. Thank you for any help. My Dad and I will keep you up to date regarding our progress.

If you are able to help, we have a PayPal account set up for this. You can PayPal the funds to dwwisely@hiwaay.net. Or you can send your donation directly to me at this address:

Thank you for your attention and thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Angela

Angela is very grateful (as am I) that she has raised about $1500 from Chiff & Fipple folks.  Thanks!

Since this issue, three instrument makers have donated whistles which we now offer as prizes.  A couple of people on the board have objected to the offering of these prizes to raise money for Angela's service trip.  Sorry if you object, but WE NEED MONEY and needing money makes a person neglect ethics.

Prizes:

• 2 brand new Howard Low Ds whistles.  Thanks to Dorothy and Brian Howard.

 

• This gorgeous Overton D, pinkish-purplish, donated by Brigitte and Colin Goldie

• 2 flutes by Robert Doug Tipple

 

• I offer to donate two of my PVC flutes to the cause. They are pictured in the attached photo. The low D flute with the dimpled bore is a terrific flute. It is very easy to blow, has a loud complex tone, and has excellent intonation throughout the two octave range. The smaller Bb flute/fife also has a good clear tone with sufficient volume throughout the first two octaves. It is a fun flute to play, and its small size makes it convenient to carry. Because of the larger bore, however, it isn't as suitable as a military Bb fife, which would require a better performance throughout the third octave. .... Best wishes, Robert Doug Tipple

 

I've been asked to publish "rules" about this.  Ok.  Everyone who contributes will eligible to win.  I'll figure out something fair.

We'll continue to raise money up through June 1st, at which time I'll draw for winners.

 

 

XIII. For you:  A NICE ST. Patrick's DAY, WE HOPE.

In celebration of the Irish, here's one of my favorite poems, by Seamus Heaney:

 

 

The Wishing Tree

I thought of her as the wishing tree that died
And saw it lifted, root and branch, to heaven,
Trailing a shower of all that had been driven
Need by need by need into its hale
Sap-wood and bark: coin and pin and nail
Came streaming from it like a comet-tail
New-minted and dissolved. I had a vision
Of an airy branch-head rising through damp cloud,
Of turned-up faces where the tree had stood.

 

-Seamus Heaney, from The Haw Lantern (1997

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lord, help us see how near is your kingdom.