Ok, as some of you might have seen in a few posts I have made recently, I am getting interested in the Whistle again. I have some really great whistles (A set of Syns and a Copeland…what can I say, when I get enthusiastic I tend to buy without regards to price). The problem is, when I obtained those whistles I was single. My wife loves my concertina playing (Thank God I married a woman who appreciates both ITM and free reed instruments ); she is not, unfortunately so crazy about the high whistles because she finds the higher notes painful(She loves Low whistes.. but I alas, am not particularly interested in those at the current time).
God Bless her though, she is still supporting my interest in whistle and hopes almost as much as I do that our 4 month old will catch the music bug from Me . Since we live in a small house though, my louder whistles will have to be reserved for the session or when she is out of the house. So anyway, that means I need a quieter whistle. My wife might get one for me for Christmas. Because of the new Baby and my Wife’s role as stay at home Mom, I need to be a bit more reserved than I would be normally. Thus, while formerly I might have been tempted to buy three or four whistles, I now need to stick with one and keep the price range reasonable – say around $60 (Which is good, otherwise the Alba Q1 would be on the list as well…).
Right now the Parks Every Whistle is the leading candidate. That being said, I am very curious about Mack Hoover’s whistles (since he has a reputation for making quiet ones). In particular, in his all brass instruments, I know the narrow bore is very quiet (Some posts I have read suggest that it might even be quieter than the lowest volume on the Parks), but I was wondering about the volume on his regular bore whistles? Does anyone have one? How clearly can they be heard from one room to the next if the door is closed? Other general opinions of them would be welcome.
The regular bore whistles are on the quiet side, but I think you would find one too loud for next door playing. Whistles tend to have a penetrating sound – the main reason you can hear them in sessions. They penetrate doors too! I have had some success playing in a different part of the house with my Hoover, but not next door. Covering part of the blade window with tape was much more effective.
I have not played a Parks whistle so I can’t make any comparison there. The real reason to buy a regular bore Hoover is the sound. Very sweet tone, but not too pure. Especially in the second octave. I keep experimenting with other whistles, but always find myself going back to my Hoover Blacktop for practicing. (My Whitecap is also very nice, but it’s an Eb and doesn’t see so much use.)
I am sure a standard Hoover would be a good fit for performing in a small room (or large car) without overwhelming everyone.
Also, remember that any whistle can be made very quiet by partially covering the windway. (Poster putty, tape, etc… Search on the threads about muting a whistle). You may find that with a spot of ‘blu-tack’ over part of the window, or in a ball just under the windway, you’ll have the perfect practice whistle.
Mack will build any of his whistles, to any db level you wish. Simply contact him and discuss your needs. I own a Whitecap prototype, on one of his brass tubes, that is standard bore, but is very, very quiet. I use it all the time, when I need a quiet instrument.
Mack’s whistles are great and take very little air. The big advantage the Every whistle has is that it will play extremely quietly to fairly loud. The Every whistle is on my list. BTW the Alba Q1 is a great whistle. It was the first more expensive whistle that I bought. I recently got an Alba A tunable that is one of the nicest sounding whistles that I have.
My only Hoover is a whitecap, so it’s not necessarily quiet. I think it’s a bit louder than my cheapies. But, the whitecap and blacktop aren’t really billed as “quiet” whistles. For that, I think you’d want one of his narrow bore brass whistles - which I don’t have, so can’t comment.
I do have an Every Whistle though. It’s a nice whistle - one of my favorites. The tone ring does work very well. How quiet it plays depends on the quality of sound you want.
Still getting a good tone, and hearing all of the notes, I’d say it’s quiet enough to practice in the next room with the door closed. She may not even be able to hear it at all - including the highest notes.
You can make it even quieter, but the sound quality goes down and some notes are lost. This is very quiet though, maybe even “same room” quiet. There’s much more air in the tone, and with some notes, the actual note is lost in the air. However, if you’re familiar with what you’re playing, you can still practice this way if you want. Set this way, it’s almost like a whisper with notes (most of the notes, at least).
One thing I like about the Every Whistle too, is that it’s fairly large. It’s a wide bore whistle with pretty large tone holes - yet it’s very light.
Seriously though, she wants me to play. Its just the high notes are hard on her ears. In a similar fashion, I want to find a way of practicing that will be easy on her. Likewise, in a few years, if the baby shows an interest, I want to find a way to encourage him without driving my dear wife insane.
For the kid I might need to learn to make my own whistles. While the Parks whistle, or using a quiet or muted whistle in another room might work for me, for Brendan, I will need a whistle that can only play very quietly and be nearly indestructible .
); she is not, unfortunately so crazy about the high whistles because she finds the higher notes painful(She loves Low whistes.. but I alas, am not particularly interested in those at the current time).