Being an absolute newbie myself and also drawn to the sound of a low D I came across the Goldfinch site. They offer both a high and a low D made from CPVC. The high D can be ordered from their ebay site but the low D must be ordered from them. The low D comes in under $80 plus shipping and you can listen to how a pro playing both the high and low D sounds by going to http://goldfinch.eu/eng/whistles.html. Scroll down to and click on Goldfinch Jig - Goldfinch Reel. Mind you, it will be a while before you sound like this but the potential is there. Others more knowledgeable than I can comment on the Goldfinch itself.
Thanks for the great tips! I actually got to hold a low D whistle yesterday and could see that I am not a good fit for that instrument. I have small hands with shortish fingers and absolutely could not get my fingers over the holes over a good part of the instrument. So I will need to stick with the higher whistles. Oh well!
You beat me to it, Karrie. I have small hands too, and was going to point out that the low whistle might be a problem for that reason. You should try as many different higher whistles as you can; there’s quite a variety out there. For example, I have a Freeman Bluebird and a Goldie, both high Ds, which are really different-sounding from each other. I love them both.
The other thing you should consider, since you like the sound of the low whistle, is playing the flute (eventually). I have trouble covering standard flute holes, and had the holes custom spaced for my hands.
Thanks glad I could offer some “advice”. My current question, since you own more than one whistle in the same key, is do the whistles of the G key have the notes on different holes than the D whistle? I looked at a fingering chart from the Whistleshop website and it looks like that is the case. I would think this would make learning new tunes difficult if you have to remember where the notes are every time you pick up a whistle of a different key. What happens if you decide to stick with the D whistle but try to play a tune in the key of G- can this be done, making some alterations in the fingering to get the right sharps?
Karrie, until you’re familiar with the tricky concepts of transposition, just think of it this way: Every whistle is played just like a D whistle, with the same fingerings called by the same letter names. You don’t have to learn different fingering names. It’s just that when you play the fingerings on a non-D whistle, the music comes out sounding higher or lower.
Yes, technically, but most folk treat their whistles as transposing instruments, learning by ear and/or using notation transposed to give ‘D’ fingerings (ie all fingers on sounds G but gets called ‘D’).
What happens if you decide to stick with the D whistle but try to play a tune in the key of G- can this be done, making some alterations in the fingering to get the right sharps?
Yes, it’s absolutely normal and many G tunes fit the D whistle perfectly (better than some D tunes!) because it’s also normal for tunes to drop below their key note.
(Typed before MTGuru’s response appeared and held up by typical C&F connectivity problems!)
This is a common question. Yes the notes for each hole vary from whistle key to whistle key. But that is no big deal and you can get along for quite some time being completely oblivious to what each of the notes are, if you like. So don’t sweat that.
A whistle is generally designed so that it plays a diatonic major scale in the key of the bell note. That’s the good old “Do a Deer…”, Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do scale we all learn to sing as kids. How that relates to whistles in different keys is that the “Do” becomes relative or movable.
So if you learn to play a tune on a D whistle (in the key of D) and you pick up a whistle tuned in the key of A and play that tune using the same fingering as on the D, the tune will come out played in the key of A. You don’t need to know the actual notes. You do not need to learn a new set of fingerings. The intervals between each note remained the same from whistle to whistle so you just transposed the tune from D to A. Got it?
Each whistle plays easily in the named major key it is made for. It can also play the major scale a fourth above the named scale with one additional note played by half-holing or cross-fingering. The D whistle plays in the key of G by playing the C natural note half-holed (DOO OOO) or cross-fingered (OXX OOO). So the D whistle plays in D and in G major. OK?
B minor is the relative minor key to D major. Those scales contain the same named notes. And E minor is the relative minor key to G major. Those scales contain the same named notes. So a high D (or low D) whistle plays comfortable in the keys of D major, G major, B minor and E minor.
You can play other keys if you want to use more half-holing or cross-fingering but that’s the basic gist of it.
I could say more. Hope that helps a bit.
Ah.. it would appear that my connection is even slower and less timely than Peter’s.
Wow, great website, so glad I found it! Thanks again to all of you. Lets see what other questions I can come up with later this week. So for now, I plan to get myself a good high D whistle and will probably grab on of the recommended tutorial books and CDs too. I’m no vacation after 9 more working days and plan to pack my new whistle with me to practice when I can.
Hey, don’t worry about crossover responses. They are all valuable to me. (if you are thinking of 25 words or less, hey I always go over that )
Honestly, I think you’d get more out of a one hour lesson with Armand, Joey, or any of the other whistle tutors in Boston than out of a tutorial book. Think of it this way - you have $100 for a low whistle. Instead, buy a $10 whistle, and spend the other $90 on lessons. You won’t regret it.
Thanks Nick, I’ll give this some thought. I travel quite a bit for work with a highly erratic schedule so bringing CD and lesson books is helpful to me for my somewhat unique situation. The guys in Boston might be great but the commute is awful considering where and when I am driving from. Sounds dumb but if I put a price tag on the nightmarish, inconvenient commute, its worth about a million $$ a trip to avoid doing it.
I know there are a fair share of Generation fans on this board, but it’s not always the best whistle for the beginner. It’s a difficult whistle for a beginner to control and could lead to discouragement that can affect one’s enthusiasm for practice …it certainly was in my case.
Now some will argue that learning on a Gen will lead to good breath control skills. I don’t disagree; however, breath control will come in time anyway. I found that after a year of practicing on better whistles, I was able to go back to the Gen I’d put away and could control it much better than I’d been able before.
The Gens tweaked by Jerry Freeman are an improvement. I own a Mellow Dog set that is easier to control than a Gen, but not even close to being as easy to control as my Oz or Copeland (granted, those are way above the OP’s price range). But as I’ve mentioned in other threads, the Oz kept me playing in the beginning when the bad noise I was getting out of my Gen was putting me off the instrument.
As the OP said money was not an issue, there are certainly other alternatives to consider for the $100 or less range. Used Sindt whistles show up here fairly often and are usually around $100. I’ve never played one, but Dixon whistles get a lot of good press on this site. Other whistle makers to consider are Parks, Shaw, Syn, Hoover, Tyrone Head, Humphrey, Impempe, Tilbury, and I’m sure there are some I’m omitting.
All of the whistles I’ve mentioned have their fans on this board. I’m not saying you shouldn’t get a Gen but it’s good to know what other options are out there.
Thanks for the comments. I am an impatient person and less than two weeks away from vacation where I might have some practice time, so I bought a Mellowdog and the McCullough Irish tutorial book and CD. Wish me luck!
I have trouble covering standard flute holes, and had the holes custom spaced for my hands.
later this week. So for now, I plan to get myself a good high D whistle and will probably grab on of the recommended tutorial books and CDs too. I’m no vacation after 9 more working days and plan to pack my new whistle with me to practice when I can.
)
I will keep that in mind Jim 