I just bought a slide whistle, mostly to help teach the concept of high/low to my students, but after they left I couldn’t resist…I just played “Sally Gardens” and Shibeg Shimore (pardon my spelling). It cracked me up. You can get some pretty funky ornamentations on one of these things, and it’s really fun slipping around trying to land on the right pitch. This might be the new, chromatic instrument that revolutionizes Irish Traditional music.
I think I’ll try a jig next…Or maybe a slide? (sorry, that’s bad even for me)
Tom
p.s. My first graders learned about “fipples” today. What a fun word.
the acme slide that’s been hiding in my drawer for years just replied woo-woo to your fipple joke. Thanks to you it isn’t going back into the drawer!
Lisa
You’ve hit on a subject that I’m very keen on. I have had a life-long interest in the slide whistle. I have made many of them and, now, have a WOODSTOCK AMERICAN SLIDE WHISTLE. For slide whistles to play properly the slide must move with almost zero friction. However, a good seal between the slide and tube wall must be maintained. Therein lies the rub! How do I accomplish both? The “woodstock” exhibits a fairly “sticky” slide action but otherwise plays quite well. It would seem that some kind of “lube” is required. Any ideas on this? For home-made whistles the slide can be “wrapped” with teflon plumbers tape, by the way, for a very slippery seal.
For a real kick make two (or more) whistles and play them at the same time. Drone effects are easy to accomplish as are melody lines played a “tad” apart in pitch for really “great vibrations.”
I once used a metal slide whistle (my current one is the $2 plastic model) which could be taken apart; the rubber seal appeared to be greased with vasaline. I wonder if trombone slide oil would work…Unfortunately, the one I have is glued together so I can’t get inside it. But hey, all these chuckles for two dollars…
By the way, “the Rolling Wave” sounds pretty darn cool; one can picture an intoxicated sailor trying to walk across a pitching deck.
