Are you unaffected by Whoa?

Whistle
1

Well, are you? With all the talk in the news recently about SARS I have been thinking about Whoa transmission - how do you get it and is it inevitable? I have been playing for a year. I have several cheap Ds that I bought early on. The only one I still play is a brass Generation. I have a Susato SB D that went into the whistle drawer almost immediately and a Dixon brass slide which, along with the Gen, is the whistle I play 90% of the time. I am on the Sindt list for a high D which should arrive in November or so. I have a Gen C and Bb. I have no low whistles. I don’t think I have Whoa.

Do you? :astonished:

Mike

2

Well, are you?

I have been playing for 2 months and I have 13 cheap whistles and the Sweetheart, which I don’t classify as an expensive whistle, I think it’s in the middle range. Oh yeah, and one more coming in the mail. And I want a lot more. There are only two that I know for sure I don’t want, Shaw (too Shawish) and plumbing-code Water Weasle (too ugly). I plan to have every one some day. I have more whistles than songs I know (that didn’t come out right).

3

I’ve been playing for about 3 months and own a few cheap whistles, a semi-expensive (O’Briain) and my most prized posession (hopefully) which I will get tomorrow my Chieftain Low D Tuneable. As far as SARS, I haven’t bought used whistles yet…

4

Oh my…I just remembered the whistles I got from Ontario…I didn’t clean them in any way. I just started playing. I think if I was going to get SARS thought I already would have…I hope (well, no I don’t hope). One more thing to be paranoid about. :slight_smile:

5

Specialists for WHO and the Center for Disease Control will no doubt be aware that the primary vector for Whoa is the Chiff & Fipple web site.
Already other vectors are appearing such as Gaelic Crossing. Until these primary sites are isolated and analysed WHOA will spread unabated.

6

I’ve been playing for a couple of years, and have about 30 odd cheap whistles. I haven’t bought any new whistles in the last couple of months (and that was only a couple because I was in a music shop for something else), until yesterday when I ordered 3 new Dixons, a C, a Bb and a G, all tuneable.

Oddly, Cran, I’m thinking of getting a C and a Bb Shaw, as they seem the best whistles for Kwela, and I just got one of the import albums I ordered off Amazon a few weeks back. The Bb is £25 though, more than double the C - I can’t see why there’s such a jump in the price for a small step up in the size.

After that I think it’ll be a while again before I invest in more whistleware.

7

No need to worry, Cranberry - SARS is primarily spread person-to-person, not by infected objects.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/904137.asp?0dm=C13OH

As for WhOA (and to keep this post on topic), I used to think I was under control. Then I received two whistles and a flute in a one-week span. Oops. However, I have started to get rid of whistles, so I think that;s the first step to recovery. Besides, I had to finance a concertina. Hopefully there is no acquisition disorder associated with that, or I’m in trouble…

8

I believe WhOA is spread by buying and actively playing a whistle. I bought a whistle 20 years ago but I didn’t play it. Then back before Christmas I began playing it and I immediately wanted another one. So I think it is something about playing a whistle that does it. It may relate to wanting one that sounds better. Actually learning to play better is the answer to that problem. However, there is still a need to aquire whistles; whether cheap or expensive it does not matter. Then there is the desire to make a whistle which may be advanced stages of WhOA. I have it under control. I just need a few more.
Ron

9

Oddly, Cran, I’m thinking of getting a C and a Bb Shaw, as they seem the best whistles for Kwela, and I just got one of the import albums I ordered off Amazon a few weeks back. The Bb is £25 though, more than double the C - I can’t see why there’s such a jump in the price for a small step up in the size.

It’s weird…I have a Hohner and have never heard Kwela music. I need to get around to that…

10

If whistles were more expensive, WhOA wouldn’t be such an issue. But … I can tell already … they are so temptingly presented in the cheap’n’cheerful price section of shops everywhere.

And then 'tis but a small step to the mid-range … and finally a thin, pointy, expensive birthday/Christmas/Yule present to oneself … ARGH!

11

I believe what I have is a variant form of WHOA, perhaps not as severe in its financial consequences, but with other complications of its own.

Being seriously broke, I’ve had to rely on the kindness of C&Fers to provide hand-me-down whistles. Being a craftsman by profession, I thoroughly enjoy researching (with much generous help from those here) what makes a whistle work best, and applying that information to the poor orphan whistles entrusted to my care.

Now I have an excellent selection of tweaked Generation-type and Sweetone whistles, plus a Susato G Dublin someone gifted, along with C and D Clarke originals waiting for tweaking.

I feel I’ve accomplished all there is to achieve in that direction, short of going into the tweaked Generation-type whistle business. (But I’m still looking for hand-me-down whistles. I don’t have any Shaws, of which I’ve recently become enamored, and I can create tweaked Gen-type frankenwhistles and use them for gifts and trades, perhaps for a Shaw or two.)

However, I keep getting these ideas …

Lately, it’s been really bad. I’ve lost several hours’ sleep each of the last three nights because I can’t turn off the whistle research, development and design mechanism in my brain. It runs by itself and there’s nothing I can do about it, except let it design whatever it wants to.

I told my wife, I’m in the throes of a terminal brainstorm and she should make sure the life insurance is paid up. I’m exhausted.

Anyway, stay tuned. There’s some 150 year-old rock maple in the barn that’s calling me, and I think I’ve figured out what to do with it. (But be patient. This will take awhile.)

Best wishes,
Jerry

12

My WhOA was a quest for the “perfect” D whistle, one which has a certain combination of tone and playability. I knew exactly the characteristics which I wanted, and I knew that when I found them, my WhOA would be history. WhOA was dealt a serious (but not quite lethal) blow last September, when I got a whistle which almost satisfied my criteria. I knew I was on the right track, so this past January I got two more whistles from the same whistlesmith, and they were exactly what I had been looking for. (The main differences between them are volume and breath requirement, and each is “perfect” in its own way.) Since then I have not had the slightest desire to try any other whistles.

13

My WhOA was a quest for the “perfect” D whistle, one which has a certain combination of tone and playability. I knew exactly the characteristics which I wanted, and I knew that when I found them, my WhOA would be history. WhOA was dealt a serious (but not quite lethal) blow last September, when I got a whistle which almost satisfied my criteria. I knew I was on the right track, so this past January I got two more whistles from the same whistlesmith, and they were exactly what I had been looking for. (The main differences between them are volume and breath requirement, and each is “perfect” in its own way.) Since then I have not had the slightest desire to try any other whistles.

And they are Burkes?

14

Jerry,
The first ones are always free. Pretty soon you’ll find that you have become someone’s whistle bitch. :smiling_imp:
Mike

15

As with Rides, I started out searching for the perfect whistle. After a Burke, various Weasels, etc., I found out that there’s no such thing as THE perfect whistle. Just as there’s no one song or album that I would want to listen to exclusively, or one book I would read exclusively, there’s no one whistle I would want to play exclusively. There are many fine whistles out there, each suited to different types of tunes, moods, keys, etc.

I have really slowed down my acquisition, though. I have four whistles on order (not counting the two O’Riordans), and don’t have any active interest in more. I’ll probably get a whistle here and there when something interesting comes up on the board, but that’s about it. Probably one or two more flutes, too.

16

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

17

Sorry Ava. Selling whistles to finance a concertina might alleviate WhOA but at the cost of risking infection with GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Since WhOA is just a special case of GAS, I doubt you’re on the way to a cure.

But I have worse news. My first concertina (bought as opposed to borrowed) was a high-end, 32 button, 3 row C/G anglo. Here’s a chromatic instrument as good a Dipper; what more could I want? Well, two row G/D and D/G anglos would be very useful for Irish music giving two nice new options for playing in D. (I blame Lorenzo for spreading this particular virus.) Also, 3-row C/Gs aren’t fully chromatic unless your fingers like moving in all directions at once so I can imagine wanting so a 3-row C#/G# or something like that. (Niall Vallely to blame here.) Then of course, you’re on the slippery slope to button accordions. Need I say more. Aggghhhhhhhhh!!!

18

Do we spot at least three instances of MAJOR denial here???

In re: my own personal case of WhOA, I do believe I’m cured, anyone want to test me by offering a gorgeous whistle at a really cheap price?

19

This wouldn’t be a good test for WhOA.

To really test, we should offer you a barely usable whistle at an outrageously high price. :slight_smile:

20

I’ve been pretty unaffected by WhOA so far; all I have are 2 Generations and an Oak (C, Bb, and D repectively), and barely look at them. Last night at a session, however, I saw and heard a Silkstone for the first time, and help me, I think I’m infected! That’s a pretty high-end gateway drug, though. :laughing: