Beginner's question: tin twhistle or Irish Flute ?

Whistle
1

I am an acoustic guitar player who gas just joined - as a total beginner - the wonderful world of irish whistles/ flutes. I bought two Susato Dublin Penny whistles, a high C and an Alto G, but I am not sure I like them. I have on order a classic Clarke Soprano D, and a Tony Dixon Duo, i.e. a Soprano D penny whistle and a Soprano D Piccolo flute.
I would like to yry both the tin whistle and the irish flute before deciding where to focus on at the beginning.
Do you have any suggestions ? Should I try first to learn the tin whistle before moving to a flute/fife ? What about a low D Irish whistle ?

Thanks !

2

G’day Gerardo,
In my humble opinion,I’d go for a Soprano D whistle first…dont worry about any other keys at this stage..
You’ll be able to play 100’s of tunes using this whistle and you’ll be able to get the feel of the tunes…
After a few months of this,you’ll know what you want…
If a Flute is your fancy,(after living with your whistle for a while)I’d go for one of the entry level Flutes..some made from synthetics and some in Timber…prices from $100 or so to $300 or thereabouts…
At this stage I’d steer away from the Low whisle..lovely thing that it is…there are ‘grip’ issues with it and at this stage,you want things to be as easy as they can be…
Welcome to these pages and to Irish Trad…weedie…

3

Definitely, get used to a high D whistle first. Playing flute adds the whole embouchure thing which adds greatly to the complexity. Once you’re comfortable on the whistle, you can go to low D or flute or both more easily.

4

Wise advice!

5

I totally agree with going for a high D whistle first before a flute. As a flute player all my life , getting the blowing down for flute is harder in my opinion. You could always try the Burke composite whistle. I find it easy to blow and easier than most to get the second octave without problem. However, they are high end whistles. For something less expensive I heard a Carey Park whistle is pretty good.

6

Without a doubt it’s easier to get going on a soprano D whistle than it is on any flute recognizing that rarely does one recommend a ukulele as a stepping stone to the guitar.

7

Well it looks like I’m going to play devil’s advocate here, and say that if you want to start flute and whistle at the same time, go for it.

I did it, years ago, and it didn’t seem to have any adverse effect on my playing of either.

Yes to play flute you have to learn the embouchure. So what? It’s like anything else, it just takes practice.

While I learned tunes and ornaments etc on the whistle I was learning the embouchure on the flute. As soon as I had an acceptable tone on the flute my fingers were ready and I could play a bunch of tunes.

In some ways the flute is easier to play than the whistle for me- for one thing I always found it easier to play in tune on the flute. Don’t know why. Of course you need a flute that’s in tune, and you have to play that flute long enough to get used to how to blow it properly. One of the best bits of advice I got when I started out was to get a good flute and stick with it until I could play it well.

About low D whistles, I love them, though they never perform as well as a flute. They take more air and have a worse finger stretch but produce less volume/power. It’s just the way it is.

About various makes of whistles, on this forum you’ll get an endless variety of opinions.

Basically, most whistles break down into three categories, each of which has its supporters:

  1. the “cheapies” Generations and their ilk

  2. Overtons and their ilk, having a straight narrow windway, more backpressure, and tending to have a tone variously described as musty, breathy, complex, haunting, etc etc

  3. Copelands, Burkes, Susatos, and others with a curved windway, with less backpressure/more freeblowing, which tend to have a pure or clear tone

Of course there are many makes which don’t conveniently fit these categories, but the majority do.

You would do well to try a variety to get a sense of what you like. For example, getting an Overton, a Burke, and a good-playing Generation of the same key would teach you more than reading a bunch of posts here.

8

My advice would be to work with any given inexpensive D whistle while you put away the 5-1200 dollars that you will need to afford a good keyless flute - this should give you enough time to listen to both flute and whistle players (as this tradition is all about listening carefully anyway) and decide which sort of sound you fancy making.

Good luck.

9

Thank you for all the suggestions. I started playing with a Clarke high D and a Dixon polymer high D, and I ordered a Dixon student Irish Flute (a cheap one) and a Dixon Piccolo to start with. Which is the $ 500-1200 Irish flute Brand that I should save money for, in your opinion ?

Thanks again.

10

You’re going to get a zillion replies to this one! I’ve owned a Dixon polymer, Cochran polymer, Tipple, Copley blackwood and my current McGee Grey Larsen Preferred - all were keyless. I didn’t like the Dixon - it was too weak at the low end for me, but all the rest are great. My favorite is the McGee GLP - this is my “keeper”. It has an easy finger stretch, great low end, plays in tune, and is just “that much” better than the others I’ve played. Terry McGee is currently selling the GLP for $853 (see www.mcgee-flutes.com) and is really great to work with. Dave Copley’s flutes are very nice as well, and he makes a delrin (polymer) version that’s fairly cheap. I’ve played a Casey Burns Folk Flute as well, but don’t feel right saying either positive or negative things as the one I tested was having stopper “issues”. I’ve also played John Gallagher’s flutes, but they are above your price range…

Have fun!

Pat

11

In my opinion, you should look for an Olwell, a Hamilton, a Wilkes, a Doyle, a Murray, a Cotter. The Doyle will be the least expensive of these, though more now with the exchange than it would have been. A Ward, Cochran or Seery delrin would be on the cheaper end of things 5-600 I think and would do nicely to get going on - if you can swing it and decide that the flute is definitely what you want to do though, I’d go with one of the big makers named above in some nice wood or other. Watch around the board - they sometimes come up, though in the case of Olwell, Murray and Wilkes sometimes with a premium on them that takes the price up.