Purchased a C/D combo Elfsong whistle from Sandy .. and tried to play it .. was never happy with the way it sounded and ended up putting it away - thinking that I had purchased a lemon.
Then I purchased a Low D … and learned to play it .. decided to sell my Elfsong and look for another High D whistle. Picked up the Elfsong to clean and get it ready to sell .. decided to give it a toot. It sounded better than I remembered and I played it a lot more. It sounds great now .. only thing I can figure out is that playing the Low D helped me get the breath control I was lacking when I first bought the Elfsong.
This is a good whistle .. I was just very new and very bad when I first got it… think it might be a good idea for anyone starting in on whistles to go with the cheaper ones .. that seem to be easier to play …and then move on to more demanding ones.
Just my two cents .. emailed Sandy and told her that she made a great whistle … a little late but better than never.
That’s an interesting observation. I am, for that very reason, grateful that I’ve put the time and effort into becoming at least functional on a low D. Because I can toot on the low for a while, then pick up my Alba Bb, which is not a particularly easy blower, and it seems effortless. OTOH, if the Alba Bb follows the Burke D, I have to remind myself of the breath requirements before I start.
I have experienced about the same thing with several whistles. These were cheapies that I thought were nearly unplayable. As I found a couple of good whistles and learned a little more breath control, etc., I found that many of my “unplayable” whistles were actually quite good. It was not the whistle that didn’t play well.
I had a little bit different experience. I like whistles with a bit of back pressure and Overtons are a decent part of my collection. I recently made a trade that brought a D/C set of O’Riordans into my home.
I DID NOT like them at first. They seemed really touchy and have a pretty free flow air requirement. I was actually discussing the sale of these whistles with a couple of people here.
Then I heard my wife playing the D whistle. Dang, did it sound sweet. The next time I picked it up to play it everything clicked and I got goose bumps and my hands started shaking it felt so good. Needless to say I still have these whistles. They are like a finely tuned race car. When you play them poorly they let you know IMMEDIATELY. When played the way they were designed to be they will reward you immensely.
If you are having trouble with a whistle, have someone else play it to see if you can see or hear something to go with even if it is to try to play as well as they do. Competition, even among spouses, is a good thing sometimes!
