I’ve had a Burke D narrow bore ( brass ) since last January and I love it, it’s my most favorite whistle.
When I play alone, it’s OK, but when I play along with my teacher and one other student, I can’t hear my Burke anymore. They play Susato and Overton, so that’s practically no match for the Burke in terms of volume I mean.
I’m now considering a Burke Session, for the lessons and to play along with larger groups in future.
But I wonder, how much louder is the Session in comparrison with the Narrow Bore.
Anyone who has them both and could tell me if there’s really a big difference between the two?
Or should I consider other brands too?
Btw, just sold my Susato D, which was loud, but I did not like it.
I have an AlPro session D and a narrow bore brass D.
The session is a bit louder. Neither is an extraordinarily loud whistle, but because of the pure, focused tone, they do tend to work reasonably well for session play. You don’t have to have a very loud whistle to be heard when you play an octave above other instruments.
That said, sometimes you need a louder whistle. My friend Jen plays a wide-bore brass Burke that seems a good bit louder than my AlPro, although I don’t think it has quite the same volume as a Susato. You can definitely hear her playing in the sessions, which is a good thing, as she plays quite well.
I’ve played the narrow bore and I own a session Pro, I didn’t notice a difference in how loud each was, pretty much the same to my ears. You could always ask them to play different whistles, but that might be presumptuous.
I’d also be very interested in replies to this one. My wife currently plays a Susato because she likes a clean tone and as we both play along with keyboards, guitars, percussion, woodwinds and brass, needs decent volume. I was thinking of getting her a Burke Brass session for Chistmas, but need to know it will produce enought volume for her to be heard. Whadyathink?
My friend has a Aluminum Narrow Bore Black Tip, and I have a Brass Session Black Tip. Mine is louder. I love it. I believe it is designated as “Session” because it is loud enough to be heard.
In my opinion the arms race is not going to be the answer to your problem. In other words getting louder and louder instruments is not a road that should be travelled. Two issues: 1. when playing any instrument with someone else playing the same (type of) instrument you’ll find the two instruments will absorb eachother’s tone so it will sometimes be difficult to hear what you are playing yourself. That’s the nature of things, playing louder will not necessarily solve the problem, it may on the other hand create other problems. 2. The nature of whistles (and many other instruments) is such that while you may not be hearing yourself very well, everybody else certainly is. Again choosing the louder option may again very well upset the balance and so have a decidedly negative effect on the overall sound.
Personally I think it’s better to aim for a good blending in with other musicians than to ‘cut through’ them (to use the phrase popular here).
Thanks Peter (I’m not being sarcastic BTW). I wasn’t suggesting that the whistle needs to be louder than other instruments, just loud enough to be heard by the player. We use PA so the balance between the instruments is taken care of by that. The problem is that (particularly for the lower octave) the whistle cannot be heard by the player when there’s a sax in the vicinity; boosting foldback to compensate invites feedback. If the whistle has a strong tone to begin with, you need less foldback to hear yourself and there’s less chance of feedback. I have a nice Dixon sop d that requires so much foldback it usually feeds back, the Susato is loud enough not to need much foldback and so is easier to deal with by the PA. My Reyburn wide bore low C&D are similarly loud enough to blend with a Sax or vigorously strummed guitar without needing much foldback. What we need is a whistle with the acoustic volume approaching that of a Susato, but with a more refined tone.
did someone say loud? i remmber something about the polymer M and E being loud. search “m and e flutes” on the internet. we have not seen to many reviews of his whistles, but maybe someone out there knows.
I have one. It is far louder than a Susato, about the same volume as a clarinet, or possibly a little louder.
It takes some serious air to play, though, both in the amount and in the force with which it is delivered.
I enjoy the tone and reponsiveness though the whistle is exhausting to play for more than just a few sets. It’s also far too loud for any but the largest sessions.
[quote="peeplj]It takes some serious air to play, though, both in the amount and in the force with which it is delivered.
I enjoy the tone and reponsiveness though the whistle is exhausting to play for more than just a few sets. It’s also far too loud for any but the largest sessions.
–James[/quote]
I second that…Michael was mildly impressed that I was able to get a whole tune out of it first go. Its meant to be a whistle for future flute players, I think. Regardless, another perfect situation for the M&E is outdoors.
Another way to be heard in a group is to bounce off the back of someone or something. I don’t mind sitting in the second row as I can hear myself quite nicely. The hat trick works too.
I think it’s going to be a Burke Session Aluminum. I love my Narrow bore and consider myself as a Burke player. Nevertheless I’m going to Amsterdam next Friday to try a Chieftain, just to know what it sounds like.
I know that it’s loud, but I’m affraid of cloggingproblems.
That’s one of the reasons that i like the Burke, it doesn’t clog, at least it doesn’t bother me really when I’m playing.
