Our Choir Director had asked me to be prepared for last night’s practice to play whistle for the flute scored part of “Pieta:The Silence and the Sorrow”.
Its written in D, but the Choir Director had chosen to bump it to Eb, so while the guitars Capo’d 1, the keyboardist hits +01 on the transpose button, I opted to play my part on a Bb Whistle.
Now came the tough part, picking from among my 3 Bb Whistles…a Silkstone, a Gen, and a Schultz Water Weasel …each a beautiful and wonderful instrument in its own way…the Silkstone so pure and mellow…the Gen so full of overlayed harmonics…and the WW so beefy yet cleanly resonant.
[My prior posts will disclose a longstanding affection for the Weasel line]
I have in the past selected a whistle from among my modest collection based on what I thought was the right sound for the right song in the right place, but this is the first time I believed each of my 3 possible choices would bring a unique and beautiful outcome. What a wonderful dilemma !
So I played the opening instrumental part on each whistle for the Director (a professional flautist and guitarist) and asked her to pick.
She said she liked all 3, but preferred me to use the Weasel, because its higher volume level would carry more firmly with minimal dependency on the set up and ambient conditions of our sound system. I confess I was leaning slightly toward the Gen (love the “harmonic” edges), but am always happy to play Glenn’s grey sewer pipe.
The bore on the WW is much wider than the Gen or the Silkstone, thus accounting for the greater amplitude of the playing level.
Curiously, on my Bb Weasel, unlike any other Weasel or any other whistle I have, the C Natural is dead-on using 00X 000. I’ve got to remember to ask Glenn about that.
Just wanted to share my experience. My spouse and kids could care less. Thanks.
[edited to coverup stupid mistakein key reference]
[ This Message was edited by: bob baksi on 2003-01-24 09:02 ]
[ This Message was edited by: bob baksi on 2003-01-24 09:03 ]