I was curious about whether there would be a market for a chromatic high-D whistle - a piccolo whistle in other words.
And no, I have not built any. I wonder if it would be worth the time designing one.
I have ideas of how one could be built with about 4 keys. If such a thing existed what features should it have.
I’ve already thought about extra keys on the bottom (like a flute) to allow it to play C/C# but keyed in D.
I think you could play some lovely Telemann on a whistle like that. :roll: 
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-08-20 23:22 ]
I think I would try some Dave Tarras or Naftule Brandtwine '20s klezmer on such a little beast. I’m thinking anyway about the “pocket” clarinet/sax at Lark in the Morning for such a purpose, anyway. I’d like to see a chromatic whistle attempted.
I know that this may sound silly, but I can’t see why you just couldn’t make a whistle headjoint for a concert flute or piccolo. For the most part a flute can be fingered just as easily verticaly as horizontaly.
Maybe instead of making chromatic whistles maybe just whistle headjoints? Just a thought.
Eric
PS
I just tried this with a Yamaha flute and the head of my Burke AlPro low G. It worked extremely well!! I was able to get three octaves. The Burke head was about three inches too short so it was way out of tune. I’d upload an MP3 to clips-n-snips…but I don’t know how to play the flute 
[ This Message was edited by: vaporlock on 2002-08-21 00:40 ]
Funny this should come up as I have just made two 10-holed high Ds which can play the notes D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, B, C, C#. It is not fully chromatic but the Bb can be cross fingered. The reason why I made the C hole rather than the Bb hole was because that is what the player asked for. I imagine you would have to get used to the fingering. I did see a Russian band in Cologne a couple of years ago playing a whistle similar to this. Here is a picture, not that great quality but gives an idea
http://www.overton.de/GRAFIK/SOP-10.JPG
Thought I mention it 
Colin
edited for typo
[ This Message was edited by: Goldie on 2002-08-21 07:28 ]
Sounds like an interesting idea Dan. People who play only trad might not be interested, but those of us who like to experiment with other types of music should find such an instrument useful. I must point out though, that there already IS a fully chromatic instrument in the same range as a D whistle, readily available for very little money-- a soprano recorder. Flame away…
How about just a regular style whistle but bored for different scales, like the klezmer I mentioned earlier, or melodic minor, or some of the middle eastern or Indian scales?
I can’t believe that nobody has mentioned the Ralph Sweet Blackwood with 3 keys. C natural and B flat are crossfingered. There is a link with pictures from the expensive whistle page.
Also, Pat O’Riordan’s wood whistles come with a sheet that shows cross fingerings for full chromatism. Pat says the aluminum whistles do not work like that. The walls are pretty thick on Pat’s work (compared to weasels, at least) so that may be something. I couldn’t get the D# to work and then promptly lost the info sheet.
You can occasionally find 6-key flageolets on auction sites. They seem to go for fairly respectable sums so I am assuming someone out there values a chromatic whistle!
Is there a market? I’d say yes–I’d likely buy one at some point. I have been wanting one of the Sweet keyed whistles for a long time, but since my wife is buying me a Hammilton keyed flute, this isn’t a good time to beg^h^h^h ask for expensive whistles.
Is there a large market might be a better question, and I’m not qualified to even hazard a guess on that one.
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
On 2002-08-21 08:19, scissors wrote:
How about just a regular style whistle but bored for different scales, like the klezmer I mentioned earlier, or melodic minor, or some of the middle eastern or Indian scales?
I’ve seen the harmonic (for Klezmer, etc.) scaled whistles and others available on the Jubilee site.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/kadima/whis-metal.htm
And I believe that the seven holed Silkstone will produce the Lydian mode from the bell note like seven holed bansuri from India do. Please correct me if I’m wrong. (or should I have typed PCMIIW?)
Lisa
[ This Message was edited by: ysgwd on 2002-08-21 10:54 ]
And the reverse of the piccolo comment – one of my mechanically-minded friends thinks it would be easy to build new bodies for the O’Riordan whistles. Seems like that would be a great way to experiment with different whistle styles.
[ This Message was edited by: colomon on 2002-08-21 13:08 ]
On 2002-08-21 09:41, peeplj wrote:
You can occasionally find 6-key flageolets on auction sites. They seem to go for fairly respectable sums so I am assuming someone out there values a chromatic whistle!
I have a ~100 year old flageolet, and it has a sharping lever. This thing works by partially covering the window with a cork. It sharps any note by a halftone. Too bad it’s hopelessly out of tune with itself.
Charlie
Just when I begin to think that someday I might be able to proficiently handle six holes, you characters want to add levers or up to four more holes.
I think I’ll just go curl up into a fetal ball and withdraw for a while.
I would be really, really interested in a chromatic whistle. And I’m struggling with why that isn’t just a recorder (I have a little F sopranino that is really fun to play). But if something cheap comes up I’ll be there. I’m playing on a cheap bamboo flute at the moment and that cross-fingers well (unlike my cheap whistles, which need half-holing).
Fatveg
On 2002-08-21 07:26, Goldie wrote:
Funny this should come up as I have just made two 10-holed high Ds which can play the notes D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, B, C, C#… Here is a picture, not that great quality but gives an ideahttp://www.overton.de/GRAFIK/SOP-10.JPG
Thought I mention it >
Colin
Damn Colin, that’s Cool!!!
Well folks, that whistle certainly won’t sound like a recorder!
Loren
I’ve already been building a few chromatic Low-D’s and the idea is that the natural toneholes play just like an ordinary Low-D.
With this idea at hand, a Low-D player can pick it and start playing it immediately.
All of the extra notes are obtained by normally closed keys. No cross-fingering like recorders do. It’s essentially like a Rudall & Rose Flute only with a whistle headjoint.
High Whistles require very small keys but they also have to last. Making keys small and rugged enough to last requires some real thinking this out. Especially figuring where to put that G# key.
My interest in other forms on music, such as Klezmer (Kandel, Brandwein, etc) is one of the reasons for my interest.
Colin, that’s a nice whistle. I’ve built a few in a similar manner. I need a few thumbs though to hold on when I play.
The other posting was right, that whistle won’t sound like a recorder.
[ This Message was edited by: Daniel_Bingamon on 2002-08-21 23:44 ]
I remember that Lark in the Morning once offered a low whistle (used) that had a Boehm flute fingering system.
I think that incorporating Rudall & Rose type keywork on a high D whistle would be great for people wanting to play not only Klezmer, but also jazz, classical and other repertoires that require a lot of accidentals, and key changes.
It might be a specialty market at first, but once people begin hearing whistles in the expanded playing styles, the market would likely increase.
For what it’s worth, Colin’s 10 hole is modeled after the McDonough 10 hole fife. The reason for a C nat thumb hole rather than a B flat is to match the 10 hole G flute I’m having made, where a “B flat” hole would be too awkward for my small hands. I’m sure Colin would switch the Cnat for a Bb for anyone who wanted it that way. It does make more sense.
I’ve added the extra 4 holes to a Generation D and a Water Weasel C – they’re fun to play in other keys, and not hard to play in the “normal 6-hole” mode.
Email me if anyone wants more info.
Bruce
That is an interesting whistle. Now have I got any old whistles I could go away and drill holes in? Seriously though. I have been wonderinf what would happen if I drilled a hole in the bottom of a cheap D. Would it make a C? or a squeal that would stop the wretched dog barking for once.
selkie
On 2002-08-23 14:59, selkie wrote:
That is an interesting whistle. Now have I got any old whistles I could go away and drill holes in?selkie
No, it would (assuming that it was in the right place) make your D fingering (XXX XXX O) sound D# and your ‘all 7 down’ (XXX XXX X) sound D. To make it go down to C you need to add length, not holes.
