Finally my Copeland brass high D has arrived.
Holy Moses what a nice piece of workmanship . . . pure eye candy.
So what’s my first impression?
Well, it looks good, a sight for sore eyes.
It’s heavy and solid.
The sound is kind of round, fat, flutelike and mellow, not very bright, and pretty breathy.
The second octave needs a good push without being as air-requiring as the Clarke Original.
And yes, the high B can sterilize a hamster at thirty paces, but without sounding shrill or unpleasant in any way.
It’s very easy to play and you don’t notice the fingerholes.
The fingers seem to fall into place by themselves.
I hate whistles that need very little breath to play, but the Copeland lets you lean into it without complaining which is a very good thing.
sigh . . . . this is a nice whistle, and my first thought was: This one is FUN to play.
Congrats. These are indeed very nice whistles. Like most, the Copelands do have a narrow range of breath pressure which produces the “ideal” tone. Often times, this pressure is less than what we are accustomed to or expect.
What amazes me is the loudness you get in return for the invested breathpressure.
You would expect a loud whistle like this to require much more air than it does.
Some whistles seem to waste air, in other words the energy isn’t converted into sound as it could/should have been.
This whistle seems very “economical” in a sense, as it uses it to produce sound.
The Copeland requires the breathpressure to be just right, so I’ve noticed.
But the Copeland isn’t the only good whistle in the world though,-I’ve got a few whistles that I like equally well, they just sound and handle differently.
Here’s a tip, emtor, for what it’s worth … The Copeland D seems pretty responsive to embouchure. If you play at the tip of the mouthpiece, you get quite a breathy tone. But if you take more of the beak in your mouth, maybe half-way to the window, you get a much purer tone. My theory is that the upper lip acts a bit as an air dam, similar to the “wall” found on the lower Copeland whistles. It’s worth experimenting. Enlarging your mouth cavity (think of “ohhhh”) also seems to affect the tone and air flow. The tonal nuance possible on this whistle is one of its charms.
To reduce the sterilizing force of those lethal high A and B notes, it helps to play at the tip, tighten the embouchure, and even angle the whistle a bit. Promiscuous hamsters everywhere will thank you!
Thanks for the tip MTguru. Yes, I’ve already noticed that the Copeland is responsive to the embouchure. Most whistles are like this to a certain degree, but the Copeland is noticable in this respect. This has sort of brewed in the back of my mind, but you did put words to it and thereby bringing it more to my attention . . . thanks.
The high A and B are loud notes, but not intrusive or unpleasant in any way.
I’m very satisfied with this whistle, but I must confess that other whistles also posess qualities that I like equally as much, despite their differences.
However, the Copeland stands out due to the beautiful craftmanship that just seems to shout at you when you look at it.
Regarding the hamsters . . . these creatures do not like it much when their “studliness” is taken away from them,-I’ll make sure I’ll be playing the Copeland gently
I have a Copeland D in silver. When I first had it, I had issues with changing octaves. Then I put it on the tuner, found it was sharp with the slide all of the way in so pulled the slide out a bit. That corrected both the tuning and the changing octave issues. Don’t know if this is the way the whistle was designed but I’m a flute player who always has to pull out on the slide so it made sense to me.
springrobin:
Holy Moses ,-you’re right. My slide was also all the way in, and I found the second octave notes to be slightly sharp. So, i followed your advice and the second octave just lined nicely up.
Great to hear you like it and have found the slide setting that works for you. BTW, thank goodness it doesn’t have a flat bell note. .
I thought mine did when I got it as it didn’t sound right to my ear; then, I checked it out on my Korg Orchestral Tuner and it indicated that it was flat. Long story short; I must confess that there was operator error with the tuner (calibration is adjustable) I had pushed a wrong button and needed to adjust the slide on the Copeland Best, Cyril.
I had a Jonsered once, a big hog of a chainsaw. Perfect for the delicate tweaking of Copelands and Overtons. I’m sure you could adjust uilleann pipe reeds with it. It’s all about a steady hand
Copeland tuning and octave issues solved.
Reaching the three top notes in the second octave was hard.
I solved it by putting some soap-water inside the windway and let it dry, plus pulling the tuningslide out a bit. Second octave now jumps easily.
BUT,-the whistle now seemed flat all over. I checked with my electronic tuner, and yes, it was flat on the bottom D. I played it good and warm and checked it on high-D topmost fingerhole open. After all, this is supposed to be the proper fingering for the second octave D,-right? It might just be that this whistle is tuned with the second octave D as a reference.
It seems that way, because now it tunes to a true D when the head is pulled out 1/6th of an inch, and the octaves are way more balanced than what they used to be. This means I’ve got 1/6th of an inch for tuning it sharp if needed.
-I guess this solved it. NOW it’s a great whistle, so I won’t need cranberrydog’s Jonsered after all
Congratulations on your new Copeland. Reading about yours and the others got me to curious so I got out my nickel D Copeland, and my poor mans Copeland. (A Generation Bb head on a meg D) I tried going from the d up to d both ways with the top hole covered, and with it closed. They both work just a subtle breath difference. Than trying the second d alternating with the top hole closed, and then open. I could maintain the pitch both ways however it did sound different. But that could be because the hole is closer to the ear then the end of the tone tube.
Glad you brought up the economical use of flowing air I have wondered if anyone else noticed that is a consideration. Although I have been calling it an effective use of the air. Both terms mean the same thing in that the high end and fine tweaked whistles have a subtle graduation in the breath required to play, and the air requirement is not erratic.
About the Generation Bb head on the meg. Well it is softer than a Copeland and louder than a Sweet one. But it does have that Generation Bb voice but now in the key of D. The bore of the Copeland is a little larger than the meg so that could account for the increase in volume.
A Gen Bb head on a meg body?
That sounds nice, but what about octave tuning? I made a conical shaft once for a Feadog D head, and it reminded me of a clarinet . . . it raised the second octave notes almost 1 and a 1/2 octave.
Yep, energy economy is the thing. The Clarke original whistle must be the most non-economical beastie in the world of whistledom. The windway floor is flat, the roof is rounded, and the lip is U-shaped. Only a wee bit of the airstream which even isn’t very focused hits just a small part of the lip.
Oh yes, it sounds nice, but it doesn’t use much of the air for making that sound.
I wonder,-what hasn’t been tried and experimentet with by members of this board? It all started with Dale the undisputed recommending removing fragments of PVC from the windway of cheapies . . . and look where we are now:
Whistles made from copper tubing, whistles made from PVC tubing, tweaked whistles ala Jerry Freeman, tweaked whistles made by myself, and then the frankenstein-whistles in all shapes and forms . . . we need a picture gallery site with all these beasts on display for the world to see
,-you’re right. My slide was also all the way in, and I found the second octave notes to be slightly sharp. So, i followed your advice and the second octave just lined nicely up.
and needed to adjust the slide on the Copeland 