I thought I’d managed to kick the WhOA (mostly), but when I discovered I needed a Db whistle, I started looking again.
I’ve since ordered a Parks Whistles Walkabout, which I was going to order anyway, so that I’d have something that I could mute a bit for practice when my wife and daughters are sleeping, plus it breaks down and I can carry it with me. I also ordered a full set of Syn whistles to cover the Db. I have two abandoned shopping carts on two separate websites with about 9 whistles total split between them. I’m also keeping an eye on an Oz Vambrace, wondering how quickly my wife would kill me for spending another couple hundred on another whistle… I’ve literally dreamt of whistles for 3 nights in a row now.
Please… please tell me it gets better. Is there a Whistle-holics Anonymous group I can join or something? I mean, I’m not even that good at whistling, but I just love me some whistles!
For a concert I’m playing in. Bloody thing has 3 (yes, THREE!!!) measures in Db!!! I’m confident that the arranger has never actually seen a whistle in his life. More than likely, he was arranging either digitally or via a keyboard and thought, “oh, the whistle sample sounds nice!”
Aye, I’m trying to avoid just that circumstance… It had been quite a while since I’d bought a whistle prior to this. Last time I purchased whistles is was because I needed a C whistle for a concert I was playing in. Concerts are, apparently, instruments of the devil.
Kind of. You can still twiddle around with moving whistles into and out of your various online shopping carts, calculating precisely what might be acquired with your next hypothetical chunk of budgetary overflow. {she says, having already spent March’s whistling buget…]
Hmmmmm… Once again we welcome you to Chiff & Fipple. We applaud you for your commitment, and witness to WhOA. Yes it can get better if you become so organized that at any given moment you are able to go pick up the whistle you are looking for. However for many of us it is such fun to find a long forgotten whistle, pick it up for a tune, and find how much better it plays with age. Again however, when you pass knowing how many you have, the more whistles you have the better your WhOA. The more whistles you play the more whistles you need and, uh … I could go on but I need to go to ebay, and see whats up.
pro–
I would say there is hope. I now have a good, servicable whistle in all the major keys (G, F, Eb, D, Bb, low A, low G, low D; Db? never heard of such a thing!). Now I am content to try to actually learn to play the things properly. It’s true. I have really lost interest in additional acquisitions. Except, um, I would like a really good low d. But other than that, I’m done. I swear.
I don’t have an addictive personality and once I realize something is reaching an addiction it loses a lot of the fascination, like letting the air out of a balloon. I’m also going green and am trying to use less resources. That being said, I am still coveting a bamboo flute like in the Kill Bill movies. I’m going to wear it all the time just like David Carradine too.
You know, bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants. It is (to the best of my knowledge) by far the most renewable wood resource. That’s one reason that it’s become so popular to use in many different applications: flooring, clothing, linens, etc. So, a bamboo flute is like going green in the instrument world. WhOA!
WhOA can be totally cured … by taking up another instrument. A couple of years ago I started on the mountain dulcimer. To my dismay, the dulcimer acquisition disorder (DAD) is just as bad.
However, honesty forces me to add that in the last 12 months, I’ve added a CB keyed flute, 2 Dixon Trads, a Dixon low F, a Killourhy whistle, Impempe C/Bb combo and a O’Riordan aluminum C to the woodwind herd. So glad I’m “cured”!
I bought a banjo. WhOA is cured.
Of course, I’ve since spent more money buying a resonator and trying out different combinations of bridges, heads, picks and tailpieces than I would’ve spent on whistles/flutes.
Just popped in and saw this thread. I don’t hang out here anymore (I’m on the floor below).
My WhOA is totally cured. However, it came at an expense. I’m now addicted to an even heavier and far more expensive drug. Flutes…
My FOA is far worse than anything else has ever been, and the costs are mind boggling for a whistler. It was for me to when I first strayed over to the other side, but now I’m thinking maybe $800 for a new headjoint and adjustment of my old flute, then $3500 for the next one I need, and a couple of thousand for a low Bb, and then I need to put myself up on a 10 year waitlist and pay a few hundred in deposit for another very special flute…
It would all get out of hand if I didn’t also have the need to regularly spend too much money on expensive single malt
whisky
Buy some machine tools and make/modify your own flutes, then you can save more money for 25 yr old single malt!
Maybe brew your own (?) (Both are easy and addictive, I speak from experience).
I love me a good single malt (heck, I love me a good blended!). But I would not have the patience to wait for it to mature. I’ll just buy what somebody else had the patience to create. (Thanks, Glenfiddich!)
I would love to get into brewing beer, though… And whistle making…
Luckily I don’t have either an addictive personality or a collector mentality.
For me, musical instruments are merely a tool and all I require is one that will do the job.
But I do want to do the job as well as I can, so when I couldn’t play flute anymore and sold all my flutes I had plenty of money to explore low D whistles. I bought every low D I could find, played them all, kept my fave and sold the rest. Then I bought matching whistles in several other keys that I require. End of WHOA.
Just last night I did a two hour gig with my ITM trio and my whistles, as always, performed perfectly. (Not that I could say the same for myself! I had a couple D’oh!s.)
So when I check my Low D, and my Low G, and my Low A against the electonic tuner at the start of the gig and the scale of each is perfect, and play in tune the whole gig, and the tone and playability are exactly what I prefer, why have WHOA?
Oh, aye… aye. I can see how that could be enough for some. And I am, truly, on the search for a whistle that will satisfy me in almost every circumstance. Who knows, perhaps I’ve found it in the whistles I have on the way right now.
I’m truly eager to try out the set of Syn whistles. I’m quite curious how the tone of the Parks Walkabout will be, too. The Walkabout is going to become my most used whistle, I know for sure, if for no other reason than it will allow me to practice when my girls are sleeping. I suspect the Syn whistles will become my standard whistles to play when I am actually performing. Alas, nobody in this town holds sessions, so I’m out of luck there. I’d try to start one up, but I have neither the repertoire nor the skills to actually play at a session.
The thing is – while yes, I love just trying out different whistles to see what their tone is like, which definitely feeds my WhOA – I prefer different sounds for different pieces. Some tunes deserve a nice, pure sound. Some deserve more breath, perhaps a little raspy buzz. Some more chiff, some less. I like to have the right tool for the job!
I had WhOA, but it didn’t last long. I found a couple of whistles that I love and it seemed to go away. I do still want a Clarke Original to replace my first whistle that I lost, but other than that, I’m a happily recovered addict.
I’m definitely on the mend as I haven’t bought a new whistle for over a month!! However I must confess that I have a Sindt on order and also that I’m still pondering how to re-invest the procedes of a low D that I’ve just sold. Oh well, at least its a Healthy Obsession!
