I’ve recently started playing whistle at my new church (I used to play a long time ago at another church).
We seem to be doing a lot of songs (mostly contemporary praise and worship) in the key of E. So I’ve been contemplating getting an E whistle, but I worry about it being a small whistle and possibly sounding shrill.
So my questions are, which is the best E whistle? (it looks like there are only a few who make them), and, is it even worth it to get an E or should I just sit out and sing on the E songs? I don’t mind sitting out sometimes - but there are a couple of songs we do in E that I think could be good whistle songs.
There’s no “best”, of course. But the VSB Susato E is affordable ($38 tunable, $22 non), available, in tune, and not too shrill. Depending on the range, you might also want/need a B whistle to play tunes in E (Denny beat me to it).
I doubt you’ll ever come by one, but the best E whistle I’ve played is the Thin Weasel. Glenn made these with a very narrow bore, which gives them a delicate sound, no shrillness at all. Lightning fast response, too.
My personal observation is that there is no such thing as “the best” whistle in any key. Much depends on personal preferences and which characteristics suite the setting in which the whistle is played. I have owned and still own a few high E whistles. I assume we are talking high E here since you referred to small and shrill.
Anyway, I am also a praise worship leader and the whistle is a prominent part of my instrumentation. I use whistles by Burke, Schultz, Copeland and Sindt as well as my own handmade whistles. The setting dictates which whistle is used. I depend on Burke aluminum whistles for key coverage in keys from high E down to low C and they work well in the worship setting. As it happens I will be playing a high E Burke in our Christmas program. We practiced in the sanctuary last evening and the Burke high E sounded terrific. The piece I am using the high E on is Henry Roe McDermott followed by The Holly and the Berry as played by Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies on their Christmas CD, a favorite for sure. Yes, the Burke is plenty loud and penetrating but it is not shrill when controlled properly. I am not mic’ing the whistle for this piece. I am also using a couple of my own whistles and a Burke composite for that program, as well. Get a Burke, That would be my suggestion.
I still don’t have the E Susato, maybe I will buy it in a short time, but I have a Susato VSB in D (tunable), C, Eb, F and G (last 4 non-tunable) and they’re all fantastic.
Surprisingly, the only one that is shrill is the G. The F is just ‘a bit’ shrill in the notes above high G, but it’s not THAT bad (I think it could be worse!). I think the Susato VSB in E wouldn’t be so bad in terms of shrillness, and $22 for the non-tunable I think would be very worth.
If it will work for your church songs and if you’re interested in getting a low E whistle, that would prevent the shrillness. I have a Reviol low E and it’s my favorite low whistle to play. Reviols are pricey, though. The highest whistle I have is a Burke Eb so I can’t give you any thoughts on high E’s.
My main church whistles are Burke aluminums but for songs in the key ‘E’ I use Susato B, or low E but sometimes I use a D whistle as it only needs two half-holes to play in E major and is not shrill like my Susato high E. Regarding the Susato high E i think I have only used it once in church in the last 6 years. Even in our noisy church it is too shrill for me.
My first choice out of all of the above - Susato B
Burke Makes nice Es and Bs. I don’t find the hi-E shrill.
I’ve played Copeland Es as well and liked them. I play a Water weasel E that’s nice. For some reason E doesn’t seem shrill to me. Likely because only serious makers are making them and serious makers don’t make junk.
I’d definitely get a B though too. That way you can get those rascally tunes in E that go below E.
E flutes are fun too. I play an Olwell Bamboo in E. Billy Miller makes a great E bamboo flute as well.
I use a Susato low E which plays very well and a Generation B I made by cutting down a B flat which plays great.
If I was in the situation of playing in E major on a regular basis I would certainly buy a Burke low E and a Burke B.
You might also want to investigate an Overton low B. (I like 'em low).
Ditto the Olwell bamboo E, I had one that was great.
Sharp keys like E and A are favored by guitar players who do a lot of songwriting for praise music so its good to have few options. I have a Susato E that I’m real gentle with unless the music gets real loud. Also a low E made from CPVC by Mack Hoover. Beautiful sound and very affordable. I just got a Humphrey B from Doc which is a nice companion for my Hoover in the same key. I recently encounterd some music in the key of B (have mercy!) and had Mack build me low F# to help out there!
I really enjoy his whistles and he is great to work with. I hope to try some more Burkes in the future as well.
I have a Buke low E aluminum that is very nice if you want to play a low whistle for the part. I think there is a low E used on several songs on the Revival in Belfast CD. It is easy to play for a low whistle and not much more in cost than one of his soprano whistles.
A few other options are a Sindt with an E tube or a Humphrey traditional bore with an E tube. The Humphrey has a little more backpressure than the Sindt and I think would be more suited for the E tube.
I’ve extended a Feadóg D down to Db by just pulling the mouthpiece out all the way, and securing it with teflon tape. The bell note was sharp, but a blob of blue tack inserted into the bore as a choke cured that. The intonation is good, and it sounds nice. Don’t see why you couldn’t try C->B. It’s completely reversible. I could have used a B whistle for the low session at the last SoCal tionól.
I used to do this with my Sindt C. I needed it to play on a song in the key of B but I didn’t have a B whistle so pulled the C whistle fipple out just about all the way and it worked just fine. It wasn’t perfectly in tune but it wasn’t bad at all. I now have a Burke B, which I don’t really care for, but I have a Sindt B on order.
