Awhile back there was mention of the Elf Song manufactured whistles.
One that caught my eye was the EnChanter designed to have the same
fingering as GHB bagpipes.
G xxxxxxxx
A xxxxxxxo
B xxxxxxoo
C xxxxxooo
D xxxxooox
E xxxoxxxo
F xxooxxxo
G xoooxxxo
A ooxoxxxo
Instead of the normal
D xxxxxx
E xxxxxo
F xxxxoo
G xxxooo
A xxoooo
B xooooo
C oooooo
This makes me wonder, are their other whistles that have different fingering patterns?
Also, how did the fingering patterns developed for the pipes, and why are they different than the flute and whistle? Is it due to the reed?
Would a different pattern be more or less flexible for accidentals?
Is the current system optimized for speed?
Not that any one would really want to stray that far from tradition, just curious.
Well, if we might set aside instrument rivalry for a moment, the instrument that shall not be named is essentially a whistle with a different fingering system. In fact the whistle and the you know what, are just simple fipple flutes and there are probably lots of variations in how one can design unkeyed fipple flutes to play notes.
Firstly, one of the fingerings given above for the Highland pipes is not correct. The major 3rd (a written C#) requires the little finger to be down.
About different fingering systems, there are many folk flutes and whistles from various cultures which have their own systems.
The Bulgarian kaval has a system which is unrivalled for ease of playing chromatically, as the open holes of the kaval create a chromatic scale.
The Bolivian kena has a system similar to the Irish whistle, except that it has a thumbhole.
I think the Irish whistle system offers maximum speed and agility for the diatonic requirements of Irish music.
