This is probably a question that has been asked many times before, so please don’t shout
I’ve been taking an interest in the whistle of late and would like to learn to play it. Now the problem is, I have browsed the website and a few others but I’m still a bit stumped on which whistle to get.
So I’m looking for a whistle (preferrably affordable) on which I can learn to play. I’ve never played a musical instrument before either, but I think this would be a nice challenge and hobby.
It’s just that different websites recommend different whistles for the beginner. One recommends the Sweetone, the other the Clare two-piece, yet another the Feadog or the Little Black Whistle, i’m just getting a bit confuzzled now.
Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
__
Llhorian
I’m sorry to say, but our little community here is only going to make it that much more difficult for you to decide. There are as many opinions here as on a 4 minute presidential debate.
But, if you pick one from the list that you provided…
Sweetone, the other the Clare two-piece, yet another the Feadog or the Little Black Whistle
…
I don’t think that you can go wrong. Even if you find that you don’t like any one of them, at most you will have wasted $7. You could even add to that list if you wanted. For the children that I’m teaching, I got Acorns. You could also try Oaks, Generations, or a Walton. And, just in the last few days I’ve re-newed a liking for my Clare one piece.
So, I’ll help you pick if you like. I’m thinking of a number. Go ahead; pick any number between 1 and 9
Peace,
Erik
p.s. Am I showing my ignorance if I ask where Friesland is?
[ This Message was edited by: ErikT on 2001-08-20 05:13 ]
Hi, lhorian and welcome to the Wonderful World of Whistle playing, (or the WWW:-)
Start trying out any of the cheaper whistles that you can get hold of. Sooner or later you will find one that you like. These cheaper whistles are pretty variable in quality, but if you keep trying them out, you can find something very good, sometimes as good as the ones that cost hundreds of dollars.
So, I’ll help you pick if you like. I’m thinking of a number. Go ahead; pick any number between 1 and 9 >
Peace,
Erik
p.s. Am I showing my ignorance if I ask where Friesland is?
Allright, 3
And no not at all. Perhaps I should have put ‘Friesland, the Netherlands’ there since it’s a province of the Netherlands, but we’ve always liked to think of ourselves as a different country
Hmm, I wonder if there’s a music store here that sells whistles, you only ever see guitars and such in the windows.
Sometimes for a beginner more important than what whistle to buy is what books/tutorials to get to help you start with your whistle journey (and also what is available where you live)?
All the whistles are described on chiff and fipple but not the tutorials. So follow whistlers what tutorials would you recomend.
What area of the Netherlands? I have friends in Schoonhoven and have biked across a large portion of your beautiful country. I’d have to say that the Netherlands is the most bike friendly country in the world. It is also one of the least whistlized nations on the planet. But there are several members on the board from Amsterdam.
OK, so #3 is the Clare (I told you that I’ve been liking it lately). If you can’t find it locally, there are several online retailers. The Chiff and Fipple site has a page dedicated to online whistle retailers.
You may also want to look into a Hoover CPVC whistle. Mack can make a first whistle for you that you’ll be hard pressed to equal, even spending two to three times as much.
Thom Larson of ‘The Whistle Shop’ carries Mack’s work. They retail for $35.00 at present, but I’d grab one sooner than later. In talking with Mack, it sounds like the demand may push the price up a bit in the not too distant future.
Don’t get the Feadogs. Raspy and all-round horrible.
Generation: quality control problems. Get them only if you are permitted to try before you buy, or they’re readily available. Good ones are great, if you can find them.
If you can afford to pay a little more or have to order from abroad anyway, order a Dixon. Nice whistle. No worries about quality.
Plus you’re in Europe, so you could order directly from Tony Dixon in England. A D whistle costs about 15 pounds. I’m assuming it’s cheaper to ship from England than from USA (Whistle Shop). The savings in the shipping costs might justify getting a DIxon as compared to a lower-end whistle.
It’s just that different websites recommend different whistles for the beginner. One recommends the Sweetone, the other the Clare two-piece, yet another the Feadog or the Little Black Whistle, i’m just getting a bit confuzzled now.
People look for different things in a whistle, basically. That said, I encourage beginners toi get a Sweetone. You probably won’t keep playing the Sweetone forever – there’s something about its tone which is sort of unlike the cylindrical-brass-whistle sound which is pretty much standard these days – but the important part about the Sweetone is that I’ve never seen a bad one. With the others, there’s a chance you might get a bit of a dog, and if you don’t have someone that plays already to evaluate your whistle, you never know if the problems are with the whistle or with your playing.
On 2001-08-20 06:38, jmssmh wrote:
Sometimes for a beginner more important than what whistle to buy is what books/tutorials to get to help you start with your whistle journey (and also what is available where you live)?
All the whistles are described on chiff and fipple but not the tutorials. So follow whistlers what tutorials would you recomend.
Joe
Here’s a copy of my post from another new player’s question:
For new music readers, I really recommend Mel Bay’s “Fun with the Tin Whistle.” I tried some of the Irish Tin Whistle tutor books, but found they started with the advanced tunes too soon. The Mel Bay is entirely beginner music and has several exercises for each new concept. What also helps a lot is that I already know the melody for most of the tunes, so I can hear if I’m doing it right. Most of the Irish tunes are new to me.
After a month of practicing with this book, I have made great progress. Now I’ve started working on Morrisons Jig, something that was way beyond my skills a month ago.
Also, about first whistles: I just think you should get one with a plastic fipple. The cheap whistles with wooden fipples (like Clarke original) are more challenging to play and seem to need lots more air (although the sound is probably better than say my Walton Mellow D). I really agree about the SweeTone. Just get it and start playing. Then you can begin to acquire the Dixon, the Hoover, the Susato, the (gasp) Abell, the Copeland, the . . . . . . .
There are a few bad Sweetones out there. My first one was so bad as to be virtually unplayable – each note sounds fine alone, but the whistle is not in tune with itself. The B is so far off I wince whenever I hear it in the middle of a tune.
My first one was a Clarke, and I love it still, have a C and a D. I also love my Sweetones. Didn’t care for the Walton little black whistle–horrible tone, at least on mine. The only Generation I have that I like is the B-flat. I also love my Susatos–have the D-C-Bb set and an A. IMHO, you can’t go wrong with Sweetones, Clarkes, and Susatos. Since these are affordable, you can try different ones and see what you like, or even use different ones for different tunes.
ErikT > Friesland is the northernmost province, bordering on the North Sea
Netherlands does seem to be a whistle-less country, the music stores in the area that I could find with a quick search only have guitars, drums, keyboards and the like.
Hmm, a lot of you seem to agree on Sweetones, I’ll see if I can find any music stores here locally with whistles, otherwise I’ll have to get a credit card so I can order from Hobgoblin (which seems to be the only European on-line shop offering Sweetones that I can find).
Feh, I should’ve thought of this when I was in London for vacation
Llhorian, about six months ago I began playing whistle so perhaps I can provide a newbie’s perspective. After researching on the Internet I started out by purchasing a Clarke Sweetone, a Clarke original, and the Bill Ochs’ book/CD “The Clarke Tin Whistle”.
The Sweetone is a great, inexpensive whistle - its very easy to play, not too loud, and the chances of getting a bad one are pretty low. I wouldn’t recommend a Clarke original for a beginner because it requires a lot of air. I have an Waltons Little Black D (WLBD) which sounds more Irish than the Sweetone. I find the WLBD a bit harder to play than the Sweetone and its so lightweight I feel like I’m going to break it - I don’t much care for it. I also have a Chieftain which I do like but that I wouldn’t recommend for a beginner because it is harder to play and is too expensive.
IMO Bill Ochs’ book/CD is awesome for beginners - it is well sequenced, it doesn’t assume you can read sheet music, and it has a good variety of music. This book has a small section on ornamentation but its is not exhaustive. That’s okay because I think one should have a good understanding of the basics before trying fancy stuff anyway. I also have the “Step One: Teach Yourself Pennywhistle” Book/CD/video set. Its nice to have the video so I can see the techniques of a good player but IMO this book progresses far too quickly for beginners.
IMO you can’t go wrong with a Sweetone (in the key of D) and Bill Och’s book/CD. Its a bargain for about $25 US
Leuk zeg, weer een aspirerende nederlandse whistle speler!
(just said hi and that it was nice to have another dutch aspiring whistler).
You already have some good tips from the other members of the board.
I can recommend the Clarke tinwhistle book+tape (and whistle if you want). I have several other books but found this one to be the easiest. It graduately takes you step by step into playing the whistles in a very natural way. You will surprise yourself! Other books, I’ve found to take bigger leaps in the learning proces. Don’t know if you have any musical background but that doesn’t really matter since you’ll be learning traditional tunes mostly (not that you can’t play anything else ofcourse). Since we’re not used to that in our orange country the Clarke book will also ease you into the feel of the rythm.
Some music stores have the odd generation (probably horribly out of tune - which has kept me from pursueing this interest for a whee while) but you can’t go wrong with:
The Celtic Shop in Bergen Op Zoom. They have Clarkes, Waltons, Generations, Susatos, some low whistles and you can ask them for anything you want. They also have or can order cd’s/ sheet music and some of the publications the others mention above.
And, Overton is not situated very far from (Germany just across the border). Tony Dixon, as mentioned is in England. If you happen to enjoy a day in London, there’s Hobogoblin’s Music Store. I hear they have lots of different makes of high-end whistles they let you try before you buy, I’ll try that in a few months. Burke whistles have an Irish contact, Mick O’Brien who has been very nice to me and I’m glad to say I’m fortunate to play one now. But these are the expensive ones. You will find that if you have a good cheap whistles you won’t need anything else for a while. Unless you want to ofcourse.
Enough about all of this. Where are my manners? Welkom in de whistle wereld.
As a friesian, Twarres has a few songs with whistles and just the type of music to play along with (folky and lots of fiddle). But you probably know that already.
Mail me for the phonenumber of the Celtic Shop, don’t have it at hand.
I’ve repeated what others already said and you’ve already answered.
But, I would go for the Clarke book/tape/whistle by Bill Ochs (not the Geraldine one) and a Walton’s little Black (f 12,50) or a Sweetone (f 13,50). How much the Clarke instructional set is, you’ll have to ask the people of the Celtic Shop. They can send it all to you.
Tel. +31 164 238 730
Also, I wanted to say you can always ask me anything. The whistle lingo is english and as you learn and read more this may get confusing. More than happy to explain it in dutch.
On 2001-08-20 15:54, Llhorian wrote:
I was actually thinking of getting Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor by G. Cotter, since a lot of sites seem to speak highly of it.
The G. Cotter book is very good. When it first came out there were 2 tapes available that went with it, one for the instruction part of the book and the other with the 100 tunes she has in the 2nd half of the book. Now the 100 tunes are available on two CDs which makes it alot easier for study.
I started out a few months ago just like you. I had never played any musical insturment before but I thought it would be a new and challenging hobby.
I got a Clarke as my first whistle, and I love it, but once the wooden fipple gets wet its impossible to play. ;( I’d have to say get a dixon or a sweetone as well. I’ve been using the Step One Learn to play the pennywhistle book and cd set. It’s working out great.
