With a little over two years working the flute (wooden, keyless D) I’m edging back toward the whistle for more practice and play time. Seems the low Ds have attracted me full force. I seem to get much more feeling out of the them. Am I fooling myself simply because the whistle is “easier” to produce tone? I feel so much more comfortable with the clarinet, down the front, angle of play and ease of holding.
Anyone moving back to the whistle for more play? Anyone want to comment on “Is he getting lazy and looking for an easier way?”
I’m ready to sell some flutes to buy some more top end (Copeland Low D) whistles to satisfy my “I don’t know why” mood.
I’m beginning retirement and wonder if I REALLY want to spend so much time in getting “acceptable” (intermediate) on the flute.
You’re not being lazy, Bill. There’s no lazy in realizing that you don’t want to take the time to learn a difficult instrument. I’ve wanted to play the piano for years, but don’t want to take the time and effort to learn; there are other interests that I have that can fill that time better… at least at this point. I’m also not learning the pipes, accordian, fiddle, sax, and clarinet - all because the desire/sacrifice ratio is not high enough, not because I wouldn’t enjoy playing them.
Play what you enjoy playing and are willing to devote the time to
I had actually typed a new topic offering to sell my Seery so I could get a three piece Copeland or trade for one but was so undecided I deleted it before it was posted only to return to the forum to see your message. Just too undecided to “go for it” right now.
I’m not giving up flute all together but have developed a “want” for a Copeland three piece low D. I like the flute but the Copelands I’ve played are special. I can see myself eventually getting to the same place you are talking about. I’m not there yet, but there are days.
I am choosing whistle because in Japan almost nobody knows what it is. This means, at least in Japan,whistles are not exposed to biases on their roles and articulations. So people here in Japan are supposed to hear music itself more than whistle as an instrument. In this way,I never play Recorders in Japan.
So if I lived in Ireland,I might be choosing flutes instead of whistles(or playing whistles as sub-instrument).As long as I think both instruments good.I guess whistles in Ireland are like recorders in Japan. I always try to let them hear music,not instruments.
Whistles mouthpiece is very convenient.It can make the instrument the easiest to play in the world for noblemen(like the old time case on Recorders) and at the same time it can make increase the capacity of expressions by making the instrument more difficult to play.Sometimes this convenience causes misunderstandings as if whistles/Recorders didnt need developing embouchure.
Once ‘Johann Joachim Quanz’ after all abandoned playing oboe because he came to the conclusion that embouchures between flute and oboe were different and to complete his playing style on flutes,playing both was imcompatible.I agree with Quanz.
Hmm,actually everything depends on what you really want. So if I,I try to know what I really want first(but thats extremely difficult way).
Nah, whistle is easier, but different.
A fellow at our local session has just given
up the flute and switched to whistle.
Said he never could play the flute.
Has my sympathy. I"m trying to
figure out how to steal his flute. Best
I do so ever so often, when I get frustrated with the flute. Then again, I actually do prefer the sound of the flute to that of the whistle, so the flute draws me back every time…
I’m not ripe to retire yet, but the green is gone with arthritis, and glasses to read. Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita…
Jean-Michel Veillon’s playing convinced me. In a few years–three to five, given my average practice, less than an hour a day–I’d develop one acceptable embouchure and sound. Now, he has many while I’d go a long road to… mediocrity.
In the same time, I’m confident I’ll get to play the low whistle well. The road is long too, and has no end, but it is more rewarding.
On the way, I learnt that expression and articulation are different, but there in their own way. They should be different, too. A mistake is to try and get the same from the whistle. Thinking this way, you end up believing a mandolin is “inferior” to a guitar…
Also, some may develop a complex because the whistle sounds apparently “automatically” compared to the traverso. So what? for that matter is the piano an inferior automated cymballom?
So I stick to whistles, high, alto and low, and that’s the added magic of a truly transposing instrument. I mean practically, not theoretically.
Also, like Hiro, I have the luck of living where the low whistle is a little-known instrument, so it doesn’t get labelled as “bumpkin’s flute” and I can get away by describing it as “flûte irlandaise”.
It’s odd, I’ve just taken up the flute! But fank gawd for whistles, which provide much relief and joy when the stupid lip muscles start flapping like pork-chops in a stiff breeze…
Personally, I wouldn’t sell off the flutes. Certainly not all of them anyway. Who knows how you’ll feel in six weeks, months, years? Besides, a change is as good as a rest.
It’s just so important to play your music on an instrument you flare with! I have played different instruments since I was 9 years old. When I started on the whistle it was exciting. When I started on the flute I was thrilled (not at the sound I produced, mind you) - something clicked. It’s a tough beast to wrestle with, but well worth it IMO.
If you feel you and whistles are a match, then why keep flirting with the transverse beast
I do pick up my whistles in regularly (mostly Overton A and Low F) and it’s always great fun, different creatures; friendly…
Pity you don’t own a red 1970 BSA Rocket III 750cc: I have this superb Briggs & Stratton lawn-mower, used only a thousand miles, which I could have sacrificed…
Jeroen, I take your point, but I would like to add that when you’ve only been playing a few years you may not really know what instrument you really have a “flare” for yet.
A handful of years is not a long time in terms of learning the music.
I’ve hardly touched whistles in the last few months (except for car whistling). I just find the flute much more rewarding and expressive, even though I barely know my way 'round it thus far. I find whistles a little wimpy right now.
That said, I suspect there will be stretches of time when I’ll be fed up with the flute and turn back to whistles for a little comfort. My flute teacher is pushing me to keep up with the whistle, too, in part because it may be easier to pick up new techniques and tunes on the instrument that’s just about automatic.
On a more serious note than my prior post (the offer is still open BTW - no trades received as of this posting), I do think whistle is easier than flute to play at a passable level, but really good whistle playing is a different matter. I think they require similar, but slightly different, skills to play well.
I started with whistle for many years (close to 10), picked-up flute only in the last few years (but only about 2 years seriously - or close to that), primarily play flute, but I still play the whistle several times each week.
While flute is my love, the clare 2 piece fits in my pocket and is the PERFECT “waiting for the bus” instrument. I can play several tunes I’m working on, relax on lunch break and play it, and it’s just so much more portable for a commuter like myself.
BTW, I also enjoy my Clare 2-piece, for the same reason…it’s a good little whistle, and very portable. Unfortunately, the intonation is a bit quirky so it’s not very useful as a session whistle, which is a shame, because it has the lovely tone and responsiveness of a good Generation.
Bill, I’ll have to go along with Gary here. By all means get the whistle but don’t get rid of all of your flutes. At least keep your favorite(s). I guarantee you that the flute will calling out again sometime in the future. Sometimes you need to give instruments a rest. It’s great that you have the desire to take up more than one.
