I bought it ages ago, second hand, for my daughter. Tonight she found it, amongst her stuff and gave it back to me, because of my recent interest in playing whistles. The brass is tarnished, but it plays OK.
It’s a bit different from the ones described on the C&F website, in that it is a one piece brass D with a green mouthpiece (not red). Sounds quite nice, but I find it very sensitive, and easy to overblow to the next octave. The low octave is very hard to play steadily as it takes so little air. I am comparing this to the Clarke that I bought a couple of days ago. Is it normal for the small plastic mouthpiece whistles to be like this?
I am not familiar with the Clare, but I do know that the Clarke is usually the standard de facto when describing whistles that take the most volume of air to play.
What that means is that the Clare may not be that low in air requirement compared to other instruments. I have owned a couple of whistles that would starve you for oxygen, having to actually exhale before taking a breath to refresh that vital ingreedient.
I guess I’ll find out as I buy a few more, as I’m sure I will. Assuming it’s normal, are there any tricks, or exercises, to regulate the air flow in the lower octave so I have more control?
The Clare actually takes a good amount more air then many plastic-mouthpiece whistles. For that reason I often recommend them (or give them) to beginning whistlers. But, as Steven said, if you’re used to a Clarke, the Clare will take some adjustment.
Unfortunately there is no shortcut to air regulation. Practice is the only way. One exercise to do is to blow a low D, beginning with very little air, then gradually increase it till it starts to break the octave. Do the same all the way up the scale. This will give you a sense of how much air will cause it to jump octaves. Also, make sure you’re not giving a burst of air at the beginning of a note in the lower octave. A burst might come from overblowing, but may also come from tonguing or otherwise interrupting the airstream. (This is a way that people deliberately get a note into the higher octave when they want a high note with less volume.)
Thanks for the advice. I will keep this in mind when practicing. The other thing I do wrong on low notes is that the pitch and/or volume wavers a bit during long notes. I guess that’s just practice too.
