Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some help in picking out a new whistle. I’ve played a standard keyed flute for years, and have decided that I want to try something a little different, but don’t really have any idea where to start - there’s just way too much information out there! I love Irish music, and from what I gather, I will likely want a D whistle, but I’m not sure if I should go with metal, wood, bamboo, plastic, metal with a plastic mouthpiece, etc. I suppose the most important thing other than quality/tone is price, since I have a budget of ~$50. Thanks in advance!
Holly
PS I also posted this on the flute forum and was told I would have better luck posting it here. Which leads me to a really dumb question - what’s the difference between an Irish flute and a whistle?
Holly:
An Irish whistle is a six-holed flute held parallel to the body and blown from the top.
You might want to check out the Dixon “Duo” whistles, which have both whistle and a flute-type mouthpieces. They’re relatively inexpensive and have great tone. You can find them at the Whistle Shop (www.thewhistleshop.com) or direct from Tony Dixon in England (www.tonydixon.music.co.uk).
You’ll find that the Whistle Shop website also has lots of information on whistles in general.
Good luck!
Judith Redding
Yep, an Irish flute is going to be a transverse flute, a whistle gets blown from the end and you don’t have to even know what an embouchure is.
If you are used to playing a concert flute, you already know what a transverse flute is. The difference is that an Irish flute is a simple-system flute with 6 fingerholes and no keys (well, sometimes you get some with keys, too, but you see what I’m getting at…) Irish flutes are generally made of wood. Some makers are building fine flutes out of delrin or other high-strength plastics.
As for prices, a nice Irish flute won’t be cheap. A nice whistle can be. For $50, you can get an assortment of cheap whistles and play around to see what you like best. Or you can get a couple of cheap whistles and a book on playing the whistle.
Check out http://www.thewhistleshop.com for a fine selection of whistles and quite a few books. http://www.elderly.com also has a few of the whistles that the Whistle Shop doesn’t carry.
The Whistle Shop also has a couple of Irish flutes, so you can look at the pictures and descriptions and see what I was trying to explain above.
-Patrick