Help me find the right whistle :)

Whistle
1

Hi everyone! :slight_smile: My apologies for making yet another “what to buy” thread but after doing hours upon hours of research I’ve yet to come to a conclusion so I was hoping you people might be of help to me cos I’m quite lost (and new!) :thumbsup:

I fell in love with the sound of tin whistles after watching the Lord of the Rings so naturally I’m looking for something that can capture that kind of sound. I’m not a big fan of the typical fast and shrill Irish songs and I know that might sound a bit like heresy considering the heritage of the whistle but that’s just the way it is for me personally… I also love the songs by Erik the flutemaker, which can be found here:

I found a cover of “In Dreams” and contacted the person that played it, apparently it’s a Walton Brass D:

Something that plays quiet is preferable (I live in an apartment anyways), so a Susato seems out of the question. I’m unfamiliar with the terms chiffy, warm, breathy or any other word that seems to be used around these forums so unfortunately I can’t describe what I’m after in those words but hopefully those above songs/tunes can help you with that? I’d describe it as “dreamy” :slight_smile: Please describe the proper terms to me if you think you know what I mean! Difficulty to play/control the instrument shouldn’t be of a huge concern considering I used to play the alt sax for many years so I guess the basics of breathing/fingering will come rather quickly. Then again, I have no idea what I’m talking about so that statement could be pretty naive! :wink:

Whistles that are on my radar right now in order of preference (according to what I’ve read at least) are:
**- Walton Mellow D

  • Tony Dixon Traditional D (brass)
  • Clarke Original D (maybe tweeked by Jerry Freeman?)
  • Shaw D**

Help and advice of any type is much appreciated! It wouldn’t break my wallet in case I get something that’s not 100% what I want but I’d rather get it right the first time :slight_smile:

2

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Since no one else is replying I will offer some thoughts for you to consider.

Irish music can be “dreamy” too. The whistle is an instrument. It can be used to play many types of music. Many of the folks here will have Irish or other traditional folk musics at the heart of what they play. But in the end the whistle is a tool. No matter what music you play the quality of the tone it produces is very much up up to the skill of the player - and that can take some time to develop. Keep that in mind. It’s not about the whistle.

Every whistle can be played quietly, There is a search function at the top of the page. Search for “whistle mute” and you will find some discussion on the topic. So don’t fear the volume. Susato makes narrow bore whistles, the V-series, which, while not sold as “quiet whistles”, are more tame than the S-series models which have the reputation as being particularly loud. By the way, Erik The Flutemaker is playing a Susato - his whistles are cane bodies mated to a Susato head. A Susato Oriole is a good beginner whistle IMO but louder than you might want.

Whistles like the Parks whistles have a built in volume control if you really want that type of control.

It does not really matter what whistle you choose first based on the sound examples you have provided. Buy either a Generation, Waltons (Mellow D maybe), a Feadog or an Oak. Then devote your funds to buying a stone cathedral. If one is not available in your area a smaller stone chapel may do in a pinch - marble floors and walls would help too. :slight_smile:

The reason I suggest this is that each of your examples are so reverb heavy that the sound of the whistle is very much buried in the recording. Your “dreamy” sound comes from the reverb and not from the whistle. Any decent whistle played well can sound like that - in the right space.

You got that one right! :slight_smile: Breath on a sax is nothing like breath with a whistle. You’ll be over-blowing everything if you depend on your sax chops. Fingering should come easily although you don’t have any buttons to push or flapping metal bits to cover the holes. That’s up to you and the whistle. It ain’t automatic. It will take you a bit to get things to not squeek and squawk but you’ll solve that soon enough. It’ll be fun.

Of the whistles you mention I would caution you that the Clarke and the Shaw will sound very airy and they will use a lot of air to play. So don’t go there right away. I’d think the Walton’s MD or any Dixon would be fine. The Gen or Feadog could sound a lot like the “In Dreams” recording if you can rent Notre Dame to play them in.

Actually since you really like the reverb there are a lot of places where you can achieve that. Recordings will use technology to artificially provide the depth of space you describe as “dreamy”. But natural spaces can do much the same. Stairwells are nice. Tiled bathrooms are neat too. Pedestrian tunnels in urban areas - although some of those may have other sensory artifacts that can kill the dreamy buzz. I have an all brick school a couple hundred feet from my house which provides a great natural reverb and delay if I sit at the right spot on my porch steps. Basically any space with hard reflecting surfaces can provide a nice natural reverb. It can also be fun finding those spaces. And it is not as dangerous as, say, base jumping. You don’t have to risk your life or fear being captured by the constable - usually.

I offer this clip of Sir Jimmy. He’s playing an Abell whistle - equipped with a crystal cathedral for the reverb. Hopefully you won’t hold it against him that he also plays a lot of that fast and shrill stuff too. And notice he still has a church to use for the reverb. You gotta get one!

Just buy a whistle and get started. You will find your voice in due time.

Hope that helps.

Feadoggie

3

Forgive my ignorance :wink: Never knew there were tunes like that! Seems like my potential repertoire has substantially grown then!

Erik just got back to me telling me to stay away from Clarke and “a cheap brass one with a green head” which I assume must be a Walton? He praised Susato’s and now it’s obvious why! :slight_smile: I’ll go around the forums a bit more and see if I can deal with the volume!

My unfamiliarity with the instrument did not capture that… Guess I’ll need to buy a cathedral :confused: Or go around looking for places, that’s a nice suggestion! Spring/Summer is just around the corner (I’m a bit too optimistic) and that could be a nice opportunity to explore my neighborhood!

Covering the holes seems a bit more organic indeed, while obvious, I didn’t really think about that! But I like a good challenge, that’s part of the journey of a new instrument :slight_smile:

What exactly do you mean with “airy”? That next to the sound the whistle produces there’s also the sound of wind rushing through a tube? Seems like an unfortunate side effect, unless wanted I guess.

Quite the coincidence! While on my search I stumbled upon a comparison video and I really liked the Abell but I might’ve been a bit biased! Anyhow, that ended up on my “would be nice for the future” list but considering so many people here play on cheap whistles that might never actually happen. Overkill…


That’s some very good advice, thanks a lot for that in depth reply! If anyone else wants to chip in feel free! Right now I’m gonna spend some time investigating Susato’s but I’m not gonna overdo it and order something after the weekend. Like you said… Just get started :wink:

4

Hej!
A Freeman Mellow Dog might be worth a try.

So would a Shearwater Session D. I got a regular D from them by mistake and I wouldn’t recommend it, but the Session D is far from shrill sounding. It’s not too quiet, but it has a very mellow and nice sound.

Clarke MEG and Sweetone would probably be a good choice too. As well as their Black old style metal and wood whistle.

The good thing about the above whistles is that none of them overblow easily. This can sometimes be a problem with for instance Generations and Feadogs et c, if you’re new to whistles.


Hälsningar
John

5

Thanks for all the advice! :slight_smile:

However, I changed my opinion a bit and went for a plastic whistle considering so many people say the material isn’t the #1 reason a whistle sounds the way it does but it’s the player first and foremost. Since I’ll be taking it outdoors and would’t really know how to care for it well when I’m just starting out that seemed like the best decision material wise.

So… drum roll. I went for a Susato Dublin V (key of D) as that seemed liked the best compromise and bang for the buck. I have to admit the Ivory version looks really sleek and might’ve swayed my opinion a bit as well even though I didn’t want to make a choice on looks but hey… it’s just really stunning! I’d like to get a blackwood whistle at one point but I can use this one wherever I go at least :slight_smile: I ordered it directly from susato.com so it might be a while since it arrives!

Is the Dublin V also a smaller bore version or is that only true for the Kildare? Either way I’ll just see for myself if it’s too loud or not and might mute it in case it becomes a problem. (And if that doesn’t work then I can look into those Parks) I’m warned that it might be a bit harder to play on this Susato as a beginner but I’ll bite the bullet so I have something that can last me a long time.

Please tell me I did the right thing(?) :thumbsup:

6

The only high D whistle my ears can stand for any length of time is a Clarke Sweetone (or Woodstock). It’s a conical bore whistle and has a high end that is sweet and birdlike. It’s crisp. About the only thing I dislike about it is the lower octave isn’t as powerful as other whistles, but my ears thank me. I can play it in my car. I cannot do this with any other high D whistl, and I have owned many (Freeman Mellow D, Tweaked Generation, Goldie, Feadog, Dixon Trad, Feadog Pro, Walton’s). I had given up high whistles until I picked up a Woodstock in a store for $7.50. Every time I pick it up, I rediscover how much I enjoy it.

Everyone’s got their personal preferences. I prefer low whistles (you might look into a Bb Generation, either Freeman tweaked or plain-- for a mellower, but still inexpensive practice whistle, because the fingerings are the same for any tune, just comes out in a different key) but I wish I’d given this whistle a try a long time ago. It’s very different from any other whistle I’d tried. I would guess that it is due to the conical bore design, but all the other whistles were very similar to me and made my ears ring.

7

Actually, I think the narrow V-bore Susato is too often overlooked. It’s a nice whistle, especially with the O-ring tweak - in tune, a bit quieter and easier to control than the standard S-bore. You’ll want other Generation-type whistles, but it’s a good one to have in your kit.

8

Hi all, thought I’d give an update. I received the whistle (Susato Dublin V in D) yesterday and I absolutely love it! :slight_smile:
The material is nice to hold, the curved mouthpiece is very comfortable and everything about it just screams quality.
In terms of timbre it sounds pretty sweet/warm to me, at least if I use vibrato. The volume is very manageable as long as I don’t go over the G in the second octave (haven’t tried to go over it so far). 50-75ish dB if I’m careful. In fact I was quite surprised by how low in volume the first octave is! Another surprise was how easy it was to break into the second octave, a bit too easy at times which confuses my breathing :slight_smile: But I blame that partially on me trying to “tighter” my mouth muscles like you would on a saxophone rather than blowing harder. Squeeking isn’t a problem but I think I need to tweak how I cover the holes, I tend to use my fingertips too much and I see everyone playing further down, probably for good reason.

All in all it seems to be going well and it’s much easier than I imagined, I was already able to play the song I wanted to play although not as cleanly and with some ornamentation. I still got a long way to go though but the first 3 hours were a blast! :slight_smile:

So I’m very glad I went for this one! Thanks again for all the help and suggestions!

I do have another question! Why is the fingering chart not the same on the Susato website as on Chiff and Fipple?
http://www.susato.com/konakart/downloads/Pennywhistle-Fingering.pdf
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/whistlekeys.html

9

Not clear on the differences you are seeing between the two. They’re similar until you get to the third register. At that point whistles by different makers tend to diverge in tuning a little bit and you may have to play around some to find the fingering that’s best in tune for your whistle.

Tip: Stay away from the third register if you value the affection of family, pets, and/or neighbors! This can be particularly true with a Susato, which often has significant volume. Some countries consider use of the third register a violation of the Geneva Convention.

Best wishes.

Steve

10

For my whistle both the stairs in my house and the hallway work pretty well. For bagpipes not so much. But once I did a school presentation inside their gym and that was really nice. We used to live in a house that faced a ravine and I could hear my whistle delay off the other side. I like the idea of the outside of a brick building. I’ll need to give that a try.

And once I played from the balcony in a roughly 400 seat church. That was pretty neat, especially for the rehearsal with the organist. I should probably take a whistle along with gigs like that and see how they sound in the downtime between getting there and people showing up.

11

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the bathroom for nice acoustics. That’s where I do some of my best work. :thumbsup:

12

:slight_smile: I mentioned bathrooms in my post. Yes, that’s a good place to work things out. :slight_smile:

Right, as has been said, there can be more than one fingering for each note. And what works on one whistle may not be best on another. Take a look at this chart for some of the possible fingerings for each note.

Nice to see you are getting on with the Susato.

Feadoggie

13

The chronic male-vision is acting up again. It was right in front of me and couldn’t be seen. :blush: :stuck_out_tongue: