Found a cool CD at the library, Oldarra- le chant basque, that has a couple intros on a txistu. Found a few pics and one iffy diagram on line. Looks like the ramp on these things is at a really shallow angle. Am I right or is it more “whistle like?” Looks like a fun design to play with, plus it’s one handed. Any one have any experience with one making or playing? I’m from the “if I can’t find it, make it” school. Applies to whistles, tools for working with bamboo etc.
Mark V.
Sorta reminds one of a tabor pipe - I wonder if it’s played the same way. I have no idea what Basque music sounds like.
I have seen a txistu in person once a very long time ago. A musician who was playing for Sunset Morris from CA used one in lieu of a tabor pipe. It was a beautiful piece of work. I didn’t get to try it out though. I recall that she said it was pitched in C# and she had to do a ton of half holing if she wanted to play with other morris musicians. Years later I learned of another one handed whistle from France called a galoubet. One of the major differences between the galoubet and the tabor pipe is that the key note on the galoubet is sounded with the first hole uncovered. The bell note of a galoubet in D would be C#. It made me wonder if that txistu was set up the same way. Also, I don’t know about the txistu but I believe that the bore of the galoubet is traditionally conical. If anyone has more info on the txistu’s tuning I would love to read it.
Cheers,
David
[ This Message was edited by: Feadan on 2001-08-02 09:51 ]
Hi, thought I give it a try and found quite a few informatin about txistu which looked to me as it IS a tabor pipe. These are used by drummers in marching bands, one hand for the drum one for the “whistle”. Txistu is it called in Baskenland (Basque?). There were some german sites mainly about marching bands which I did not find that interesting in their information but there are quite a few Spanish pages, which provides quite a lot information about it (also with some english translation as well) and links to the instrument. If you cannot understand it all (like me:) get the SYSTRAN translation page http://www.systransoft.com to help you. They are not to bad when they do “Spanish to English” translations I find, you get quite a good idea.
http://www.txistulari.com/
http://www.txistulari.com/whatis.htm
http://www.txistulari.com/links.htm
and nearly forgot this big page
http://txistuaz.hypermart.net/ which has English information as well and seems to be something like C&F for this instrument (of course Dale, it does not come close to C&F 
Have fun with it
Brigitte
[ This Message was edited by: Goldie on 2001-08-03 05:54 ]
Thanks Brigitte:)
I had found the txistuaz… site (that’s where the basic drawing with measurements were). From the fingering chart they look pretty similar to a tabor pipe, except you use your pinkie in the bottom of the whistle. What really intrigued me was the huge voicing ramp on these things. I was wondering if anyone had tried something similar. I know a thin edge to the ramp creates more overtones and can cause easy octave flips (pretty important on a 3 holed whistle!). I’ll probably try to whip one out this weekend. If anyone has any tips it could save me a few feet of tubing:)
Thanks all,
Mark V.
[ This Message was edited by: markv on 2001-08-03 10:01 ]
I looked at quite a few of the sites too, and it seems painfully obvious that it is not like a tabor pipe.
Oh and txistu isn’t the spanish.
Chistu is.
Nico
Three holes
played with one hand
played while playing a small drum
used for dance music
(tabor pipe has a 1 13 to 1 12 octave range depending on the pipe)
Apples to oranges
both fruits
both provide a great breakfast drink
similar size
2.5-25um infrared transmission spectra are very similar (can you tell I work for a biotech company?)
In both cases there really isn’t any relevancy to the discussion at hand.
Thanks for the info though
Mark V
Hi Mark,
found a book that might be of interest for you concerning the blade.
MORAL, J.A, ALARCIA, A.A. Acoustics of the txistu. in: Proceedings of the SMAC 93. Stockholm: Royal Swedish Academy of Music, 1994. S.510-515.
Also I found a French Basque page with pictures of them which may be better than the ones you have seen. http://www.basquearts.com/culture/inst-fr/txistu.htm
Hope this helps
Brigitte
[ This Message was edited by: Goldie on 2001-08-03 14:31 ]
Thanks again Brigitte!
Found the SMAC proceedings at
http://www.speech.kth.se/music/smac93/
Now I’m tempted to get a copy, 603 pages 99 sound examples on CD… If you look at some of the titles they are wonderfull examples of esoterica. Hmmm, does this mean I have to learn Swedish as well as Basque? Thanks again for the relevant info.
Maybe we can convince Colin to make one?
Have a good weekend,
Mark V.
Hello Mark,
I tried to email you about the Tabor pipe, did you get it? Wanted to make sure just in case I messed it up.
…and to all “have a good start into the week”
Brigitte
Brigitte, no email yet.
I checked my profile and set email as viewable. Just in case it’s
you may want to cc it to mvanek@licor.com
sometimes for whatever reason that comes through better from overseas.
Thanks,
Mark V.
How do you pronounce “txistu”?
As it’s spelled. 
On 2001-08-06 23:10, paulsdad wrote:
How do you pronounce “txistu”?
I believe the Basque word is pronounced the same as the Spanish (see Nico’s post)“Chistu”.
Reply to Rich’s comment…LOL.