Our pipe band was practicing a new tune and I happened to have my Bb whistle with me, so when we left practice chanters and went outside to play pipes(tenor drummer here) I got out my whistle and found the tune.
Someone commented that it would be intresting for me to play whistle with them on the odd tune, but that no one would hear it. True.
That got me to wondering… if I had a “high” Bb would it’s sound be like a piccolo, in that the sound would be above the lower notes and therefore could be heard?
Are you talking about something two keys higher than the Gen G? Even if something like this existed (I have no idea), I can see a couple of problems. First, it’d be high enough to double as a dog whistle. Second, How would anyone with adult human hands play it?
You can play in Bb on a high F whistle with a three hole start. The high F is where the musical instruments end and the toys begin. Well, there are plenty of toys in lower keys than that, of course, but my point is that F’s as high as commonly employed whistles go and it’s easily playable in Bb.
A fife is in Bb but played in the second and third octave. If that is so then why can’t I ever play that high on my Bb whistle??? Is the fingering different?
Seriously, I do want to try this, so it looks like I’ll have to try to find a soprano F and go from there. What would be the loudest? That doesn’t cost a lot? (Since this is sort of a lark, I can’t imagine wanting to play the thing other than with the occasional pipe tune) I REALLY want to see if the sound will carry if it is high enough.
I’ve thought about just trying my luck with a Gen. and keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll play without much tweaking. I’m not much of a “tweaker”.
I have a Gen F that plays quite well and required no tweaking.
My understanding is that the F is one of their fairly reliable ones.
Doc
Hey I just had another idea. I don’t know if you’re a flute tooter but you could get a bamboo Olwell flute. Pat makes a killer F with tons of volume. I think he makes a Bb too (?).
We tried an experiment at our brass band group. I played my Bflat marching flute and we could not match it to any other instrument entirely. The nearest was the clarinet and some notes worked but the others were awful. The Bflate marching flute starts on d but has F# and C#. Doesn’t seem logical at all. So have gone back to the Eflat whistle.
I seriously doubt that any of us in the band still have a “threshold of pain” after years of unending tuning indoors at practice. I purposly try to arrive late so I don’t have to endure so much of it.
, then Susato are among the loudest whistles you can buy and dead in tune.
