I’m April from Ohio. Looking to purchase my first whistle (of many hopefully). About me: I’m a 27 year old secretary and I play in our Community band (flute) and tinkered with oboe and double reeds and me do NOT get along.
I have a cute collection of flutes: a glass (key of G) a Native American which plays BEAUTIFULLY, and shoot, thats it… well i guess thats not really a big collection.. I have an ocarina too that i LOVE to play..
Just bid on a Kelly Low D on ebay hopefully will win.
Here’s a question, what is a good higher key whistle to look into? and some good places to get finger charts and music?
A whistle in the key of D is the “standard” whistle, and you won’t find a maker or brand that doesn’t have one. Most traditional irish music is in D anyway. Fortunately, all whistles have the same fingering so if you learn a tune in D, then you can play it on an A whistle, or a G whistle, or whatever.
As far as choosing a whistle goes, I would check out Dale’s inexpensive and expensive whistle guides on chiffandfipple.com. They are a great reference for just about every whistle out there. Also if you were to list the qualities that you would like in a whistle, I’m sure that there are many people on this board who would be able to make suggestions to you.
On 2003-03-02 12:27, spanisharab wrote:
I’m April from Ohio. Looking to purchase my first whistle (of many hopefully). About me: I’m a 27 year old secretary and I play in our Community band (flute) and tinkered with oboe and double reeds and me do NOT get along.
I have a cute collection of flutes: a glass (key of G) a Native American which plays BEAUTIFULLY, and shoot, thats it… well i guess thats not really a big collection.. I have an ocarina too that i LOVE to play..
Just bid on a Kelly Low D on ebay > > hopefully will win.
Here’s a question, what is a good higher key whistle to look into? and some good places to get finger charts and music?
Clarke and Sweetone are good starter whistles. I don’t recommend you go high-dollar until you’re certain you enjoy playing. Some folks swear by (and at ) Oak and Generation whistles, too. When you’ve decided that you simply must have a fancy whistle, there’s plenty to choose from - Woods like the Busman, brass and copper from Elfsong and Serpent, and aluminum from Alba, and many, many more. Go to the sites, listen to the clips, and order what you like. Every company I mentioned will give you a very good guarantee of satisfaction. This board also contains many reviews of just about every whistle on the market - so read those, too.
Welcome, and we hope to see you around for a long time!
Bill Whedon – “serpent”
Serpent Music
Yay! Another Ohio whistler! The ranks are growing. Welcome aboard! BTW, I think you mean Kerry whistle on eBay. For what it’s up to right now, don’t be disappointed if you don’t win it. You can get a new one for just a little more at The Whistle Shop. Here’s the link http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/low/kerry/kerry/kerry.htm
Scott
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” – Vince Lombardi
[ This Message was edited by: ScottStewart on 2003-03-02 19:07 ]
I would go with a Clarke D. The low whistles are sort of a different animal than the high ones. Not so different once you’ve learned to play a higher keyed whistle. Here’s a good fingering chart: http://www.stainedglass.org/other_pages/tinwhistle/whistle_main.html
I also would like to stress how important it is to fully surf the c&f web site. It will save you from a lot of questions. As will searching the message board here. Good luck.
You know, if I were you, I’d buy a couple of different “low-end” whistles…different styles, that is. Lots of people out there love the Clarke, and you may well be one of them, but there are also people who can’t stand them (I can honestly say that, if a Clarke original had been the first whistle I bought waaaay back when I started playing, I probably never would have picked up another one. 'Course, that was before there was an internet, with a cool site called Chiff & Fipple where I could go to find out what my options were ).
Go ahead and pick up a Clarke, but also get a Dixon or a Generation or a Feadog (if I had to pick one of those three, I’d go with the Dixon, but it’s a little pricier than the other two…not so much as to make it “expensive,” however). You may discover you prefer the breathy sound of the Clarke…but then again, you may lean toward the purer tone of the Gen or the Dixon (no way to know until you try). The nice thing about whistles is you can get very nice instruments at very, very low prices, which means you can try a couple without being out a lot of bucks.
I agree with redwolf. Try a few. It’s not like they’ll break the bank or anything. I love my feadog and think it’s a good contrast to the clarke as far as cheap whistles go. I started on a clarke so I may be a bit biased. Went straight to a copeland from there.
Another question, being a flute player, are there any particular brands that take alot less wind than others? I’ve found specifically when i picked up oboe that i had troubles because amount of air that i was used to blowing wasn’t near the amount that was needed hehe.. and so oboe didn’t like me very well.
I think i my just go for an inexpensive whistle, lear the fingerings and such and go from there no matter what..
Well, just about any of the whistles recommended in this thread have fairly low breath requirements. Most soprano whistles aren’t too bad in that department (though some require more “push” than others to get a good, clear, second octave). I don’t think you’ll have a problem with a Clarke, Sweetone, Generation, Feadog or Dixon.
Low whistles take more breath than soprano whistles…sometimes considerably more, depending on the key and the maker.
Love your avatar, by the way…is that handsome fellow yours? My first lesson horse was a light gray Arab…what a character!
Oak whistles have very low air requirements, though some people don’t like them much at all. Also a Walton’s brass whistle seems to be a good, middle-of-the-road instrument; it doesn’t require too much air, it’s well in tune, and has just enough chiff to help one decide whether they want a purer sound or not.
When I get a friend a whistle to get them started it’s generally a Walton (or a Sweetone from time to time…)
Actually Redwolf, that is a stallion by the name of *Almansor he passed on to greener pastures nearly 2 years ago. He is the grandsire to my colt
Thanks for the info too.. I can’t wait to get my first whistle
I had bought one a long long time ago as a souveir at MT. Vernon in Washington D.C. Made very much like some of the ones i see advertised.. wish i could find the darn thing!
April-If you play Irish flute, your task in whistling will be to control your breath rather than generate enough of it. Most whistles take much, much less air than Irish flute.
BTW, lots of forebears on my mother’s side are from the Zanesville area,
and Mom grew up in Canton. I spent some time working in Kentucky across the river from Portsmouth, and remember the Scioto country fondly. I grew up in the Detroit area, but we fled often to Ohio or Ontario for sanity.
Actually, my problem is taking in too much air and then about blowing up cause i don’t get rid of it!!! Thats what happened with oboe, i couldn’t get the breathing technique right.. i’d take a big breath and then it had no where to go because if i blew it all out into the instrument, it was a nasty squeall HA!!
The trick is to think in terms of breathing rather than blowing. The breathing you do with the whistle is more like the kind of breathing you do with singing (we may talk about “blowing,” but that’s really a misnomer). Take in a normal breath from the diaphragm and then just release it into the whistle in a normal exhalation. When you need a bit more air for the upper octave, you don’t take IN more air…you just release it in a slightly more focused stream (kind of like sighing with your lips slightly pursed).
i must say that i love my susato vsb d. it’s not too loud and has good tone.
but yeah, i used to play flute (keyed concert flute thingamabobber, not irish) and well a high d whistle takes A LOT less air than playing a flute does, heh. quite honestly i have troubles limiting my air enough to play low d’s without overblowing. i’m getting the hang of it though, so don’t worry your air requirements are probably met and exceeded, heh.
hopefully will win.
Here is a look at what is most likely in store for you. 
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