I happened to come across Celtic Woman’s Scarborough Fair and instantly fell in love with the sound of the flute being played. Best as I can determine, that flute being played is a Low D Chieftain Irish Whistle. Here is a link to the video if anyone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYqgqdM9AXg&safe=active
In any case, I want to learn to play like that guy in the video. Is the flute a hard instrument to learn how to play? I am a concert pianist and understand music theory including the Celtic style. My weakness is my lung capacity (chronic asthmatic) but I read that playing the flute will strengthen lungs which is another reason for me looking into this instrument.
Like a piano, I am sure there are many brands of flutes out there…some better than others. Again, I want the exact flute (or whistle…whatever it is) the flutist plays in the above video. Any idea what that is? I tried looking it up on Google and can’t seem to find the exact brand and model.
Thanks everyone for their input and sorry for the basic questions. I know nothing about flutes but if anyone has questions about pianos I can help with that.
It’s a low whistle you’re after–an Irish flute is what you see in the picture to the left.
You’ll find low whistles with different air requirements. Generally, more free-blowing requires more air; ones with more resistance (or backpressure) tend to take less. If you’re playing with others, a low D puts you in concert pitch, but if you’re playing on your own, you might find a low F (a minor third above low D) quite nice. (Find some Lunasa clips to hear the sound.) The finger stretch is smaller, the air requirements a bit lower, and the tone is great.
But I’ll cede the podium to people who actually play low whistle for more insight…
I learned how to play one, so it can’t be that hard. There are all kinds of ways to learn. On-line, formal lessons, YouTube. You can start quite fine on an inexpensive whistle. What were you planning to do?
FYI. There is a Logan Music Store in Logan County, West Virginia.
Awesome…great information. I take it the low whistle in the video is a free-blowing whistle and probably a low D? I see a lot of Chieftain Low D whistles for sale and all of them are metal (some tunable). Does it matter which one I get? I plan on just playing on my own but you never know, I may perform some day. As for the Logan music store…maybe I am related and can get a discount.
I’m not sure whether the low whistles he’s playing are Chieftains or not. What I do know is that he starts out playing a low F, and then for the instrumental break at 1:20 he switches to a low G.
Forgive me if you know this already, but whistles, unlike the concert flute, are mainly diatonic instruments. Each one is built to play in 2 different key signatures. Though it is possible to play a whistle in many other key signatures and even chromatically, it’s difficult to do and most players don’t.
The D whistle, the standard, is built to play in 1 and 2 sharps.
The F whistle in the video is built to play in 1 and 2 flats.
The G whistle is built to play in 1 and 0 sharps.
That’s a big part of why most whistlers own and play lots of different whistles. Be careful; if you hang around here long enough you’ll catch WHOA.
Thanks for the info! Yeah, I did a little more searching and discovered the diatonic properties of the whistles. Bummer. I love the sound though and even though I would only be able to start out with one whistle, I at least could play a low d whistle in 2 keys (D and G), right? If it is a tunable whistle, would that extend the range a bit outside of the 2 keys? Thanks and sorry for the ignorance but what is “whoa”?
Tuneable means you can adjust it a few cents flat or sharp, not play in keys outside the whistle’s design.
The dandy thing is, Irish/‘Celtic’ music is diatonic, and tunes don’t have official keys. So you can play thousands of tunes on whatever whistle you fancy. In addition to the two major keys a whistle plays in (arguably three, actually), you can also play in a couple of minor keys. So lots of music is at hand on a simple instrument. Go for it!
WhOA(D) is Whistle Obsessive Acquisition Disorder.
