I know I’m possibly opening a Pandora’s box, but what’s life without a little excitement?
What are the differences between playing an irish whistle vs playing an irish transverse flute? Are the ornamentations identical? Other than blowing across the hole rather than into it, are there any other differences in performance? What are some opinions on the performance of one vs. the other?
I’ve played a modern transverse flute for over 20 years. (For those of you waiting two years for a $150 O’Riordan, try waiting 3 years for a $12,000 flute…I ordered it my freshman year in college, and it arrived just in time for my senor performance.) But comparing a modern chromatic flute vs a diatonic whistle is apples and oranges. I started playing the whistle - among other reasons - because of its simplicity, and it’s so much fun to play! Will I get the same satisfaction by picking up an irish flute?
Funny you should ask.
I’m not a flute player yet (I practice with an Olwell bamboo in F, but that doesn’t make me a fluter yet), but I was just in a class with Flute & Whistle Class with John Skelton. There are many similarities, but there are very significant differences. John dealt with them to some degree, but he was more focused on traditional music. A flute’s embouchure gives you much more control (and responsibility) to play in and out of tune. This is good for coloring notes, but requres the beginner to pay much attention to playing tunes in tune. The whistle also allows some ornaments to be clearer.
I don’t think I should be much more help than that as I am not a flute expert (Come to think of it, I’m not a whistle expert either).
If you want to have more bells and whistles, go for a 6 -8 key model. REMEMBER: the Irish flute is the evolution of the concert flute of the 19th century. This is a modern version of what classical flautists played. It has evolved and is diferent from that instrument (the biggest change is using todays’ frequencies for notes, which has changed by at least 15 cents).
In my experience playing the Irish flute is much different than playing whistle but also much more satisfying. The cuts and rolls are identical but the sound is much different. The flute tends to be more mellow in character than any whistle Ive played. But really I suppose it comes down to a matter of opinion.
As far as the difference between Irish flute and transverse? Well, can’t really help you there. I only played transverse my senior year in High School and that was so long ago I barely remember LOL.
I played flute in high school and picked up the whistle quite quickly because of it. So now I’m wondering if I should try an irish flute as well…
I was seriously thinking of getting one of those with the interchangeable heads, just to see. But I got’s too many other things on my list before that ever happens!
Will I get the same satisfaction by picking up an irish flute?
While I don’t own any of the more expensive Irish flutes (I’m looking, though) I do own several lesser expensive wood and bamboo flutes that I enjoy.
Frank, I think that I mentioned that we basically have the same background… classical flute for more than 20 years and the last 5 playing whistle as well. Lack of practice has kept me from being particularly good at either of them, but I have fun.
I’ve found that the simplicity that drew me to the whistle is equally present in the wood flute. (FLOA is a lot easier to control for me, though, since I don’t have the kind of money it takes to get a bunch of good flutes.) I enjoy being able to pick up the six holed variety and flit back and forth between notes without thinking much. With the wood flute, I enjoy being able to use my embouchure.
So, to answer your question, Yes, if you are like me, you will get the same satisfaction from playing the simple flute as you do from a whistle.
One of the other reasons that I took up whistle was its portability. I know that the flute packs up pretty small, but the whistle packs up even smaller and I like to have one in my pocket for the odd chance to tootle. So, that is one of the drawbacks to the flute.
Tounging is not as accepted in Irish Flute, but you can do for effect. I know in many jigs you should use tounging to seperate the same notes rather than use a cut or tap. In my opinion Irish Flute is not that different from whistle. When I first started playing Irish Flute, I would use (and still sometimes do) my whistle to learn songs on because it was eaisar to breath. It seems to me Tin Whistle is to Irish Flute as what a practice chanter is to a set of bagpipes. I hope that made sense and please note that this is my own opinion, and I am not an expert on Irish Flute, whistle, or bagpipes (heck, i don’t even play the bagpipes, I was just bored to death one day and desided to do an internet search for the bagpipes…)
j/k