Jerry Freeman: Bluebirds?

[ytliek]

@ytliek

I’ve got a couple Bluebirds ordered as backups for my original one. I hope they are still available just in case they become “collectors” item in the future with outrageous eThingy value saleability.

Love the Bluebird.

Well, my two Bluebird backup whistles arrived today and that made my day, well almost… I had a really great day.

I might start hoarding Bluebird whistles and I think that would make Jerry Freeman’s day.

BTW, to all the mother’s here on the forums_catcall_Happy Mother’s Day (tomorrow) and Happy Whistling! Keep tooting, and if you can’t toot then give the kid(s) the whistle.

[Peter_Duggan]

@MTGuru

With its narrower bore, the Bluebird enforces better breath discipline, which will pay off for him later (scaling down your breath habits is harder than scaling up). Especially for handling other classic 1/2-inch whistles - Gen, Feadóg, Oak, Clare, Waltons, Dixon Trad, etc.

For all the difference in bore sizes, I’ve found the Mellow Dog and Dixon Trad to respond with almost identical pressure profiles. But then the Dixon clearly takes/asks for more than most of the others…

[Mr.Gumby]

to all the mother’s here on the forums_catcall_Happy Mother’s Day (tomorrow)

There is a geographic element to this, for some reason. Irish mammies had their day several weeks ago.

[ytliek]

@Mr.Gumby

to all the mother’s here on the forums_catcall_Happy Mother’s Day (tomorrow)

There is a geographic element to this, for some reason. Irish mammies had their day several weeks ago.

Or perhaps mothers are still celebrating. It’s 5 O’clock somewhere… and it’s mother’s day too.

[tin_tin]

@Poohze

Ok, now I’m conflicted! The whistle-aquisition-monkey keeps hissing in my ear that I need to order the Mellowdog now-Now-NOW, while the “better-angel-of-my-nature” soothingly whispers that it’d be better to wait till I hear from J.F. and order a Bluebird. I guess the only “sensible” thing to do (for WhOA values of “sensible”) is to buy the Mellowdog D/C set on ebay now, and order a Bluebird when I hear from J.F… Then explain it to my wife. Mind you, she’s a knitter and spinner, and suffers from chronic Fiber Obsessive Acquisition Disorder, so she’ll understand. She’ll point and laugh, but she will understand!

As a beginner, I’d recommend you stick with one whistle (in this case, the Bluebird). You can order it from Big Whistle in the UK and Whistle and Drum in the US.
http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/freeman/Bluebird (in stock!)
http://www.whistleanddrum.com/jerry-freeman-bluebird-tin-whistles

[O_Briant]

Jerry also has an ebay page if you don’t order directly from him. He’s generally fairly active on these boards – I’m guessing he’s on vacation or sick or he would have weighed in on this thread by now. Regardless, I’ve never heard of anyone having a bad customer service experience with Jerry, and my own several experiences have been entirely pleasant.

Briant

[Poohze]

@O'Briant

Jerry also has an ebay page if you don’t order directly from him. He’s generally fairly active on these boards – I’m guessing he’s on vacation or sick or he would have weighed in on this thread by now. Regardless, I’ve never heard of anyone having a bad customer service experience with Jerry, and my own several experiences have been entirely pleasant.

@Tintin

As a beginner, I’d recommend you stick with one whistle (in this case, the Bluebird). You can order it from Big Whistle in the UK and Whistle and Drum in the US.

Thanks! I saw a comment of Jerry’s on a recent thread that he’d prefer people to buy direct from him, as he sees a better profit that way, and it helps him feed his children. Gotta support that! Anyway, I ordered the Mellowdog D/C set from his ebay store a day or two ago - I assume ebay doesn’t take too big a bite out of that? -, and I’ve PM-d him here (now my PM-ing is authorised ) , and I’ll order a Bluebird when I hear back from him.

Tintin - re. sticking with one whistle… Oh yes, that’s my intention! I think at this stage I’m just trying to find the whistle I want to stick with At the moment I’m playing a Carke MEG my inlaws gave me, and it plays very nicely now that I’ve filled the gap under the wind-way with blu-tac (and thanks to everyone for that great tip!). But I want to try some other types/styles/sounds, to get a feel for what’s possible. Also, I’m kinda thinking that with a tweaked whistle anything that sounds “wrong” has pretty much got to be me, not the instrument!

Again, thanks all for the great advice!

Cheers

Marc E

[Poohze]

An update…

I got an email from Jerry this morning (Australian time), and I’ve added a Bluebird to my Mellow Dog D/C order. Can’t wait to try them out!

BTW - Jerry himself recommended the Mellow Dog over the Bluebird for a beginner, although he says that they’ll both be appropriate and have nicely contrasting sounds.

Cheers

Marc E

[MTGuru]

@Poohze

Jerry himself recommended the Mellow Dog over the Bluebird for a beginner

Did Jerry give you a reason for his recommendation (as I did for mine above)?

[Poohze]

@MTGuru

Did Jerry give you a reason for his recommendation (as I did for mine above)?

Not really, he just gave a description of the different whistles he offers, and the differences in sound and breath requirements. On my ordering the Bluebird as well as the Mellow Dogs he does say that he thinks the different breath requirements between the whistles will help in “getting the feel of how to use your breath”. Sounds good to me - that’s part of why I want to try different whistles

Cheers

Marc E

[MTGuru]

@Poohze

he thinks the different breath requirements between the whistles will help in “getting the feel of how to use your breath”.

Well then it sound like he’s recommending both whistles rather than either one alone. But as you say, that’s not a bad idea either. As long as it doesn’t confuse your breath development and you tend to stick to one for practice for now.

[Poohze]

@MTGuru

As long as it doesn’t confuse your breath development and you tend to stick to one for practice for now.

Thanks! Yeah, my plan is to see which one seems to best suite my “beginner-nature” and stick to that as my primary practice instrument. Then as my skill improves I can play around with the others occasionally to expand my horizons. Does that sound about right?

Cheers

Marc E

[MTGuru]

@Poohze

Does that sound about right?

Yep!

[squidgirl]

Picking a favorite whistle and bonding with it is an excellent thing. While you might find that focusing on just one whistle can make it feel like you’re not so good with other whistles, I think that’s just a backhanded way of noticing how well you’ve adapted to your favorite whistle.

And as WhOA runs its course, a new favorite whistle will emerge, and your skill set will broaden…

[Jerry_Freeman]

Sorry for my delay in finding this discussion.

Any one beginner may be better off with either a Bluebird or Mellow Dog (and to complicate things further, the tweaked Generations have continued to improve over the years and are also great whistles for beginners (or anyone).

MTGuru was able to observe the student’s approach, and especially, he’s able to coach him on his playing, so his determination which whistle suits best will overrule any general, seat of pants suggestion.

The reason I more often recommend Mellow Dogs or tweaked Generations for beginners than Bluebirds is, I have often sat at my vendor’s table at an event where there were whistle instructors who had sent a new player to my table to pick out a whistle.

I will first hand them a tweaked Generation and observe what they do with it. Most are fine, but a few will blow it right into the third register (and the tweaked Generation accepts more air than a Bluebird). I’ll coach them a bit to see if they get the hang of the air requirements of the tweaked Generation. If they get it, I sell them the tweaked Generation. If they continue to have trouble, I get them to try a Mellow Dog, which solves the problem if they’re a strong blower.