I just posted the public beta of my new Mac application at about 2:30 am, so I finally have a little free time to concentrate on something else before I go on to the bug reports.
So, as I promised NorCal when he passed on the Jubilee Low D practice whistle to me two weeks ago at the C&F West Coast Gathering, here is my review.
To start with, the whistle sells for $18, and is available at http://jubileeinstruments.messianic-webhosting.com/prctlowd.htm where its manufacture is also described.
It’s plain white PVC, but clean and nicely put together.
This is my first extensive Low D experience, so I’m no expert. I did get a chance to try out a range of Low Ds at the Gathering, and I found that most required quite a bit of air, the major exception being NorCal’s Bleazey.
The Jubilee practice whistle is not an exception to that trend. After two weeks of playing it as much as possible, I still get light-headed after about five or ten minutes of intensive puffing. It requires at least as much air as my pre-tweak Clarke original did.
I’ve tried partially covering the windway entrance with tape in different locations–and using my upper lip, in an attempt to reduce the air requirement, but haven’t been particularly successful.
On the other hand, I haven’t been able to get it to clog even the least little bit.
Where this whistle really shines, though, is in the arrangement of the finger holes. Although I have large hands, I also have large palms, so my fingers aren’t all that long. I found most of the other low Ds that I tried quite challenging–even using the piper’s grip.
The practice whistle’s fingering is quite easy using what I think is generally referred to as a “modified piper’s grip”–fingers angled down somewhat, but still using the first joint finger pads to cover the holes.
It’s even easier to finger than my Hoover low A and Shaw low G , both of which present some problems getting the last hole covered at speed.
In fact, the modified grip that I’ve learned using the practice whistle has helped me with the Hoover and Shaw. The actual hole spacing for each hand is very close to that of the Shaw, yet it is somehow much easier to control on the practice whistle. Perhaps it has something to do with the size of the holes, or with the diameter of the whistles?
The sound of the practice whistle is very pleasant, in tune and pretty well balanced across the octaves. It’s pretty quiet.
My only real issue with this whistle is the air requirement. I just can’t push enough sound out of it to play with feeling without starting to fade. (And if I pass out, and fall over and bump my head, who will take care of my wife?)
By the end of the Gathering, but before I’d acquired the Jubilee practice whistle, I’d already decided that I didn’t really want a Low D. So, it may be that I’m just not a Low D kind of guy. (What I really want next is a Bleazey low G.)
I will say that if Daniel Bingamon’s standard Jubilee Low Ds have a lower wind requirement, but still have that easy fingering, they’re probably well worth trying.
I’ll hang on to it for a while longer and report back if I get any better on it at all.