Kerry Songbird Low D - Review (First Impressions)

Whistle
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Hello! I was lucky to receive the Kerry Songbird Low D on tour today.

Summary: This whistle both looks and plays beautifully. I am buying one now if I can.

Appearance: The look of the Songbird caught me when I first opened the mail-tube. It is sleek alluminum and it feels lite compared to my Kerry Low D with black head. The mouthpiece is clean and fancy. Playing this whistle feels good in the mouth.

Tone: This is what I like the most about this whistle. It sounds very good. The tone is quite flute-like, infact, my mother commented on that when I played it after I pulled it from the mail-tube. It is slightly quieter than my other Kerry Low D, but it sounds great and has good balance. It’s also tuned nicely. Air requirements are a little lower than my other Kerry Low D.

Cons: Honestly, I have found very few. The “G” note seemed slightly wide at first, but after playing it a few hours later, it seemed normal. Also, it’s a slightly wet whistle, but it doesn’t clog at all. Just de-clogs itself.

Overview: Right after picking the Kerry Songbird Low D up for the first time, I knew I wanted to get one. It’s a fantastic playing whistle with a great tone.

THUMBS UP! :smiley:

Here’s some pics:

-Casey :sunglasses:

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this one looks very nice indeed!

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I was down with a bad cold and so didn’t get to play it much, even though I kept it a bit beyond the deadline … (and I hadn’t even been taking advantage of keeping it longer than planned.. just air… er rather… clogged headed.) (…and yes, I did clean it well before sending it on!)

My observations:

The Kerry Low D Songbird (250205 KWL)

I was initially put off by the large E hole (it is HUGE!), as I had a lot of trouble getting it covered, but within just a couple of days, that was no longer a problem. (I use the piper’s grip on the low whistle, while my 13yo
daughter uses her finger tip pads. She was able to play this whistle with no problems.)

It has a lovely clear tone and an easy, medium-strong bell note. The tone and tuning seem quite consistent throughout. I was able to get good, clean strong notes all the way up to the high Csharp. I was easily able to get the third octave D, but it was a bit sharp. It does take more air than my Howard, but it also has a bit more volume.

I like the feel of the mouthpiece… the shape is quite an easy fit to the lips and comfortable to seal, with crisp corners but no sharpness. It is very smooth, sleek and pretty, overall, with the holes cut quite smoothly, with a crisp edge, making them easy to feel for seal. The fipple blade is deeply curved and quite sharp.

The bottom line? I like this whistle very much, as does my daughter.

My frame of reference:

I am not a professional whistler, though I have been playing whistle seriously for a several years now, and low whistle for a little more than two. I began playing whistle some 30 years ago. I am a member of a regular session, where my primary instrument is whistle, and secondary instrument is upright bass; an active acoustic band, where my primary instrument is bass, and secondary is whistle; and another band where my primary instrument is the whistle, usually the low. My daughter has only been playing a bit for couple of years, and has an amazing finger spread, making her a natural for the low whistle. She plays mostly for her own enjoyment.

Unfortunately, due to the head cold, I missed the session I was to attend with it, where I would have been playing it more, so cannot give info on how it held up for that. I did get to play it at a band practice, and it was well liked by the group for volume and tone. They preferred it over the Howard.

Thank you Phil, for allowing us to try this piece of your art, Chuck for
organizing this tour, and Casey, for not sending out the hounds.

anniemcu

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I just finished my “tour” of the Kerry Songbird Low D. I will start off by saying that I’ve been at whistling just a little over a year. So I cannot add much over the other two proceeding reviewers -except perhaps in one regard. Being a new player, a whistle has to be controllable for me to be able to pick it up and play with it from first breath. This whistle does that.

I recently parted with a non-tunable Cheiftain G whistle that I acquired used. I bought it on line so did not have the chance for a trial. I is a nice instument, but I found the upper register needed a lot more air to blow into tune than I wanted to “give”. So it moved on and the current owner seems to like it quite a bit. He is younger and a pro/ semi pro player and seems to be able to play it well. He is good enough to get good use of it.

I also have a plastic head Kerry easy blow Low D whistle that is not hard to play at all.. But I was prepared to have to push air lot when the Kerry Pro D arrived in Kansas. such was not the case at all. It is as close to the easy blow in the “blowing” part. Phil seems to have this fipple opening down quite well, at least for those of us who want a touch of back pressure to work with. So I frankly had a great time with it.

The transition to the upper register seems a lot more “fluid” with the Kerry Pro than the easy blow. And seemed in tune throughout. In fact, I believe the upper register was easier on the Pro and much easier to control tone.

All in all, it will most likely be the next low whistle I purchase. And I will part with the easy blow D when I do. The Pro is a fine insturment that does not ask too much of an amateur like me. That counts a lot in my “book.”.

The next person on the tour is in for a nice surprise.

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But I was prepared to have to push air lot when the Kerry Pro D arrived in Kansas

Kansas, are you talking about the same whistle, i.e. the Kerry Songbird Low D, which is 75 BP and not the Kerry Pro Low D, which is 200 BP?

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The one I own I know as a Kerry “easy blow” Low D. It had a seperate plastic head. The one on the tour was the Kerry Songbird Low D.

Sorry - wrong expression.

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That’s good. I like the Kerry Songbird very much. I have the non-tunable, but if I’d buy again, I’d probably go for the tuneable version. I also see that a brass pin was added to hold the fipple plug in place, that’s good, mine had shifted position during shipping, that will prevent this to happen again.

The other day, I tried an Overton Low D which was for sale second hand in a local music shop. After playing it a bit, I thought that there wasn’t much to gain over what the Songbird is offering, if anything at all, so I didn’t buy it as tempting as it was (WhoA… mild fever…), I mean… really… rather keep my Songbird…

I use tootpaste to clean and polish the Songbird once in a while, this works very well, … and taste better than Brasso… :stuck_out_tongue:

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Well, I just got my Songbird Low D. I bought it - it’s not the tour whistle, but it looks just like the one in the photos above.

I’ve only been playing whistle for 6-7 months and this is my first low whistle.

First off as said before, this whistle looks great. Very professional-looking and clean. The brushed aluminum is very nice. I’ve never even seen another low whistle, so I’ve got no basis for comparison, but it sure looks and feels nice to me. Also, it’s not really heavy, but it’s no lightweight either.

The tone is great. As mentioned before, it’s flute-like, fairly quiet, but still a pretty solid voice.

The finger holes are a bit of a reach for me, but as I said this is my first low whistle. I’m trying to get the hang of the piper’s grip, but I’ve only played it about an hour or so and my hand is starting to hurt. I’ll just have to get used to it.

The E-hole is really big, but I can cover it pretty well with the piper’s grip. The holes are niceley chamfered and comfortable.

One thing I noticed is that the moisture just comes out of the windway on its own. Wanderer specifically says that his Chieftain does this, but the Songbird he has (had) doesn’t. However, this one does. I haven’t had any issues with clogging, and I’ve noticed that condensation just shoots out of the windway while I’m playing. It’s not gross if its condensation and not spit. :slight_smile:

Anyway - just a quick note from a new whistle player with the Songbird as his first low D. I really like it, and for around $135 at the time, I’m a happy camper, er, whistler.

Thanks,
Jason

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The pipers grip was hard for me in the beginning too, but it becomes natural. It took me few months to get the low D to feel just like a high D for me, but now they play the “same” for me. Just practice. Also, the Songbird on tour un-cloggs itself too, that’s what I found, which is very nice. Good job once again Phil!

-Casey :sunglasses:

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Yep, I expect it to get easier. Now that I have this one, I’m starting to think about the nuances of the pipers grip, but that’s another thread.

One more thing I didn’t mention about the Songbird is the intonation. To my tuner, the D and E are dead on. Most of the other notes are slightly flat, but can easily be blown in tune. I’m kind of beginning to see this as an added feature - being able to play a note from slightly flat to slightly sharp. There’s more leeway there on this whistle than on my high whistles - probably a general characteristic of low whistles.

To my ear, the F# in both registers and the C# are a little flatter than the others. The other notes show a little flat on my tuner as mentioned above, but aren’t too noticeable to my ear. These (F# and C#), are noticeable to me, but can still be blown in tune.

So bottom line on the tuning (IMO at least), is that it’s basically in tune naturally, but offers you the ability to adjust the pitch up and down slightly within each note.

Jason

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OK, I have to take something back after spending more time with the Songbird.

It doesn’t clear itself like I thought it did and I do get some clogging.

My problem was that this whistle doesn’t squawk when I don’t completely cover the holes, but the tone is more breathy/airy and maybe hissy. When learning the piper’s grip I got this a lot, adjusted my fingers and got a more solid tone.

The thing is, it makes a similar sound when it gets wet. So likely, many of the times I thought just adjusting my fingers helped, it probably didn’t help as much as I thought it did.

Chalk it up to being a new low whistler.

Now that I’m more comfortable with the piper’s grip, I can tell that it’s moisture buildup that causes the sound, and when I clear the windway, it’s noticeably improved.

It does blow moisture out of the windway while I’m playing, like I said above, but enough stays for it to effect the tone. I have not treated it with anything and don’t know what to treat it with. Does the dishwashing thing work? Does dupanol work on aluminum?

It’s just an issue to deal with that I was originally expecting anyway, and it doesn’t really take much away from the whistle. I still love it! :smiley:

Jason

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Soap liquid does really work, yes. You probably won’t ever have to worry about clogging again…

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I was just doing a search on soap and dupanol about an hour ago.

I think I’ll try the soap trick tonight if I get a chance.

Thanks,
Jason