Kerry Songbird review and pictures

Whistle
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Hi, everyone, here is my promised review of the new Kerry Songbird model I was sent to “test drive.”

Before I begin I just want to say two things:

  1. I am a beginner at the whistle (less than 6 months), so this will not be an experienced review. (But I think it’s good to have a beginner try it, to see how other beginners would react to it.)

  2. Since I only own a few cheap whistles, I have never tried a high-end one, so I don’t have any idea how the Songbird compares to the more expensive ones. So this is my review of how it compares to the cheap ones I know (Walton, Feadog, Susato, Sweetone):

Appearance:
The whistle is very attractive, IMO. You can see in the pictures that it’s made of a heavy-duty type of silver metal, probably the same kind Chieftains are made out of (just a guess there). The picture with the grey background is the true color of the whistle. The fipple pictures with red backgrounds look more golden because of the way the light was reflecting off of them.

This whistle is very shiny. It has a little flaring end which I like, too. One of the things I like the most about this whistle’s appearance is that the fipple, though a separate piece glued on, is made out of the same metal as the body. The other all-metal whistles I have seen are one solid piece, not a separate fipple. I think this design makes the whistle look very attractive and unique. I don’t know if any other all-metal whistles have this type of design, but I haven’t seen any so far. I really think it works well on this whistle. (And I like the feel of the fipple in my mouth, as opposed to, say, a Susato fipple, which I don’t like the feel of.)

Sound:
The sound of this whistle is really beautiful. It’s sweet and has good volume–not too loud, but not too soft, either. Yet it is expressive enough that you can make it loud or soft and vary the tone quite a bit.

At first I couldn’t quite describe the sound but then my husband said “this whistle really sounds like a flute.” He hit the nail on the head. It DOES sound like a flute–like an Irish flute. For me, this is a really good thing. I really love the sound
of Irish flutes and hope to learn to play one some day.

One thing that changes the sound of this whistle quite a bit is how warm it is. When I first got it I couldn’t get a note out of it but then I realized I had to warm it up, since it had been sitting in a cold postal service truck all day. (Since the metal is so thick and strong on this whistle it takes more warm-up time than my thin-walled Feadog or Walton’s brass–but usually no more than a minute or less.) Once I warmed it up in my hands it sounded great and I found I could play it right away. If it’s semi-warm it has a louder, clearer tone, but if it’s really warm it sounds more flutey, IMO.

One thing I learned quickly was that the fipple of all-metal whistles has to be warmed up, too. At first as I was playing it I noticed quite a lot of spit getting collected in the square opening in the fipple (as you can see from the pictures, it doesn’t have a ramp there like a lot of whistles do–it’s more like a little shelf) and down the inside of the body. I e-mailed Phil Hardy about this and he answered right away, asking if I was warming it up because warm breath on cold whistles leads to a lot more condensation. I had been warming the body up–but not the fipple, since none of my other metal body/plastic head whistles needed this. (Some of you are probably saying “Duh!”, but I’ve never had an all-metal whistle before, and as a beginner, this didn’t occur to me.)

I have been warming the fipple as well as the body up since he told me this, and the spit collection is virtually non-existent now.

Other comments:
The whistle is great over two octaves (I haven’t tried it past that)–smooth transitions between octaves and no problems staying in the octave you want. The upper octave is very pretty, but I really like the lower octave. It almost sounds like a low whistle (this is a high D whistle). You do have to blow harder towards the end of the second octave, but if the whistle is properly warm there’s no problem getting great sound from those higher notes.

Breath requirements are minimal for this whistle. You don’t have to blow too hard, and it doesn’t have very much of a “breathy” sound to it.

C natural can be played just fine either oxxooo or oxxxox (I haven’t tried any other fingerings for this note so far).

The bottom two holes are bigger than I’m used to, but it’s not a problem. (I have a bamboo D whistle that has much bigger holes.) Since the walls of this whistle are so thick, you really have to make sure you are covering the holes well so the notes will sound right, but it isn’t too hard with a little practice.

I don’t know what else to say about it…I really like this whistle. I love the look of it and the sound is exquisite. Like I said, I have never played a high-end whistle yet, but compared to the inexpensive ones I have, the sound is superior, I think, especially if you like a flute sound. I think the name is beautiful and endearing (“Songbird”…has a nice ring to it) and I think Phil was great to send a few of these out to people.

I think this is a great whistle for people of all experience levels. I would recommend that complete beginners to the whistle get a cheap one to learn on for a couple of months first, but then I don’t see that they would have any problems transitioning to the Songbird.

If anyone has any questions about anything I forgot to mention, let me know and I’ll try to answer them. I’m looking forward to hearing others’ reviews of this whistle and especially how the more experienced players rate it.

Thanks for your patience with me! :slight_smile:

[ This Message was edited by: Cees on 2002-03-02 01:05 ]

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Am I right in assuming it is not tunable ?

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Hi Cees

My questions are:

  1. You say beginners will have no trouble ‘transitioning’ to the Songbird? Is there a transition involved? Do you have to do something different with the songbird that you don’t with a cheaper whistle or vice versa? Or are you implying that there is no difference? In that case, could beginners buy one straight off and become better at using it?

  2. Assuming it’s not tuneable Have you checked it against a tuner of some sort, across the range?

Take care,

Steve

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Great review, thanks so much for posting it! It looks like a very interesting whistle.

Richard

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On 2002-03-02 04:27, StevePower wrote:
My questions are:

  1. You say beginners will have no trouble ‘transitioning’ to the Songbird? Is there a transition involved? Do you have to do something different with the songbird that you don’t with a cheaper whistle or vice versa? Or are you implying that there is no difference? In that case, could beginners buy one straight off and become better at using it?

  2. Assuming it’s not tuneable have you checked it against a tuner of some sort, across the range?

As far as I know, it is not tunable. The head is pretty solid and unmoving and I see no sort of slide or anthing else. I haven’t checked it against a tuner, but I can if you like (it sounds in tune to my ear). Would you like me to? We have a little battery-operated tuner.

As far as the “transition” thing goes, I think the reason I said that is because this whistle, made all out of thick, heavy-duty metal with holes a little larger than I’m accustomed to (and this is probably because the whistle is thicker/wider and also longer than any other high D I own), takes a little getting used to. It took me about ten minutes to get some good sound out of it.

If I were a complete beginner who had never picked up a whistle before (as I was just a few short months ago, picking up a Walton’s brass D) I might have a little trouble with it for a while, considering it is much heavier and wider than most inexpensive whistles. The thickness of the wall alone ensures that the holes have to be cut deeply, so you really have to make sure the holes are covered well. I was just thinking back to when I was picking up my first whistle and what a hard time I had sealing the holes tightly, as small/thin as they were, let alone dealing with breath control so as to produce a sound that wasn’t accompanied by a squeak or shriek.

So when I say a beginner could “transition” to this whistle I mean that IMO a beginner would be better off with something like a Sweetone for a few weeks that has much smaller holes and is lighter/easier to hold. But after a few weeks I see no problem with a beginner getting this whistle.

Of course, I am just basing this on my own experience. I had a difficult time learning to seal the holes and breath right, since I had never used a wind instrument before. It took me weeks just to get a clean note out of a whistle without it screaming back at me. Other people picking up a whistle for the first time may not have the same experience as me–perhaps a lot of others have a much easier time.

Hope this answers your questions, Steve and Peter :slight_smile:

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Is itjust me or does it seem that some of the design might have been copy from the Silkstone.

Joe

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I don’t know–I’ve never seen a Silkstone.

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Cees, would you be able to post a sound clip at some point? I’d love to hear what the Songbird sounds like-- especially as my user name here is: aderyn- bird, cyrdd- song. So far the whistle sounds absolutely lovely! Thank you for posting a review. :slight_smile:

Slainte,
Andrea ~*~

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Andrea,
I am actually hoping to make a sound clip for Clips & Snips sometime in the next few days. I am not a very good player yet and I don’t know how great our recording capabilities are (cheap microphone, etc.), but I will try so people can hear the lovely sound of this whistle.

Is your user name Welsh? That’s a lovely meaning! If it is Welsh, I’ve been wanting to learn Welsh for a couple of years now.

Thank you for your nice comments. I’ve never written a whistle review before.

Cees

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Hope this answers your questions, Steve and Peter > :slight_smile:

It certainly did! Thank you for that very considered and detailed reply. If you have time to test the tuning, I’d love to hear what you find!

Steve :slight_smile:

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Cees, I can imagine it would be a bit daunting to post a review when there are so many rather experienced players here. You did just fine, and I really enjoyed it coming from someone who, like me, hasn’t played all that long. I’m coming up on my one year anniversary, but still very much a beginner. :stuck_out_tongue: Hard to admit that, having played clarinet and been a vocalist for so long, not to mention that the perfectionist in me is shuddering. LOL

In answer to your question, yes, my user name is Welsh. If you are wanting to give the language a go, may I recommend a wonderful online tutorial at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/catchphrase/index.shtml
This is where I have been studying, and I’ve learned quite a bit. It has RealAudio clips, so that you get a feel for how things should sound. I believe the site also has Irish and Scottish Gaelic for those who prefer to go that route. :slight_smile:

Hwyl fawr (all the best/cheerio),
Andrea ~*~

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On 2002-03-02 09:56, jmssmh wrote:
Is itjust me or does it seem that some of the design might have been copy from the Silkstone.

Joe

Actually, it looks identical to an old-style Burke WBB… without the tuning slide, of course.

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Andrea,
Thanks for the link! I’ll look into it. I really do want to learn Welsh.

Thanks again for your kind words!

Cees

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ooooooo pwitty.

I want one!!

pouts


Uh, where did ya get it from?

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Sam, check your private messages.

:slight_smile:

Cees

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Actually, the two whistles are quite a bit different. Here’s a picture of my alloy silkstone for reference:

The obvious differences to me: The silkstone has a tuning slide, and there’s been some obvious sizing/machining on the whistle near the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is mostly delrin, with a different windway opening. The end of the songbird appears to flare outward slightly. While it may not show well in my picture, the last half-inch or so of the silkstone actually has a slight inward conical bend.

That said, for all of it’s differences, this picture close-up of the silkstone mouthpiece does look a wee bit similar to the kerry songbird’s:

Greg

On 2002-03-02 09:56, jmssmh wrote:
Is itjust me or does it seem that some of the design might have been copy from the Silkstone.

Joe

[ This Message was edited by: Wandering_Whistler on 2002-03-02 14:35 ]

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Great review Cees. I am playing mine quite a bit today and will bring it to the session on Monday night. I will post a review shortly after that.

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I think they are very similar how the fipple blade is part of the tube/body of the whistle.

Joe

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Um, is that not exactly like the old style Burke, minus the tuning slide? Does anyone else feel a little uncomfortable about this?
Chris

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On 2002-03-02 18:32, ChrisLaughlin wrote:
Um, is that not exactly like the old style Burke, minus the tuning slide? Does anyone else feel a little uncomfortable about this?
Chris

It does look very similar, especially the shape of the window.

Is the blade made of the same metal as the body? In one photo the blade looks like a different material.

Edited to add: Is the windway curved (completely, or just the top) ?

-Brett

[ This Message was edited by: Bretton on 2002-03-02 23:02 ]