//Firefly waves to the masses//
First of all, I think I should start this review off with a massive apology to Phil Hardy, as by now he is probably thinking that I absconded into the fourth dimension with his Songbird, and had no intention of reviewing it here. What has in fact happened between the time he sent the Songbird to my address in America, is that it has followed me to Japan, and then to Taiwan, where I did not have Internet access and couldn't post this review. Anyway, now that I'm back in America again, I am finally able to post my thoughts on the instrument?with the added benefit of having a considerable amount of Songbird playing experience behind me. So, again, apologies for the extreme lateness of this review - I'm more than a little embarassed by how long it's taken me (!!!) and bombs away?
I have played more cheapie whistle varieties than I care to mention, but I think Cees already covered the "Songbird vs. Inexpensive whistle" ground nicely in her review, so no need for me to reiterate on that front. I do own, and frequently play, a Burke Al-Pro, which is the whistle I mostly found myself comparing and contrasting the Songbird to.
The Songbird is a very, very handsome instrument, aluminum, but is a much more solid whistle than any other aluminum models I own. I think this whistle could take a sound beating and still come out on top, but of course, this is not a theory I plan to be testing any time soon! In fact, the Songbird definitely is the most substantial whistle I have in my possession. While the bore itself is not noticeably larger than that of, say, my Al-Pro, the body is about twice as thick. This added weight took a little getting used to at first, what with me being used to lighter whistles, but from what I've seen, a lot of C&F'ers like heavier whistles, so this should come as good news to you guys! At any rate, the whistle has very good balance, so although the extra weight felt a little weird to me, I didn't suffer any handicap in the least to my playing.
The machining on the body is very sleek. The finger holes are noticeably larger on the E and D notes, but it's nothing that can't easily be covered by one's fingers. In fact, in many cases I prefer larger holes on a whistle, as this lets me half-hole notes with greater ease and precision. So points go to the Songbird on this respect.
As mentioned before, the Songbird is not tunable. However, the instrument is very nicely in tune with itself. Cnat works equally well half-holed or played OXX OOO. As I have currently entered a phase of experimenting with roles on Cnat, I'm thankfull for the OXX OOO fingering.
The blade (I think that's what it's called; I'm not terribly proficient with my whistle part terminology) is indeed made from a different material than the body, but they suit each other nicely. There's a little bit of a downward curve on the mouthpiece that is noticably different than the mouthpiece design of any other pennywhistle I've played. Just thought I'd mention this fact although it neither bothers me nor effects my playing ability.
The tone of the Songbird is almost identical to that of my Burke Al-Pro, strong and pure, but not too sweet. Since I'm a fan of the Al-Pro's sound, I consider this to be a good thing. As I seem to remember some people mentioning that they liked the Al-Pro aside from its (lack of) weight, the Songbird might be a nice alternative for anyone looking for a more solid whistle but with comparable sound. The only noticeable difference between the two is that the upper octave notes on the Songbird seem a little bit harsher than those of the Al-Pro, but this could just be my ear, and not the instrument itself.
Ornamentation sounds beautifully on this whistle. Cuts and taps come out clearly, while not sounding heavier or more pronounced than they should. I took some of my fastest tunes, loaded the heck out of them with ornamentation, and taped my playing. For some reason, I was expecting the ornaments on the Songbird to be muddier than those of my other whistles; maybe this has to do with the fact that the Songbird is a heavier instrument, but at any rate, ornaments come out crisply and clearly.
Condensation or spit what-have-you will be a problem if you don't warm this instrument up before playing. However, having played the Songbird continuously for about 15 minutes or so, even without warming it up in any fashion, I found that while condensation does occur, it does not occur to an unmanageable degree. So, although it's always a good idea to warm up any whistle before playing, you can pull this instrument out of your pocket and play it without much degradation of tone or playability.
The breath requirement for this instrument is pretty high as compared to the others I own. I find myself getting slightly light-headed if I play the Songbird for a protracted length of time. This probably has to do more with me than the Songbird itself; after all, my other whistles don't take a lot of air to play well. I think I have for the first time encountered what you guys refer to as "back pressure!" Anyway, this didn't cause any real problems after I had adjusted to it.
One's attack has to be fairly forceful when playing this whistle. Octave pops are possible but not to be undertaken lightly - you have to concentrate on what you're doing to make the transition. Also, as someone who does not tongue often, but rather separates notes by stopping the flow of breath from my throat, I found myself having to make a fairly large adjustment to my playing with the Songbird. In order to get a crisp, decent sounding note, one has to tongue it - guttural stops will not work on this whistle. Again, this is not a problem itself, but it did necessitate a rather large adjustment in my usual playing technique, which is not a bad thing.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Songbird is that there is a major (more so than with any of my other whistles) discrepancy between what I hear while I'm playing, and what the listener hears. While playing this whistle, I hear what seems to be a very loud and obvious hiss over the tone of the notes, especially in the second octave. I was so disconcerted by this that I taped myself playing to see if the hiss was as noticeable to the listener as it was to myself. It isn't; in fact, the hiss, although clearly audible to me while playing, is nonexistent in the whistle tone the listener hears! I don't know if this is a feature of just my whistle or all of the Songbirds, but I thought I'd mention it, because while it seems jarring to me while I'm playing the whistle, it isn't something which will be noticed by any audience I might have.
So, my final verdict is that this is a sleek little instrument that I find myself bringing out to play frequently. As it is well made, nicely in tune, and very attractive to look at, I can't think of any reason why not to recommend it to someone who might consider buying it. It has good volume, a nice tone, and is easy to handle. Again, apologies to Mr. Hardy for taking an ice age to get this review written - and if the rest of ya have any questions or comments on the above, please feel free to pop 'em to me! Other than that, I'm glad to be back home and back on the Board again!
