Sorry - haven’t seen anything come through.
I’ve been commissioned to make a fair number of whistles for CfA since this thread originally started, so feel free to give a holler if your still looking.
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You’ve got my attention. Tell me more.
I had finished up an 11 whistle set back on the 9th for one customer that included a High C/D/E, alto F#/G/A/Bb, and low C/C#/E/F. Had several others purchased through Etsy as well for the same play. These was the set here:
Had been surprised in one Etsy conversation when they provided a somewhat confusing list of what keys were needed since it went all the way down to what looks like essentially a BassA whistle (something that I’m actually working on for someone in the next couple weeks). This had been what was shown to me originally:
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just now catching up to this thread, now I’m in the thick of performing the show and can speak directly to specifics in the part. Feel free to DM if you have questions, but I can say there are lots of redundancies in the music. You can get by without the F# or G whistles, as well as the Bb flute (its something like 6 bars in the whole show; I just play it on the whistle). The Low A whistle stuff also can be played on the “midrange” A, so I wouldn’t recommend commissioning a bass whistle if money is tight. However, you really do need a low C#, there’s really no getting around that.
It also calls for uilleann pipes, but my piping is pretty amateurish so I’m just playing those parts on a B/C accordion.
I’m playing it all on one flute, I don’t really know why it calls for a boxwood flute specifically, but a regular D flute will work just fine.
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Confusing is a good way to describe the MTI list until you actually work with the part! In this case Low F and Midrange F mean the same whistle, as do Midrange G and just G; Low A really does mean Bass A though, and there’s no C flute at all.
There are several whistles you can skip since those parts fit just as well (or sometimes better) on other whistles - you can easily get the list down from 14 to 9 with all parts still covered on whistles and at the correct pitch. The Bass A is a bit impractical, although the vibe does lose something when those lines aren’t at pitch.
The reason boxwood flute is called for is to create a haunting, bittersweet tone for one song in particular. If you have one it can be really beautiful, but if you dial way back on the reedy bite that Irish flute players usually aim for and use your most heartbreaking slow air tone you should be fine on your usual flute.
Y’all may find this interesting:
Hey, Alex! this is what I wrote to Rob Gándara at Carbony Whistles: “I’ve found that our local theatre is planning Come From Away for Summer 27. Some folks are telling me that it calls for a “bass” A whistle. I’m positing that the composer, arranger, or engraver simply didn’t understand the terminology and thought there were two different instruments, one called a “mid” A, and one called a “low” A. (Part of my posture is from having recently been asked to sub for Steve Martin’s/Edie Brickell’s musical “Bright Star,” which calls for “Banjo, Long necked Banjo [sic], and (some type of) Acoustic Guitar. In *that* case, the actual instruments called for should be 5-string Banjo, Plectrum Banjo, etc. Whoever called for those instruments simply didn’t know the terminology.) My idea is that both the “mid A” and “low A” should both be the same instrument. In fact, if you look at the order of whistles called for in the book, it’s obvious the “low A” whistle they’re calling for is *higher* than the Low C, C#, D, E, and F whistles! It then goes on to “re-state” the “mid F, G, and A” whistles. I’m pretty sure the “Low F” and “mid F” are the same instrument, as are the “Low A” and “mid A.””
Now, Tonic has shown me a screen cap of an absolutely gigantic whistle that was used for the professional recording of it, so, perhaps “bass” A is what was intended. I have a FB message in to one of the composing team to see what they say, but I don’t know where we’ll end up with this. MTI is kind of a mess, we obviously can’t trust their instrument list(s), but I don’t know that a “bass” A isn’t what was intended.
Looking at that list (I have a copy of the book that was shared with me), I’m missing the Low C, C#, D and F whistles. Again, that sure looks like the “Midrange F” is the same thing as the “Low F” whistle. I have only a Generation high F whistle (not quite as annoying as my Generation high G!). I’m also missing any F# whistle. So, what could you do for me?
I’m also giving serious thought to the Warbl MIDI wind controller. Our keyboard players have good results from their programs, so I’m hopeful.
I can certainly make PVC models for the low C, low C#, low D, low F, and low F# if you need. Can also do phantom models in all those except for the low C since it would be a little on the quiet side compared to the others (the Phantom low whistles have a smaller bore than the PVC low whistles). Should have materials in to see how the Bass A whistle in PVC goes, have the design worked up just need the pipe to arrive since nobody has it local.
I made my own HIGH C# for around $10.
So, questions, questions. What’s the finger spacing like on those very low keys? I own a Susato low E, and the stretch is just too much to make it easy. Admittedly, I don’t spend any time on it (it was purchased to play a specific piece in A for church), but I’d like to make it as easy on myself as possible. Next, how much would each of these set me back? I may need to spread the cost out over the nest year so I don’t shock the Missus.
Thanks,
G-
PM sent with more details.
You may have more luck with playing the lower whistles with a pipers grip, for reference on my part even the PVC low C is pretty easy playing stretch for me using it. I have a 2xl glove size with short stubby fingers as a reference. There’s a video of it on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/shorts/1EvOskKSoNY?feature=share
I have average sized hands but shortish fingers and play everything below a High C whistle with piper’s grip. I find that makes down to Low E relatively comfortable, D gets a bit stretchy, and by the time I get to C it’s pretty hard. If I warm my hands up and don’t try to play them for a long time it’s ok, otherwise my hands do start to ache. Fortunately CFA uses the big whistles in very manageable proportions.