What I want to find is an end-blown fipple instrument with a low, mellow sound and a fingering style that would be familiar to a pennywhistle or recorder player. Something good for playing bluesy music as well as the melodies of classic rock songs.
Any suggestions? I’ve tried pennywhistles, recorders, and ocarinas but I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet. Usually the instrument is too high-pitched and shrilly for my taste. (By the way, I tried alto recorders but the holes were too far apart for me. Small hands.)
So far, the closest thing I’ve found is a cheap bamboo flute that I recently bought. I’d like something more durable then bamboo, but if I can’t find anything else, a better quality bamboo flute would do.
If hole distance is a problem, you can discount longer sized whistles, recorders and such. (An alto recorder is far from the most strechful) There are super-duper ultrabass recorders made, by Paetzold, that are deep. I mean, sub-contra-bass, or sub-sub-contra bass should be deep enough. They have a key system, because no living human is large enough to be able to finger them otherwise, and the keys are spaced no wider than a soprano recorder’s.The catch is that they cost many thousands.
The only option is a deep ocarina, or a deep gemshorn. With these kind of beasts the fingerhole placing is not crucial, so normally they are very manageable. They tend to be more expensive than the run-of-the-mill ocarinas, but not as bad as the sub-sub recorders.
If I was rich, a bass recorder would be very cool. I have a bass ocarina though, it’s too low, all the notes seem to wash out. And I’m not really looking for the deep bass tones. Just something non-shrilly, like an alto or tenor recorder versus a soprano.
If a $2 bamboo whistle I bought at the mall can come close to the sound I’m looking for, then surely somewhere there is a similar but better quality instrument.
I’ve looked at duduks before, great sound but I think I’m just vain enough not to buy a flute that I have to puff my checks out that much to play. And if I was going to get a reed instrument, I’d probably get a xaphoon first. I love the sound of a xaphoon, but I’ve never played any sort of saxophone so I’m intimidated by the learning curve. I don’t have the time to master something new right now, I just want something I can pick up and play a few of my favorite songs on.
I know how to play a soprano recorder decently, so something similar to that but with a mellow bamboo flute sound would be perfect.
I keep thinking Panpipes or xun, but those don’t fit with the fingering requirements or have a fipple. To bad the no one makes fipple flutes similar to the renaissance rackett.
The pennywhistles I’ve had were all key of d I believe. I like penny whistles for celtic music, but the kind of music I usually like to play doesn’t work as well on them.
I’ve heard people playing panpipes live, wonderful sound. But I would really like to carry over some of my recorder and pennywhistle know-how to another instrument.
I’ve been looking through “erik the flutemaker’s” website to see if one of his various flute types would work… the blues pennywhistle looks interesting. Seems like it would only be good for improv type stuff though. His bamboo sax is interesting too, the fingering looks more recorder-like then the other xaphoons I’ve seen (am I right about that?). It’s still a reed instrument though, I’d probably have to get some mouth techniques down before it sounded decent. Might get him to custom make me an end-blown flute if I can’t find anything else that will work.
That reminded me that there is such a thing as fipple panpipes. I have no idea who makes them, though, if anyone at all. (Commercially, that is) Maybe worth a quick search on the web.
Huh, never heard of panpipes with fipples, that’s cool. It wouldn’t let me use the fingering style I’m used to though.
I haven’t tried any pennywhistle keys except for d, but I’ve seen a few videos and I just don’t think a pennywhistle is what I’m looking for.
I’ve been searching the internet for the last couple of days, and the only thing I’m finding close to what I’m looking for are bamboo flutes. Think I’ll probably end up getting one of those, of some sort. I’ve emailed the erik the flutemaker guy a few questions, I’m waiting to hear back from him.
It seems strange that no one makes a whistle with baroque flute fingering. With cross fingering (and one key), you could play any scale. But I guess that was what a recorder is for.
I’m surprised no one has yet recommended a quena or a small shakuhachi. End blown, edge or notch embouchure similar to a bamboo flute. Or kaval or ney, though standard sized ones are fairly large.
For a fipple flute, a smaller Native American Flute. Pentatonic tuning, but a 6-hole NAF can handle Western heptatonic scales with a bit of twiddling.
For “bluesy music as well as the melodies of classic rock songs” you need something to handle blues scales in at least Em and Am. Which might mean two different keyed instruments, or one which is fully chromatic.
Which leads back to (alto) recorder. I’m always respectful when people think that their hand size is a limitation. But honestly, it’s hard to imagine that a guy with even smallish hands can’t handle an alto recorder that even many school kids can manage. As with any wind, hand stretch and flexibility is not something that happens instantly. You need to spend some time to let your hands adapt. Instant gratification and wind playing are an unrealistic combination for most instruments.
Actually, the Susato wide bore recorders come close to meeting that description. Recorder fingering, fully chromatic, whistle-like sound. The Mollenhauer Dream Flute recorder is another, though slightly less whistle-like. Also, Phil Bleazey builds both recorders and whistles along similar lines, and I’m sure he would custom voice a recorder to be more toward his whistle voicing (I’ve corresponded with him about this).
Well I owned a yamaha alto recorder for about a month or so, even recorded a song with it. It’s not that I can’t play it, it’s just not comfortable to me. Maybe over time I would have gotten used to it, but I wasn’t feeling it so I sold it.
As far as native american flutes go, I like the pentatonic scale for improvising, but I don’t want to figure out how to play songs on it. I’ve considered trying to get a native american flute custom made with a major scale, I think that would work and it would probably have a neat sound. Might be expensive though.
I guess I should look at susato’s website more closely, I haven’t heard about their wide-bore recorders. I’m guessing the wider bore would lower the tone? I can’t seem to find a video of one on youtube, how would a soprano sound compared to a normal soprano recorder?
Although the kaval is fairly long, the fingerhole spacing is not very wide. However, the scale is peculiar, and the embouchure is definitely nothing you would pick up within a day.
I’m always respectful when people think that their hand size is a limitation. But honestly, it’s hard to imagine that a guy with even smallish hands can’t handle an alto recorder that even many school kids can manage. As with any wind, hand stretch and flexibility is not something that happens instantly. You need to spend some time to let your hands adapt.
I’m 1.65 metres (= 5 feet 5,or thereabouts) high and have accordingly small hands. I play an old Overton low D whistle without problem (but of course after practice!), and I can play a low A whistle albeit not too comfortably (by the way, I have a low A kaval which I find a hell to play - not because of the finger stretch but because my arms seem to be too short).
Have you seen the 11-year-old boy playing a Bb set of uilleann pipes (in the uilleann pipes forum, youtube thread)? His hands won’t be so big, I suppose… it’s all a matter of getting used to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12IKuuvFgW4
Have a look at this one. I’m not going to tell what it is, but I think it might very well be the solution. Certainly no squeekyness, and no real cost, eithr.
I’m double checking facts here. You said you’ve played a D whistle. Have you tried a Low D whistle? I have a cheapie Low D bamboo whistle. I play Blues and old Jazz standards on it. It’s anything but shrill. The hole size permits a person to slide into a note.
I don’t play ITM but I play everything else (except Rap) on my whistles, flutes, fife, ocarina, and harmonicas. I’ve not tried the more exotic instruments but only because my wife called a halt to wind instrument purchases. If I had to be satisfied with one instrument, I would have to choose a bamboo flute which I don’t own but I do covet.
By the way, the low whistle was developed because somebody had sat on Finbar Furey’s bamboo flute which he used to play, so he wanted basically the same, but unbreakable (that’s the story he’s telling, anyway). The finger stretch and the size of the holes may be frightening at first sight, but are well manageable with a bit of practice, even for people with smaller hands than mine.
I haven’t tried a low whistle, but I didn’t like the wide finger spacing on an alto recorder so I’m guessing I wont like the low whistle for the same reason. And it starts getting expensive buying instruments just to try them out (trust me, I know).
I’m starting to think these three ideas might more-or-less work: a susato wide-bore recorder, a bamboo sax, or a bamboo flute.
The last two would require me to learn some new techniques, but they would probably come closer to the sound I want. The wide-bore recorder on the other hand would allow me to instantly play songs I’ve already memorized. I wish I could find a video or sound sample of the recorder, if there’s only a slight difference in sound from what I have now it would be a large waste of money, for me anyway.