hey all, I just watch “the creating lord of the ring symphony” video, what brand of whistle did they using on the soundtrack ? Thanks.
Which film were they scoring? There were different whistlers in different movies.
Cheers,
Aaron
I know Return of the King featured Jimmy Galway, who plays a Chris Abell blackwood whistle. He just came & played the ‘Pied Piper Fantasy’ by John Corigliano (who wrote the score to the movie ‘The Red Violin’) with us (Louisiana Philharmonic) back on St. Pat’s. The piece was written for & dedicated to him, and features some whistle playing at the end - very cool.
If you watch the DVD on the score for the Lord of The Rings with Howard Shore, you can see the whistle player as he plays with the orchestra. Looks like a Burke Narrow Bore Black Tip. Could be a session, but I’m guessing that he would be way more concerned with perfect tone and mellow sound.
No idea who played it in the scores, but the first movie’s whistle scores sounded like an Abell is a likely answer. Albeit a really good Abell.
Beannacht leat
Alan Doherty is credited with playing whistle on the first film.
In this photo it looks like he’s playing an Overton but that doesn’t mean it’s what he played on the film score.
Cheers,
Aaron
hmm, I am still wondering why I couldn’t get such a nice whistle sound at home, I think it is due to the acoustic of a grand hall, hmm..
No, it’s because it was “Elfsong”, not “Hobbitsong”, you silly whistler! 
Cheers,
Bill Whedon
Serpent Music
If you don’t have a Grand Hall of your own try playing your whistle in the bathroom. Great sound!
That reminds me of the girl who plays Fiddle in our band. The first time I visited her at home, I was puzzled to find a notestand in the middle of the floor in the bathroom.
For Fellowship of the Ring, they were brass Generations. I spoke to Alan about it.
I don’t know about the other movie.
I have this hallway in the building that my shop is in that has great acoustics, it sounds so good that I should probably charge admission to it.
Going back to Lord of the Rings, I was totally and utterly inspired by the whistle playing in ‘Concerning Hobbits’ and have now come up with one of my mad schemes to get a whistle myself. I’m a bit new to whistles, so I need some advice on what whistle brand to get. I don’t particularly care about how hard it is to play (i’m not new to fipple instruments), i just want one that sounds good, pure and without the ‘ffffff’ sound you sometimes get. And preferably relatively cheap too. Its also likely to be the only one I’ll ever get, so I need something worthwhile. Any advice?
by the ‘fffff’ sound, it sounds like you mean windy…
So, your criteria, from what I can tell:
- Pure
- Non-windy
- sweet (good sounding)
- relatively cheap
Well, the last one stands to some interpretation…If you mean "relative to the price of a good guitar, a Burke ($130) fits nicely. The DASBT should be the louder version you’re looking for, and the DAN the narrower version (DBN if you prefer brass to aluminum)
If you mean “cheap, relative to the cost of whistles”, then perhaps a Laughing Whistle ($75), a Dixon ($30-ish, depending on model), or a Hoover ($50-ish if brass, less if PVC))…all of these are relatively pure, sweet, and un-windy.
The Dixon whistles really are quite good, I had one which I sold, because I had too many whistles and too little cash. However, I may get another if the opportunity presents itself.
Bottom line you can get the Dixon pretty cheapily used.
Beannacht leat
and welcome to the wonderful world of whistles!