Hi everyone. I’m Rich from the UK, started playing about 5 years ago. This place seems pretty cool so I’m looking forward to joining in, even though I’m doing the obnoxious thing of asking a question as my first post, for which I apologise.
I need a loud high D whistle - very loud. I’ve started going to my university ceileidh band, and they practice in these huge sessions of between 50-70 people at once. Sounds great, but I prefer to play by ear and I can’t hear my (fairly quiet)Dixon whistle AT ALL when I try to play along. Does anyone have any suggestions for a seriously loud session high D? Also I’m a student so I can’t go that expensive, maybe $100 top limit.
Next rehearsal, try and find a seat where you’re facing a wall, or wall-shaped object like the back of someone’s music stand. You’d be surprised how much difference it makes to play into a wall or corner so the sound is deflected back to you.
A hat brim really does help. I find one with a side brim really reflects the sound back to your ears.
Alternative – but more expensive – whistles that are in the same volume range are Reyburn and Sweetheart whistles. (I have not played the newer polymer Sweeheart Pro whistles, but I believe they are still on the loud side.)
The loudest D whistle I’ve ever heard is an old-model Susato I got back around 1980. When it arrived I was dismayed to find that it was pitched at A=415 (Baroque pitch). So I chopped the bottom and carved out all the holes til everything was in tune to A=440. Those holes were HUGE and the whistle was incredibly loud.
I also have a new-model Susato D and it’s loud too, though not quite as loud as that old one.
Call Ronaldo at Reyburn Whistles and ask him to voice you a loud one. I’ve heard he can make a whistle that will stun a cat at 20 paces - and it will sound great while doing so. Or buy a Copeland.
Given the OP’s budget constraints, Susato has to be the first choice. I don’t think any of the big name expensive metal whistles are really all that loud (even as loud as a Susato), though they will certainly give a lot more than an average Gen etc. For really loud you have to look (significantly) above that budget and at wood. Swayne, Rose, Simmonds in my experience and probably Abell will stand orchestral exposure. I haven’t heard in the flesh, much less tried Ormiston, Weasels, Seery or current Sweetheart. Bleazeys don’t tend to take pushing quite so well. Most of the other wooden whistles I’ve tried such as O’Brien, Oz etc are only middle volume - won’t take pushing.
If you need it fast and don’t want to spend at least £150, go Susato.
Well, a Copeland high D (brass or nickel) will do for orchestral work. A few years ago, the San Diego Symphony performed John Corigliano’s Pied Piper Fantasy suite for flute, where the 7th movement calls for whistle instead. A friend of mine contributed her Copeland D, and reports are that it worked admirably unamplified to fill Symphony Hall. Of course, the fact that the score calls for playing mostly into the 3rd octave up to high-high g’ helps.
I’m sure that Sir James Galway, for whom the Fantasy was written, would have used his favored Abell. He’ll be peforming the piece again in March with the Detroit Symphony. Hopefully, with a better conductor than this guy:
I once tried-out a Copeland brass Low G.
The office workers at City Hall, a mile distant, couldn’t understand why their hackles were going up. Invasion of the banshees? LOUD!
I also once had some Susato higher-pitched whistles. Like the Copeland, they were VERY loud! And yes…clear.
