I am currently playing a tweaked clarke soprano D and as I am taking lessons my teacher recommended me a generation D because this requires less air.
I am going to get one, but it made me wonder if there are any more whistles which do take as low air as a generation does?
the generation does play so easily!
recommendations for soprano D but also appreciated for alto please.
(and I have small hands…regarding the alto recomm.)
berti
try a hoover berti, or stick a white cap on your gen(not on your jerry tweak 
)
mack will take orders again next month.
An Oak D takes even less air than a Generation D. It is a little harder to play until you get used to the extremely low air requirement. If blown too hard, it can make funny buzzing sounds, but when played right, the tone is unsurpassed for that type of whistle.
Hi Bertie,
A whistle that has very low breath requirements can be harder on your lungs than one with medium requirements. It takes so little air that you don’t get a chance to fully exhale when playing. The ideal air requirement allows you to exhale slowly when playing, popping in a quick suck of air now and then.
MR
Hoover. None require less air that I’ve ever played. Oaks are very nice too - but take just a bit more air…still less than a Gen though.
Mongoose is spot on. The Hoover narrow bore D takes so little air, that one sometimes needs to exhale unused air, and then inhale fresh air - to avoid becoming ‘short-of-breath.’
Seems strange, but 'tis true…
Best.
Byll
Alba Q1, available from “Big Whistle Music Shop” in UK for about £32. But it is quiet.
Overtons get the balance about right I think. 
Actually a Sindt will play very much like a Generation but quite a bit more easily. Well if you get the chance to cherry pick your Gen you should get one that plays easily enough or if you get Jerry to tweak one for you you will find it won’t take much getting used to.
Yeah - especially once you get past the eye-popping backpressure in the upper octave…
For low air requirements, nothing I’ve seen comes even close to Hoover. The untimate are the narrow bore brass whstles, but the PVC and whitecaps come close.
For cheap, though, nothing comes even close to putting a $20 Whitecap on whatever old brass tube you have lying about. (OK, or you can also buy a $5 cheapie to put it on if you don’t have a bunch lying around already)
My Weston High D has really low air requirements. It is not as sensitive as the brass Hoover I had in the same 1/2 inch bore though. One does need to be careful to not breath in too much air or it becomes stale as mentioned.
My Weston High D has really low air requirements. It is not as sensitive as the brass Hoover I had in the same 1/2 inch bore though. One does need to be careful to not breath in too much air or it becomes stale as mentioned.
thanks you all for the advice, I will contact mack soon to see whats available since the Hoovers were so warmly recommended.
also going to get a generation soprano D brass first.
berti
The Cillian O’Brian tweaked Feadog D I have has a very low air requirement and a great sound. One of my favorite whisltes.
Tres
I’ve gotta chime in on the Hoover Narrow-bore D. It’s as close to zero air requirement as you can get, I think. Crisp, clean, consistent, quiet, responsive. Plus it doesn’t scare the cats as bad.
Mack made me a Generation D with his $20.00 whitecap on it. I asked him to open it up a bit and now this is my favorite. Just tell him to allow alittle more air and he will adjust it. He is a Customer focused guy and nice to know as well. These are not session whistles however. Fantastic for practice.
Chuck, I do not know for what you speak regarding this. Yes, my Overton low d DOES have higher back pressure than most of the rest of my whistles, but nothing near “eye-popping” proportions. I kind of like having to lean into it a little bit as that allows me to control the sound with much more affect than if I was blowing through something that amounted to nothing more than an open tube!!! My Susato seems like that, so does my Jubilee.
Oh, they are playable, but really require breath planning. Kind of like the low air whistles require.
Thought I’d pitch in for the Whitecap. I bought one from Mack last month because I ruined the original cap on the Feadog that I had. I found the bore to be just a bit wider than it should’ve been for the wc. I sent the whistle and cap to Mack and got it fitted by him at no extra cost and now I have this amazingly quiet and sweet whistle that allows me to play in my apartment in the dead of the night without having my neighbors asking me to pipe it down. And I agree with the breathing into the whistle thing - you don’t blow into the whistle, you breathe into it.
~nash
Yeah, just pretend it is your bestest girlfriend and you are whispering sweet nothings into her ear. That should about do it!
My Dixon soprano D almost plays itself.
Not so the Dixon Low D, however. It takes quite a bit of wind, but is spectacular in going between octaves when “breathed” properly.
“Quite a bit of wind?”
That isn’t the first thing that would spring to mind describing the Dixon Low D. My only problem with it is that it’s a very quiet whistle - I find I prefer whistles with a more solid bell note. But the Dixon is easy to play, has a nice (if quiet) voice, and requires remarkably little wind.
Not terribly responsive, as Low D’s go, but a very nice whistle for slow airs (and any tune, really, played a moderate pace - just don’t try to do your Mary Bergin imitation!). I’ll admit that I play mine, mostly, with the flute head in place, but it’s still quite satisfactory as a low whistle - certainly a lot more to my taste than the Susato Low D, if not quite up to the Reyburn or the Overtons I’ve had chances to borrow.
But it takes less air than any other Low D I’ve tried.