Last weekend I played a gig at an outdoor event, and it was really cold and wet outside. For about 1/3 of the sets I played my Low D that’s a Kerry w/ aluminum body and black plastic head. Every time I picked up the whistle it was freezing, and went WAY flat every time. Luckily, we were right in front of an outdoor fireplace, so I could warm it up every time, but it took a while to get it back into tune, with the head all the way in.
What I was wondering is, what is the best material for playing for outdoor gigs? The aluminum seems to get cold way too fast. I have heard that delrin is good for the weather, but would it perform better than my Kerry did? Thanks,
Delrin would be better. Thes best thing to do would probably keep the Whistle in your Pocket while you aren’t playing. I know there are a couple 3 Piece Low Whistles which would fit into a pocket and that way they would not be so cold.
I’ve heard of people who play Chieftains and Overtons in cold conditions keeping the heads of the whistles in a bucket of warm water! If it’s that cold, I don’t wanna be playing…
PVC is not a good choice for cold. at least in my experience (which isnt saying much). I have a PVC low d that simply will not play when it gets cold. When it is cold, if it plays at all, its not pleasent.
just my 2 cents
~Heron
If it is cold but not wet and you have access to a power plug what helps keeping the whistle warm is a small shoulder/neck heating blanket about 60 by 40 cm or such, you can wrap it around the whistle heads, this will keep the heads at playing temperature (usually there are different temperatures you can choose). A friend of ours who plays a lot in churches told us about it. Colin uses it, too and it works fine for him.
If it is wet though I do not think it is a good idea to use them, no idea how save they are when wet especially with metal instruments.
Maybe worth a try, they are normally not so expensive.
Brigitte
P.S. edited to make the size of the blanket bigger… this dimension error has nothing to do with my capabilities of parking a car!
When it’s cold out, you have two concerns: Tuning and Moisture.
A high-D whistle drops nearly 20 Hz in frequency for 20 Degrees F of change.
Just think, a 70 F Degree whistle in High-D is going to play close to C# at 30 Degrees F.
Whistles go flat when cold, If you’re playing along with string instruments, they go sharp when cold thus making the difference even more pronounced. So you need to tune outdoors if you’re going to play outdoors.
Since the instrument is plays flat in the cold, you compensate by making the instrument shorter. Move the mouthpiece towards the tube more.
Various whistles are designed for a certain amount of tuning, they usually can be pulled out more than pushed in. I guess that makes most whistles warm weather instruments. Now, I’ve heard that Copeland makes their instrument have a decent amount of push in tuning direction.
You can always consult the maker of a whistle to have it made a little shorter for low temperature performance.
Now, brass takes temperature change quite quickly, that’s why gun cartridges are made of brass - to keep the gun from getting hot to quickly.
Brass is going to clog in the cold.
Aluminum is less than brass but has some thermal expansion issues. You might need teflon tape or beeswax handy for the tuning joint when playing in the cold because the tuning joint can get loose.
Plastic, I really haven’t tried in extreme cold. In slight cold, it works fine after it warms up from your breath.
Delrin, this stuff handles moisture in the best way. It is likely to be the best for cold weather. An All Delrin (or Acetal) whistle or say Delrin head with plastic body would be ideal for cold weather playing.
The only ones I can really think of are the Burke Composite and the Susato.