Well. I got the Mellow Dog, as I reported earlier, and It’s rocking the junk out of all my other whistles (all cheap, but with some rather successful tweaks on a couple). Very pure without much chiff. Good balance in volume on the upper octave, not too shrill sounding. It’s got a “thicker” sound. Really a delightfull whistle. So delightful that I’ve been playing a very lot.
How much have I been playing it? Enough that there is a ringing in my ears thats persisted for several days after I stopped. I need to get some ear plugs. Till then, it’s back to the slightly quieter tweaked generation Bb (which does sound very nice in it’s own right, though the responce isn’t quite as satisfying).
I think I’m prone to music related injury. First my wrists start going, then my ears.
next thing you know I’ll be going blind from the cello.
I developed something similar when I was doing a lot of comparisons of upper registers among a variety of whistles–while sitting in a small room right in front of a large computer screen. I think it was a bad combination. Now I play out in more open areas of the house, and don’t push it so much.
Speaking of deafness, I have become cognizant recently that I really need a good pair of earplugs. I remember when I first joined C&F
there was a post about some earplugs that allowed music to be heard clearly, but cut the volume. Anyone remember what I’m talking about?
(Or know where I can get something similar?)
After half an hour on my Bleazey my ears ring it is a very loud Whistle. Try playing GHBs then you will know ears ringing I wear plugs when I practice or perform alone but with my band I can only hear my self with the plugs in.
Awesome. Those appear cheap enough to try for now. Eventually, I will have
to go to the Ear/Nose/Throat/Etc. Doctor to get a fitted pair, if I like how it
works out.
I worry about my hearing. Especially when I test Shaws during the tweaking process, I have to spend a lot of time with the highest notes. Before I start another batch of tweaked Shaws, I’ll have a set of these plugs.
I have been a lurker for years with almost no input. Recently, (last few days) I decided I would make a greater effort to contribute and make some more forum friends rather than just buy/sell and trade whistles here. Since I have some personal experience, this seemed an appropriate place to start.
A few years ago I played a concert as a guest guitarist and I was placed on stage between the drummer and the B3 player’s stacked Leslie cabinets. The set was magical but loud enough to wake the dead. I forgot my earplugs and just “bit the bullet”. When it was over my ears rang very loudly for 3 days. During an exam, which was a few weeks after the incident (with my ears still ringing a little) the ENT doctor told me that ANY ringing in the ears is an indicator of some level of damage. He said to avoid it at all cost because the effects can be cumulative and permanent.
Well, that night cost me and I can say from experience that it is a real bummer to have lost my high frequency hearing capacity. Everything I record now must be run by a “normal” set of ears to determine fine EQ adjustments before mastering. Plus, some fine hairs in my right ear were damaged and cause the ear to buzz with any loud sound. I have to play my high whistles with an earplug in my right ear to avoid a garbled sound. Of course, this was extreme volume, but I paid an immediate and serious price for my foolishness. You might want to consider being very careful as you possibly have experienced some minor damage that may not be permanent. Jerry, I think this might apply to you as well according to the information my doctor gave me. I hope this info helps!
This is what’s happening in my left ear. As soon as my health insurance
changes over, I’m going to the doctor. I think it’s cumulative damage from
driving with the car window open (I learned in a Perceptional Psychology
class that the large percentage of modern Americans have hearing loss in
their left ear because of the noise from the driver’s side car window being
open). Now, when my wife talks loudly, it makes my ear buzz and go fuzzy.
I think her voice must hit just the right frequencies. I’m only 30. Kids, use
ear protection!
Haven’t had much trouble with hearing, but it never occurred to me that it could become a problem. Thanks for the reminder.
I DO find that I have to watch the tendons in my fingers, especially thumbs. I have a lot of “extension” (double-jointedness) in my thumbs, and now the combination of whistle and being in my forties are coming back to haunt me. Lots of tendon issues and maybe even the beginnings of arthritis.
Anyhow, on that good ole Mellow Dog, I’m with you! I’ve got one I bought a while back, and I’ve got to tell you–nothing I have is better. I’ve never spent more than $140 or so on any one whistle, and probably never will. But I’ve been buying those mid-range whistles, thinking I would find something to at least MATCH Mellow Dog’s quality in maybe a different key. It’s still my favorite. So I’ve quit buying other whistles. I’ve got the one I want.
WHOA cured.
I teach music, and use whistles instead of **corders. My students love it when I bring the “Mellow Dog” to class. They call it the “pretty one.” They’re referring to the sound.
I have permanent ringing in my ears from whistles. It’s at 6000 hertz, 10 decibels. I’m going through a program of Tinnitus Retrainin Therapy to help me deal with it. For the first few months after the damage I also had hyperacuity, where sounds seem louder than they really are. That was tough.
Wear ear plugs…every time you play…no exceptions. Even a Hoover whistle is loud enough to do damage at close range. It you don’t have plugs moisten some tissue paper and wad it up. There’s always a bathroom close to where music is played, so there’s no excuse.
It really is a speldid whistle though. The problem arose because the upper register sounded so good that I kept on playnig in it; a nice pure sound all the way up. The thing that made me notice the problem was that I heard some buzzing on the notes above high G, and though “maybe this whistle isn’t perfect after all”…
But then I realized the buzzing was COMING FROM INSIDE OF MY EAR!!
I remember once in a hardware store looking
at supersonic rodent scarers. I was stupid
enought to put the thing to my ear to see if
I could hear any sound. For a couple of days
after I had a strange sensation in my ear and
a hissing sound.
I have since learned that high frequency sounds
can have huge energy in them. That might explain
why the upper register is more of a problem,
because it is higher in frequency, and we use a lot
more puff and therefore there is a lot more energy
in the sound.
I think there may be another element in it also,
but I have no way of checking, some whistles
have what sound like “intermodulation distortion”
in the upper register. This is where a lower frequency
interferes with a higher frequency causing a kid of
screech or tearing sound.
THEN AGAIN IT MIGHT BE OTHER FACTORS ENTIRELY
AS I STATED IN AN EARLIER POST:
Latest archaeological news from the
West of Ireland suggests the Ancient Celts
had a high level of scientific knowledge
regarding the dynamics of wind instruments.
This is a ground-breaking discovery
which, if proven, will upset all current
scientific understanding in the history of physics.
This knowledge FAR exceeds anything in current
understanding about the science of air flow and
resonance in blown wind instruments.
This 3000 year old Celtic musical artefact
appears to operate in the realm of
Quantum-Acoustics.
We are all familiar with the Bible story
of the Walls of Jericho and their destruction
by means of a trumpet. As school children
we wondered what sort of trumpet
could break down a wall.
Current research being carried out
on this new find of a whistle/trumpet type instrument
at the University of West Cork, suggests
that this instrument could create
soundwaves of an amplitude and frequency
never before thought possible.
Professor Tóin MacCac of the Department
Quantum Physics at the University of West Cork said:
“both Ultra-Sonic and Sub-Sonic waves, in
addition to audible or musical frequencies,
are capable of being produced by this instrument,
and it can produce these sound waves at massive amplitudes”.
Apparently the design uses a unique type of fipple
which causes a reaction in the air flow similar
to the reaction caused with light waves in a LASER.
Little yet is understood of this “Sound-Laser” effect.
Prof. MacCac pointed out that there could be dangers
involved if this type of whistle were to be reproduced.
The plans and design features are therefore being
kept highly secret and under a top level of security.
Exciting times for Celtic peoples everywhere.
We can never again look at the tin whistle
in the same way.
I haven’t had any thumb tendon issues but lately my thumbs have been very sore at the exact spot on the pads of the thumbs that the whistles sit on when I am playing. I am prone to do the “death grip”. I always had to be alert for that when I played guitar. I am hoping that if I learn to loosen my grip the pain in my thumbs will lessen and I’ll be able to play longer and more comfortably.
I’m going to have to check out the Mellow Dog too. Are there sound clips anywhere?
Mike
This afternoon, Antoine (9 lb. 3 oz. English poodle) started barking his head off.
I went to find out what he was barking at and saw that a delivery person had stuck a small padded envelope in the front door. As Antoine continued barking, I wondered what the delivery could be. Looking at the package, I didn’t recognize the company name on the label. Opening it, I saw.
EARPLUGS!
Just the thing to block out the barking. But then, if the delivery person hadn’t come to bring the earplugs, Antoine wouldn’t have been barking.
I tried them out. Very impressive. I can’t thank you enough for recommending them.
When I brought Natasha (age four) home from daycare, she sat on my lap in my office, pointed at the earplugs hanging from their cord above my desk and asked what they were.
