Does anyone make flagolets anymore? The old term for a wood whistle, sort of. They look much like recorders. An amateur gentleman’s instrument mostly, often with keys, and sometimes two or even three bores played simultaneously, one of which would be a drone. Alright! I’m looking for a new challenge, uilleann pipes and pedal steel just aren’t confusing enough…
Was the fingering the same as the whistle, also?
William Bainbridge I believe was one of the more prolific old makers of these, in beautiful stained boxwood. I’m interested in them as a quieter indoors instrument, also the keys. Anyone making a keyed tin whistle, while we’re on that topic?
I’ve posted about my old B fife with its “cheater,” which lets you play it just like a whistle; and it has a VERY sweet tone, and a modest volume, I play that and all the whistles gather dust.
Check this website:
http://www.albawhistles.com/
Sweetheart does (or at least did) a wooden keyed whistle. I think somebody had a flute/piccolo maker make them a keyed whistle.
Having a whistle with a bunch of keys take away a lot of ornamentation, or at least, makes it more difficult/cumbersome.
I love the groovy Alba logo. What’s this about Marilyn Monroe? Do these whistles make you sound like you’re fried on pills, then?
That’s not a flageolet! Looks like a 70s Soviet booster rocket. Made from finest grade pop can…yckkk. Not my thing.
Doesnt’ look like the Sweets make these anymore. I’ll look for a cheap oldie, I guess. I know Lark in the Morning carry them, or did. I bet you could mount the keys in a way which wouldn’t get in the way of the fingers, too, assuming that was a problem with the old ones in the first place.
If you want a whistle-like drone instrument, you can check out the dvoyanka. Two mouth-blown chambers, six holes on one side for melody, the other a drone, and made of wood. The folks in Eastern Europe make some cool music with them.
Lark carries them, and I see them on E-Bay pretty often. I prefer the larger models at LArk; the high-pitched ones don’t appeal to me much.
This is the sort of thing I’m interested in. I bet these sound fantastic.
I use to have a flageolet years ago. It had an elongated oval shaped ivory mouth piece. The fingering is different than the penny whistle. It’s more like the recorder. I don’t think you’ll like the instrument. Mine was very soft to play, quite mellow, and too quiet to be heard with other instruments. But that was mine…an old one from England that I bought through Sotheby’s Auctions years ago.
My Gen C was labelled as a flageolet when I got it. Might have something to do with why the heads are so difficult to get off.
To me, a flageolet is more of a hybrid between a NA flute and a whistle (keyed if you like): it has a round duct, drinking straw like, or rather like these mate drink contraptions. It opens in an upper low pressure chamber (supposed to hold a sponge), leading in turn to the windway. With six main toneholes and no second-octave vent, it’s more akin to an elaborate whistle rather than a recorder. Also, the soprano one I got from eBay Germany is tuned in D, not the recorder’s C.
Call Sweetheart Co. They also rebuild and resell antique whistles, flutes, flageolets. They mail a printed list of their stock when asked. I think there were a couple flageolets last time I looked.
The traditional difference between a flageolet and a whistle isn’t material or keys. The flageolet has a chamber between the mouthpiece and the windway, thus it doesn’t clog. I have an old French (Mathieu) flageolet and also an Alba. The Alba is most definitely a flageolet, also most definitely an Alba.
Whistle and flageolet are often used interchangeably these days; that’s why Generations and Sweethearts call themselves flageolets.
Charlie
Hi Gang
I find that there is a lot of confusion with the name “Flageolet”. There are actually 3 versions of “Flageolet”. I believe Kevin is looking for the French “Quadrille” Flageolet with 4 toneholes on top and 2 thumbholes in back. The high pitched versions are also known as “Bird Pipes” used in the Victorian era to train cage birds to sing. Bird pipes were small and using the French Quadrille fingering, these small pipes were easier to finger. Here is a BBC site with some Flageolet history blurbs…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A301852
I haven’t found any makers yet, but I shall endeavour to persevere!!!
Thomas Hastay.
Actually Englishman Charles Wells makes flageolets. I never played one of them, but the tabor pipes he makes are of good quality and he’s a very friendly man.
Check out his website: http://www.kawells.fsnet.co.uk/index.htm
Cheers
Claus
WordNet Dictionary
Definition:
- [n] a small fipple flute with four finger holes and two thumb holes
- [n] a French bean variety with light-colored seeds; usually dried
Synonyms: haricot, shepherd’s pipe, treble recorder
See Also: common bean, fipple flute, fipple pipe, recorder, vertical flute
Webster’s 1913 Dictionary
Definition:
\Flag"eo*let`, n. [F. flageolet, dim. of OF. flaj?l
(as if fr. a LL. flautio;us), of fla["u]te, flahute, F.
fl?te. See {Flute}.] (Mus.)
A small wooden pipe, having six or more holes, and a
mouthpiece inserted at one end. It produces a shrill sound,
softer than of the piccolo flute, and is said to have
superseded the old recorder.
{Flageolet tones} (Mus.), the naturel harmonics or overtones
of stringed instruments.
Actually what I’d be keen for would be a wood (box, ebony) whistle with baroque or classical type turnings, small bore and holes, and perhaps some keys. The double or triple pipe idea is interesting, too. I don’t want a tabor pipe or something to train birds with, although it’d be cool to have a parrot that knew lots of gangsta rapper dialogue: “RAWWWKKK! ‘SUP, G? YO, WE BE KICKIN’ IT! RAWWWK! 'SUP, DAWG?”
I have a Sweet whistle which is nicely turned, a bit like what I’m talking about, but it’s very loud.
It’s interesting to me how peoples’ concept of what something should be has such an effect on what is produced, not that this isin’t to be expected. Whistles are metal, cylindrical shaped a lot of the time, with bright plastic fipples, or made of flashy tropical woods. There are all of these rather space age looking whistles, like the Alba, whistles that look Copelandish (like flue organ pipes?), wood whistles that look like Abell/Schultz/Kirk Lynch (mine does).
I notice the same thing in uilleann pipemaking - schools of thought. I’m most keen on the pipes that were made 150-200 years ago, rather classical looking instruments; but most pipemakers have their own, sometimes quite odd, ideas about what a set of pipes should look or sound like.
So…does anyone besides Sweet make a classicalish looking wood whistle, like I’m talking about; or a whistle with a more modest volume? The Sweetone Clarke whistles are getting there for me, volume-wise.
Wood, turnings, small holes, quieter than Sweet*?
* But not really quiet whistles for that matter
You bet there’s one: Yvon Le Coant, from French Brittany.
His instruments are great, among the very best IMHO.
His web page, however, sucks like very few… Check for yourself http://membres.lycos.fr/lecoantyvon/SITE_ANGLAIS/indexE.htm
Even the image is not up-to-date: for several years now, his whistles have had silver-plated ferrules.
Also, the translation is not correct: the woods are not “ebony and purplewood”, but a choice of African Blackwood or Brazil Kingswood.
Keys available: sop D, C, A, G and Low D.
Mezzo Bb planned for next spring.
Scarcity of tones is due to his conical bores, requiring an expensive set of reamers per model.
Prices high. 185 Euros for a soprano, then up–to ca. 450 Euros for the three-piece Low D.
The Kingswood seems to give them a “reedier” sound, soften a bit the volume. I found these features to be interesting for my G. Unfortunately, with no Le Coant’s plans on low Eb and F, I had to get these elesewhere.
The Low D I took in blackwood. I wait for the Bb to be availbale. D, while sorely tempted, I had already from Sweet, and content with.
I really should takes these photos and post them… 
Flakey Frenchie…
There’s three different threads going on here regarding keyed whistles; Cran berry also has one called 6 keyed whistle about putting a Susato head on a piccolo. I completely missed in the flurry of writing that goes on here.
http://jubileeinstruments.messianic-webhosting.com/keys-chroma.jpg
Nice springs, looked like coiled up paperclips. Plenty of solder blobs. I’ve seen much cleaner work elsewhere.
Anyone familiar with this Jubilee Instruments outfit?
Daniel_Bingamon from Jubilee is a regular poster to C&F.
He’ll answer any of your questions.
Paul Busman and Jon Swayne also make nice wooden whistles that aren’t too loud. Swayne’s are also all-wood and conical-bore. The tuning is another issue – these all have tuning slides, although I’m not sure how good the internal tuning would be tuned down a half-step (to A415). I don’t know that any of these makers will make a C#, either. I bet Glenn Schultz would, but his whistles are pretty loud.