Ok, so I’ve somewhat recently seen The Pogues in L.A., and after watching Spider Stacy, I thought I could pick the tin whistle and play Irish music, myself, despite having absolutely no musical experience. So I went out and ordered a Guinness Walton’s Irish Black Whistle with the instruction book and CD (I had absolutely no idea what to get, but I thought one with a Guinness theme would probably have the “right” sound). I can already play a bunch of songs (e.g., The Sally Gardens, The Wild Rover, Minstrel Boy, and The Foggy Dew), albeit without the ornamentation. Also, I sorta like the sound I get from my whistle, at least when my playing is “right on,” otherwise I seem to get a lot of buzzing and squeaking, but I notice that others seem to have this same problem with the Walton’s Black Whistle. I especially have trouble hitting what I think is the “high D” note (OXXXXX +), but it seems to work when I just blow a little harder – otherwise it just squeaks (which is kind of counterintuitive, because I’m inclined to NOT want to blow as hard when I’m likely to squeak). Has anyone else noticed this on the black whistle?
Also, I’ve been reading a lot about whistles for beginners, and the Clarke Sweetone keeps popping up, but I have yet to see a good explanation as to why that’s a good whistle for beginners. Would anyone be able to explain that to me?
Anyway, what I’m thinking of doing is basically ordering the instructional materials and the whistles included in The Whistle Shop’s Deluxe Whistle Starter Set:
But I would replace the Susato VSB in D with the Walton’s Mello D (everyone on here says the Susato sounds like the recorder, and I’m not thrilled with that idea).
So, this was a long post, and I just want to say that I appreciate in advance any advice or help I could get on this. Thank you all.
I think folks mention the Clarke Sweetone so much for beginners is primarily because it’s inexpensive and it’s easy to get a decent sound out of it.
I think what I’d recommend for taking that “next step” would be one of Jerry Freeman’s “Mellow Dog” tweaked whistles and for instructional materials I like Cathal McConnell’s CD/Book set that’s available from Homespun Tapes. I’m planning on getting both of those for my neice who’s showing interest in picking up the whistle. I got the McConnell Book/Tape set not long after I started out and found it to be a good, easy to use resource. It’d cost a bit more than the set you’re looking at, but I think you’d be pleased with it.
(Edit: Not to dredge up old dirty laundry, but there have apparently been some issues with thewhistleshop of late. See this thread. I’ve not seen anything about whether those issues have been resolved - if they have been I’ll re-edit and remove this bit.)
I’ve tried the little black whistles, and I’ve found they play very nicely (if a little quiet). I went through three of them (they’re very delicate, compared to my Generations), and all of them played beautifully. You may have gotten a bad one, or you may just need to work a little harder on your breath control.
Sweetones are definitely nice, cheap, and easy to play. My Freeman tweaked Sweetone is still my favorite out of any low-end whistles I’ve come across, and it’s rusted and dented.
As for Susatos sounding like recorders, I heartily disagree with that belief. They tend to have less chiff than other whistles, but somebody who knows how to play one can get chiff out of it. I have yet to hear a complaint that my Susato Low D sounds too much like a recorder when I pull it out. I’m not too fond of the Susato high whistles myself, but I’ve heard people get great sound out of them.
Yeah, I do like how it sounds, I’m more and more thinking that it is just my breath control. But I’ve also heard that you want to have more than one whistle in order to know for sure (I guess that’s where WhOA comes in, right?).
Yeah, and that’s the thing, they sell the Soprano D, not the low one, as part of the set.