Hi y’all,
Just got back from a day at the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show in Anaheim, CA.
Spent most of the afternoon swapping tunes with Michael Copeland and Jim Rementer at the Clarke Whistle booth, where Michael had quite a collection of instruments to try, including his new keyless wooden flute and the sterling silver high and low D whistles. They let me have for free a very nice little Clarke tinwhistle that I was demonstrating. It will be quite nice for those times when my brass Copeland would be out of place.
I was very impressed with the sterling whistles, in particular the high D, really phenomenal tone and response. It was also great to finally meet and spend some time chatting with Michael and Jim on the art of whistle building…
The new Copeland flutes are quite nice as well, one piece body, very sleek profile, and construction that one would expect from Michael, flawless. I think fairly easy to play requiring a slightly wider embrochure than my McGee Rudall Carte to nail the second octave. Michael was playing his while I was on the silver whistle and it sounded quite good to me from a short distance.
Cheers,
Michael