New here and need some advice

Whistle
1

Hello,

I have been playing whistles for 3 years and recorders for about 15 and have a range of recorders, flutes and whistles. Currently I have:

Tony Dixon: Low G flute/whistle Polymer (without whistle head), Polymer high C tuneable with piccolo head
Cheiftan: Low D (non tunable) and High C - I like the high C as it has a clear bright sound, but can’t seem to hit the highest notes well sometimes with it.
Generation (Nickel): Bb, D, Eb, F (I took of the high F fipple and use my Dixon high C head on it, it sounds a little better and less annoying and accidently broke the head of the Eb and taped a B recorder head to it, so if you blow it right, makes a nice tone)
Also have 3 recorders, a treble B a A and a Tenor in B

Also have a normal flute which I have had for 2 years and 2 unnamed brass D whistles. I even made my own low D copper whistle which I played a few times but it got damaged and well, don’t have it anymore. I also tried making my own fipple and it fits all my generation whistles and it gives them a sort of soft, airy, bright slight churpy (or wizzy) sound, can’t really explain it well, good on my Eb but less so on my D

I have a few youtube videos of myself playing here (not all the best recordings, took ages before I was able to record myself without messing up):

Minstrel Boy on Tony Dixon G Flute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I2hnXcAnGI
Will Ye Go - Dixon High C tunable Polymer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nEAUzU0lXA
King of the Fairies - Generation Bb (Nickel) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhZl978_DRc (This I messed up so much but I can play it better than this)
Planxty Fanny Power - Cheiftan Low D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjgzMK8xTlk
Sleivenamon - Cheiftan Low D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFiArF-1Hoo
Flower of Scotland - Cheiftan Low D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRQqFgdvAnU (This was a poor quick take)
Pokarekare Ana - Cheiftan High C: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzRV9jvqeps

I can play much better than this now, before it took me ages to play a tune on camera without messing something up, but I have got to the point where I can play tunes I know easily. I usually pick up songs by ear, some take longer than others and starting to get into hornpipes and jigs which I couldn’t play before well.

What I want now is a better whistle and was thinking of a Susato Mezzo A as I have heard some A whistles and they give a nice tone (read that the mezzo a gives a nice professional sound but havn’t heard this one to find out). Anyone know about this whistle or how it sounds? I have heard the Susato VSB high E whistle before and it sounded nice, bit high though. I did see the Susato Db/C# High Tuneable. S Series but don’t know how it sounds. I don’t have a lot of money to spend, mostly around $100 or around £50. Basically I am wanting a whistle that gives a sweet tone, bright but doesn’t give a breathy tone. Can anyone help? Is A a good key to have? its one of the few high keys I don’t have (besides the rarer F#, Db, Ab etc…)

2

Hi and welcome,

Nice videos. I wonder if you might experiment with not tonguing quite so much (some may suggest not at all) to give a more traditional sound.

There have been quite a few recent threads on the A whistle. I have turned a Gen Bb into an A whistle just by pulling the head back, but others including Jerry Freeman have more sophisticated tweaks. Guido has plans available online for you to make a PVC whistle in A from some cheap components.

Are you playing with anyone else? If not, do you really need another whistle in another key right now?

3

Hi,

Nice videos. I wonder if you might experiment with not tonguing quite so much (some may suggest not at all) to give a more traditional sound.

Would that be just playing with one continuous breath then? Sorry, I don’t fully understand tounging

Are you playing with anyone else? If not, do you really need another whistle in another key right now?

I am not playing with someone else, I wanted a different whistle as I was wanting to record a CD of some whistle tunes adding backing tracks I make myself and selling it on somewhere like CD baby and wanted a good sounding whistle to get a decent sound. I like the whistles I have at the moment, but just wanted to try something different to see how it would go.

4

I watched all of your videos. They are full of excitement and mystery.
In the first video I wondered, will he catch on fire? In the second video, I realized the fireplace must be the only source of heat in the house. King of the Fairies was the first video I watched. Is that a bear on top of your dresser? Does he know his pillowcase needs staightened? Is that a clothes rack or a hot house in his bedroom? I could not tell. If it’s a hothouse, that explains why the bear isn’t hanging up nicely but not why the bear wouldn’t take advantage of the extra warmth. Maybe he slayed the bear with the L square. (This was the first video I watched and I only watched the other videos to see if you would straighten up your room.) In the next video, I wondered why is that door open? Whoever picked out the colors for that house sure likes colors but doesn’t like themes. Maybe the drapes look better in person. They should call the local historical society, those have got to be the tallest windows in the country. Make a video in the kitchen. Clean your room.

Your music sounded nice. I would like it to sound more lively and vibrant but I don’t know or play ITM. You sure have the fingers to play the whistle.

5

I watched all of your videos. They are full of excitement and mystery.
In the first video I wondered, will he catch on fire? In the second video, I realized the fireplace must be the only source of heat in the house. King of the Fairies was the first video I watched. Is that a bear on top of your dresser? Does he know his pillowcase needs staightened? Is that a clothes rack or a hot house in his bedroom? I could not tell. If it’s a hothouse, that explains why the bear isn’t hanging up nicely but not why the bear wouldn’t take advantage of the extra warmth. Maybe he slayed the bear with the L square. (This was the first video I watched and I only watched the other videos to see if you would straighten up your room.) In the next video, I wondered why is that door open? Whoever picked out the colors for that house sure likes colors but doesn’t like themes. Maybe the drapes look better in person. They should call the local historical society, those have got to be the tallest windows in the country. Make a video in the kitchen. Clean your room.

Well first, I didn’t have an exact right place to do all the recording as nowhere seemed like the right place as my bedroom is sort of small and don’t have big rooms or anywhere I can easily record my whistle playing on video without have something in it. Yeah, I admit my room wasn’t exactly 100% clean at the time and that was a jacket not a bear. I was doing a clean out then and that video was just a quick take, maybe I should have waited.

Windows in my house are rather large, I live in a 300 year old farm house and recording in the kitchen is out, its so small only room for one person as its long and narrow, it actually was never meant to be there, a previous owner had it built but the larger room beside it used to be the kitchen before the other bit was added.

Think I may need to work on my playing style a little, most of those except the Minstrel Boy and Will Ye Go where recorded before I felt comfortable recording the videos as I did want to record a few, I messed up a lot then.

Anyway, all that in mind, got to make sure I find a better place to record my videos.

6

Dave, have you processed the audio on some of those videos to add reverb? You maybe need to dial it back a few notches, it’s muddying the tone of your playing, and those whistles should sound nice enough without it.

7

Yeah I did add a little reverb, that was before I really listened to a lot of peoples recordings. I did find that some people add too much reverb. I’ll play about with recording styles and see what sounds good or bad I’ll keep in mind with the reverb as it can be good or bad depending on how its used. Looking back on some of my videos, I can see how it would have been good not to use it.

8

Yeah, well, sort of. Try using cuts and taps to articulate between notes rather than your tongue all of the time. See:
http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/tonguing.html

9

Your videos weren’t too bad actually; some people really go to town on it. You just have to be careful with it and remember less is more. Done right it makes it sound as if you’re recording in a space with nice acoustics, overdone and it just ruins the tone of the instrument, especially an instrument like a whistle that doesn’t have any significant amount of sustain.

I like your playing and can only encourage you to continue! The link hoopy mike gave you to Brother Steve’s pages is a really good one, his site explains articulation very well, I found it useful myself.

10

Hi Dave:

Welcome!! I looked at your videos and have to tell you I enjoyed them. Nice playing.

I must be a little thick or something: I wish I lived in a 300 yr old farm house in Ireland. I love your house.

Hey, I also looked at your butterfly website,… facinating!! It’s always exciting to see the varied and interesting “other” lives that we have when we’re not whistling. Mine isn’t quite as interesting, but when I’m not whistling I’m really into training dogs and playing with my grandchildren.

Anyway,… welcome to the group.

11

Thanks everyone for the advice and welcomes :slight_smile:

12

Been a few months since I was last here, but I have did some improving, especially recently been practising a lot due to being not to well and having to rest. I am getting a new video camera tomorrow so will be able to post more videos. I took on board what people were saying about tounging and listened to many other whistle players and tunes and learned a few new tunes such as “My lodgings on the cold ground”, “Dunphys Hornpipe”, “Mo Ghile Mear”, “The Coolin”, “Think of your head in the Morning” “Paddy’s Wedding” and “Paddy O’Carroll”

13

Depending on your budget.

I have a Jerry Freeman Mellow Dog. It’s a great D whistle, and not too expensive. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy any Jerry Freeman whistle – just read the descriptions to see what the sound profile is like.

I have a Carbony mezzo G. This whistle is really great. It’s got a round, warm tone, without being breathy. But the price point is pretty high.

14

WELCOME!!! :slight_smile:



www.tuxedomusic.com

15

Are you sure about this? Recorders are available in many keys and pitches, but these are quite exotic and not many people make them. Effectively you have a tenor in C, and a fifth flute and a fourth flute, all in A415. That’s pretty exotic stuff for someone who has only three instruments… I don’t know, something isn’t quite adding up for me here.

And after 15 years of playing recorder you’re not sure what tonguing is? Tell me it ain’t so.

I mean, I’m prepared to believe anything, but.

16

Warning; Lepidoptera digression ahead!
My wife likes to make our yard bird friendly.
She has added stuff like water features, special plants, and such.
Turns out that many butterflies enjoy similar habitats.
Now she has butterfly plantings too.
She plants not just flowers for nectar use, but plants that are larvae host for specific specie.
Eastern milkweed has naturalized in our yard and we get Monarch larvae on them. We had poor success with the Asclepias native to So.Cal coastal areas.

And for god sake, don’t let the boyos I work with at the refinery know that we bird and butterfly.
The current jokes about blowing on whistles are quite enough, thank you.