Hi all! Ok, Here’s my first newbie question. Are Oak whistles supposed to be incredibly hard to play? I played the alto sax years ago and figured I’d pick up a whistle and give her a try. I’ve been playing for a few weeks now and anytime I get even NEAR a low D my Oak squaks like a stuck pig. The whistle is so sensitive I have to practically breathe a block away from this whistle in order to hit the low notes. Are there any other whistles that are easier for the beginner or am I being impatient?
To a certain extent, you’re going to need to work on breath-control issues with any whistle. I can just about guarantee that any D whistle is going to seem ultra-sensitive after a saxaphone!
In addition to working on breath control, you’ll want to check your finger placement. If you’re used to valves, making sure the tone holes are properly covered can be a bit more challenging than it seems.
There are whistles that are more sensitive than others…my O Briain “improved” jumps to the second octave if I just THINK about playing higher (which I like, but which would have been frustrating when I first started to play). If you keep having this problem, and you’re sure you have the tone holes properly covered, you might want to try a Generation or a Feadog (or even a Clarke, if you like the sound) for now, and go back to your Oak when you’re a bit more comfortable with the whistle in general).
I found the Sweetone much easier to start with. The Oak is a little demanding with the very low and very high notes. You will probably want to come back to it later.
Mike Burns
I’m a upper beginner and I find the Oak to be a little tricky. In fact, if you look in Dale’s Low End Whistle page, he is not enthusiastic..
I have the breath down, which isn’t too bad, but I find the fingering tricky, in that the slightest leak causes a sqwawk. Note bending and legato playing is harder. My Sausato is really easy in comparison.
Is yours a new Oak? Did your lips get numb? If so, look elsewhere on page 1 or 2 for Cure for Lip Numbing Oak thread.
Oh… I almost forgot to say; yes, after playing sax a whistle will seem incredibly sensitive. (I played Alto Sax for 6 years; a Feadog was tricky at first until you get used to the air req’s…)
Wow! Talk about a quick response! Thanks to all who took the time to answer. I hopped over to whistleshop.com and ordered a Sweetone and a Feadog. I figure one or the other will suit me fine. This has got to be one of the friendliest boards on the net. You folks remind me of my ukulele friends (on http://www.fleamarketmusic.com). Good folk all around. Thanks again. I look forward to chatting it up with ya!
Apparently some Sweetones are good, as are some Oaks, Feadogs, and even Generations. There’s a certain amount of fun in acquiring a bunch of cheap whistles in the quest for a good one. However, the frugal thing to do would be to buy a Susato VSB or a Dixon, which cost very little more than the cheapies. The Susatos are consistently good, and if you get a bad Dixon, Tony will make it good.
Oak is a great whistle–maybe the absolute best of the inexpensive whistles I’ve played so far–but it takes careful and steady air control, and a very soft, easy blow.
Paradoxically, I find you have to have really good muscular air column support to keep that soft an air stream steady.
I will agree this is not the best whistle for beginners to try first. Consider this one to move up to if you like its pure sound and chiffy attacks.
Also this whistle plays better if you warm it up gently first for several minutes before really “digging in.”
Acorn, on the other hand, though it appears to use the same fipple design, is a fine whistle for beginners. It’s more forgiving on breath control and plays well cold. The tone isn’t as pure, slightly louder, still with some chiff.
I find Oaks very easy to play, in fact, I don’t understand why others have such difficulty. They seem to take lots of air quite well. But it has to be big air, not fast air. They also play better in tune than most cheapies. Maybe these are the whistles to learn to master for breath control. If you can play an Oak, then you can play anything. . . except a Shaw. JP
[quote]
On 2002-10-31 23:37, JohnPalmer wrote:
I find Oaks very easy to play, […] They seem to take lots of air quite well. […]
Wow. My experience with Oaks is quite different, but maybe they’ve improved in recent years. I gave my Oak away a long time ago, in preference to Clare and LBW and Genny brass and my other cheapies. Then again, maybe it just doesn’t fit my style. I’m a huffenpuffer, I’m always pushing the notes and I expect them to behave a certain way.
Some of the cheap whistles seem to come in good batches / bad batches. There was a period of time several years ago when several consecutive orders of Feadogs were absolute junk, and we had to send them all back and stopped ordering them, then suddenly they got better and we began to carry them again. I used to love the Little Black Whistle, but we must have got a sorry batch last time - when I was picking whistles to take to the workshop last week, I found only one out of every 6 that I tested up to my standards.
I don’t have the time or patience to doctor the losers - I’m lucky in that I work in a shop where I get to handpick all my own whistles.
I think my Oak D is a swell whistle.
But I think there may be
several whistles out there
which are the Oak D.
I bought a C once,
and it was awful, the
head was a different
design almost entirely.
OK, fine, I suppose I could give a small and maybe helpful tip:
I was lucky enough to have a friend with a wide collection of keys. I found that whistles in the key of A or lower felt more comfortable for me in terms of breath control. Not that it helps for playing with other people very much, but for practicing on my own, well, I still like the lower whistles.
Before someone else flames me for it I should add that some makes of whistles seem to always have low air requirements, regardless of the key. IIRC, the laughing whistles are that way. The whistle in A that I like is a Dixon.
