I’ve been lurking here for a few months since I embarked on my whistle learning journey, and have enjoyed the amazingly good natured discussions/banter/support from many of you - so thank you for that.
I bought the following whistles and have varied success with playing each:
Susato D tunable - find it difficult to play
Howard Low D - that’s going to be a long road to learn how to play that!!! ( but I know that I’m a newbie and need patience)
Syn D/C - D is difficult, C seems easier and I am getting there with that, although it clogs up easily
Dixon Trad - so easy to play and have enjoyed it
Now here come the questions - having played it for 3 months I almost find the Dixon trad too easy and am looking for something that is a bit more of a challenge ( I think that I’m talking of more back pressure here but am not too sure ). The Burke and Sindts get a great name here - any thoughts?
Also I am looking for an A whistle as I play in a ceilidh band ( on keyboards at present I hasten to add) and feel that an A would be useful as well as a D. The cheapest non-Susato one seems to be an Alba, but might be able to push the boat out for a dearer one - again any thoughts?
Hi Padraig! Welcome to the crazy world of whistles.
Since you’ve been lurking for a while, you know that everyone has different sounds they prefer. If you like the Dixon Trad, why not try a Dixon polymer in A? I like the one I have.
Of course, I also like my Alba C, my Reyburn G, my Hoovers, my Syn … and so on. Someone will be along in a little to suggest Overtons, Chieftains, Copelands, Burkes …
Burke is also very easy to play. The ones you seek are Overton, Alba, Syn or Chieftain (the Chieftain I traded, because it was too harsh to play and too loud and Overton plays BEAUTIFULLY!).
I’m not quite sure what you mean by a “challenge” in a whistle. I like whistles that are easy to play, and have found that most are so sooner or later, and that the “challenge” is learning to play the music “properly.” That said, my favorites for everyday play are Burke black tip brass, ABell delrin, Copeland, and O’Riordan soprano D whistles. O’Riordans are currently not directly available, and Abell and Copeland are at the top of the cost chart. Other wonderful D whistles include Sindt, Humphrey, Busman, Reyburn, etc. The newer Reyburn session whistles are lovely and require a bit more breath control in the upper octave than say a Burke.
Other whistles of a different “type” are Overtons - not my thing now but generally acclaimed as wonderful whistles, though some prefer them only in the lower keys. I have a non-tuneable D that doesn’t see much play. If you want backpressure, Colin Goldie will make one to your specs in that regard and they come both tuneable and non.
If it’s a challenge you want, I have an old Serpent dreadnaught that doubles as a sap or blackjack.
I’m going to go out on a limb here. Stop buying whistles for now. I know, I know…I just said the impossible.
You say you find the Susato to be difficult. Welcome to the world of high backpressure. Right there you have the perfect practice tool. Don’t get an expensive high bp whistle until you can make that Susato sing. You may even find it to be a wonderful whistle in its own right. However, it’s definately a high bp whistle and if you cannot make it sing, you are wasting your cash on any more expensive whistle.
Burkes are almost a no-bp whistle. Sure, they make a beginner sound awesome. They are forgiving. OBrien’s whistles are in the same vein. You will find these actually more forgiving than your Dixon Trad.
Now, here’s my 2c and sound advice. Shiny new whistles are great and we all like different whistles for differing reasons. Sometimes I love my Dixon Trad for the, well, traditional sound and ease of playing. Sometimes I love the Susato for the way I can lean into it and belt out a tune (but I’ve always been disappointed with how I sound playing something slow on it). I love my Obriens for the almost pure tone and switch between the fipples for nuances depending on what I want to play. I love my old style Burke WBB for airs, as the complex tone just sounds purely lovely.
Still, though eventually you will find something lovely in each and every whistle you own (and I’ve owned too many over the years), eventually we all come to one epiphany. By the time you can truly do justice to that Copeland, that Syn, that Thin Weasel, you will be so good that you can make a 7 dollar off the shelf Generation sound good. At that point, you aren’t there for the great sound, but for the nuances.
Scheky, you make a lot of sense. But please, if you can, answer a question I posed in another thread. Are there certain models of Susato that are difficult to play, because I have several (very old 3-piece set, D/C/Bflat; 2 separate tuneable Bflats, a laser etched Kildare Low G) and all are quite easy to play and I might add without any upper octave screech or octave slippage in transition, etc. I like them all. Granted, perhaps my memory is tainted by the years, but my recollection is that they were easy to play from the get go, not just that I’ve developed somewhat as a player over the years. That notwithstanding, I find that I can adjust really quickly to just about any whistle I pick up; a bit more effort is required for the Overton and Chieftain but I don’t play them much; I don’t particularly enjoy them and whatever little extra effort is required I like to put into dealing with the music at this point.
Now if Susato is generally listed with the Overton and Chieftain and perhaps Alba as having high back pressure and thus more difficult to play, is there a specific model of Susato that is being referenced, because none of my models are in that category. Or are we really talking about something other than backpressure (beyond warming up period)?
In light of your words of wisdom Schecky, I revisited my Susato and actually got not a bad sound out of it, when at first I could barely get it above e in the 2nd octave!!! I suppose that backs up your second point and what others have said about the individuality of whistles. And having patience when learning!!
I posted a little about the Susato on another thread, but in short, here is my opinion.
It’s certainly not hard to play. It’s amazingly hard to play if you have just been tooting a Generation or something like the Dixon Trad for a while. You have to lean into a Susato (and that would cause one of the lighter whistles to just screech, squeek and wail about with much gnashing of teeth).
When moving from one to the other, I give myself a day or two before I’m completely comfortable with the transition (unless I’ve been playing both). After that, it becomes natural again. I will say that my old Susato does have the dreaded buzz when I’m not pushing it. I’ve learned how to suppress that sound though (and Phil Hardy has a clip showing a Susato in action that’s wonderful).
Lately I’ve been spending most of my time with my Copeland Low D and my Flute…neither of which builds my confidence in my abilities.
Sorry if I offend somebody, but I think whistles with backpressure are way easier for beginners than, say, easyblowers like Clarke original. You don’t get exhausted so quickly and can consentrate on fingering and register shifting and not worry about blowing your lungs out.
So if you’re up to challenges, try clarke original or similar cosmic-drainpipe-type whistles. And don’t get me wrong; I actually like my Clarke originals, they are in tune and the register jumps are, well, logical at least You just need more air to keep them going.
That’s true for Clarke, but not for instance for Generations or Waltons. They blow very easily, without the need of much air. This is also true for more expensive whistles as Dixon and Burke and my newly traded Impempe (however the last has a little bit of backpressure in the 2nd octave). I tried a Clarke C once and indeed it neede loads of air.
Wow. This thread has erased some of my confusion about back pressure. So the Susatos have high back pressure? I’d have to say that, out of the box, my Susasto Bb played more easily and sweeter than any other whistle I own. The others (Shaw, Clarke, Feadog, Walton, and Generations) took much more time to develop good tone. So I guess that means I’m in the “I like high back pressure” camp?
There’s a thread concerning back pressure. Back pressure has not to do with the amount of neede air, but the pressure it takes to blow a good clear tone.
Dixon apparently stopped making whistles in “A”, sometime last year. The only sub-$100 whistle in the key of “A” that I know of is the Shaw, but they reportedly waste a lot of your air. If anyone knows of brands keyed in “A”, that are sub-$100 (or for a little more, but easy to obtain in the USA), please speak up.
Thanks, Scott. Hoovers look good. I’m glad you caught that I was only referring to “A” whistles. I will go back and edit my original post, for clarification.
For anyone not wanting to go back a page, the whistles I’m looking for are in “A”, and cost less than $100 (or a little more, if they’re easy to obtain in the USA).
I’ll back up Scott. I have a Hoover A in PVC that has a great sound. This one turned out to have a little bit of chiff that I don’t hear in my other Hoovers. I think it gives it a bit of character. Very fun to play.
I’m not the one to make comparisons since I only have one other A, but it’s hard to beat Hoovers for value!
You just need more air to keep them going.