In recent months, my interest in whistles and practice has burgeoned. I now own a Generation bflat, Waltons C, Feadog D, and Tony Dixon Tunable D, with a Goldie Low D on the way.
What are people’s thoughts about switching whistles when practicing?? Each Whistle has it’s own distinct feel and in many cases differing size too.
Is it best to keep practice to a main whistle? Does it confuse and undermine practice to keep switching whistles for different songs and exercises? This question may be particularly pertinent when bringing a low D into the mix, as it is so much bigger than many of the higher whistles.
I switch between whistles (and flute…singular) but I lean towards the lower scale more so these days. I spend more time on my A, Low F, D and Flute (in Low D) than I do with my high whistles. Where I’m at has been a slow and steady progression with a little bit of, ‘don’t want to annoy the neighbours with a high whistle’ concerns. None have complained about my “Flute” playing yet. ‘Flute’, in this regard is usually the Goldie Low D that I get the complimentry remarks from neighbours. I get stony silence if I play anything else, but I get that most of the time anyway.
In my usual over wored style, I’m saying go with what grabs ya at the time. You’ll get used to the changes quick enough.
I switch between whistles too. Not only do I learn the different qualities and feel of the different whistles but I learn that sometimes a tune works better on one whistle than another.
Practice on your cheapest or worst sounding whistle. If you can make that sound good, then think of what you will make a good whistle sound like. But make sure the whistle is in tune. If you practice with one out of tune, you might start becoming tone deaf.
It seems like I am not alone in my practice of whistle swapping during practice.
My Tony Dixon Standard D seems to fly through the fast reels and jigs and the Gen B flat produces such a beautiful sound with the slower airs. I also find different whistles and brands have different amounts of chiff too - My Gen Bflat has a good amount of chiff, which I often use in faster pieces to good effect.
It’s good fun seeing how different pieces sound and perform with different whistles. It keeps things interesting and I think helps develop your ear and fingering across a range of whistles.
i concentrate on the high d, low d, and flute, but i like to play the c for performances, so i like to practice some on that one too (i think it’s a bit easier on the ears–especially the way i play (badly
i’m firmly of the opinion though that practicing with different whistles helps your overall whistle skills develop, especially things like breath control. Mr. Hoover was kind enough to send me his narrow bore brass d whistle to try, it has the lightest breath requirements of any whistle i’ve every played. compared to the goldie d i used to have, i almost want to say they are different instruments.
i agree with mr. whistle collector (again –i don’t know if he was kidding –but i like to challenge myself with a bad whistle sometimes (i have this old beat up brass gen i got for free–it’s terrible! so i like to try to make it sound nice, quite the challenge
and i swear that practicing on a G whistle greatly improved my ability to play a low d. i was really struggling with the low d i had (a susato), then got an ethnicwinds low G from Nick (nice whistle, have to blow a bit hard to hit the high b, but otherwise a really nice -sounding -playing whistle) and practiced for awhile on it; now somehow i can play the low d without squeaking half as much. like a miracle.
when i have time, i also like to cycle though every key i have… i just got a low a that i’m trying out, and another low d just for fun. i also like to play the Bb a bit too. so i go thru an Eb, D, C, Bb, A, G, and low d before giving up and scaring away cats and dogs with my d flute.
but when i only have 15 minutes (and no one’s going to complain , it’s the high d reyburn.
If it was me, once I got that Goldie Low D I would spent nearly 100% of my time playing that.
Low D’s are more finicky but also (in my opinion) much more rewarding to play than high whistles.
The only whistle I ever practice on, and for sessions the only whistle I bring, is a Low D (MK).
At gigs with my Irish trio I mostly play the Low D. I play a couple tunes on a Feadog D and a Generation C but I never practice on those things.
The more hours you log onto a particular whistle the more intimate you become with all its subtle strengths and weaknesses, and the better you’ll sound on it. Since it’s the Low D that I perform on primarily, it’s the Low D that I practice on.
I used to practice with all of my whistles. At every practice I had them all laid out beside me. But soon I found myself switching between them too much and obsessing about which is my favorite and which sounds better. I wasn’t thinking about rythum or sharpening ornaments. So I stopped.
Now I almost exclusively practice with my low A, and find I can cover the holes much better without leaks now that I have stopped alternating with a high D whistle.
And, to agree with others on this thread, we do everybody a favor when we stick with a lower whistle. I Trad purists favor the high D (and it does have that chirp). Onlookers like it also–when they hear one or two songs. Much more, and we become irritating.
And lower whistles still sound like whistles, not flutes, and I favor the sound of whistles over flutes.
There is a distinct possibility this will also happen with me as I love the sound of the low D and other low whistles, but not the chance to play them yet. As I improve too, I’m losing the desire to play the low cost whistles for any length of time, as I’m seeking a purer and more reliable sound that my low cost whistles don’t seem to be able to provide.
I almost always end up back on my Dixon tunable (high) D lately as it produces the best quality sound of all my whistles, is the most responsive and has the best balance of chiff and pure tone (to my liking anyway).
I like your point about getting to know a whistle too - It’s very true.
Another thing, I don’t have, or want to have, multiple whistles in the same pitch.
I want to find the best whistle for each pitch I can, then get rid of the others as quickly as possible. I went from five or six Low D’s to one, in a hurry, as soon as I decided which one was best for my playing.
It’s kind of like the pro sax player I know. He has dozens of tenor saxes, yes indeed he’s a fanatical collector, but he only performs on one, the best tenor he has. He told me “that’s the sax that I sound the best on.”
Hard to argue with that! Why sound less than your best?
Now it’s true that I have three high D’s. The old prized Feadog is the only one I ever perform on though.
The Generation just sits in a drawer. (It was my “car whistle” but my MK Low D is now both my performance whistle AND my “car whistle” because I want to log the maximum amount of playing time on it. So, it’s never far from my hands and I play it every day.)
The Burke “session” model is only for the times I need to play a high D at a loud session.
This question may be particularly pertinent when bringing a low D into the mix, as it is so much bigger than many of the higher whistles.
