I see the term “responsiveness” used in whistle reviews and I finally think that I understand what it means. I just got a Sindt and find that I can hear the tone change while moving my fingers a shorter distance off the holes than with any other whistle I’ve played.
Naturally, the shorter distance my fingers have to move, the quicker I can play. It also tends to smooth out my rhythm since I’m not scrambling to keep up. I’ll pay more attention to responsiveness next time I read a review.
Angelo
One of the most “responsive” whistles I’ve ever played is my Freeman-tweaked Shaw. It’s weird because usually I don’t hear people talk about Shaws being particularly responsive but (in my opinion) this one is.
I think “responsiveness” is more or less synonymous with easiness of play–
My Burke narrow bore composite: very easy. very responsive.
My Overton low D: takes work and finesse. One must be extremely intentional to coax out a nice sound. This is, for many people, a positive feature.
Not sure I’d agree with your definition of responsiveness.
I think an instrument that is responsive is one that does what you want it to and that of course depends on what you want, and on your level of skill. For example although Burkes are certainly easier to play than Overtons I think that it is highly likely that very skilled players of low whistles (which I am not btw) would find an Overton more responsive than a Burke. Otherwise nobody would be playing Overtons, after all.
For my purposes, in a high whistle, responsive tends to means a whistle that will produce clean, snappy ornaments and grace notes when you are playing very fast. To someone who cares more about tone, responsive might mean a whistle that can produce a geater variety of tone colours and dynamics.
I defer. I see your point. Similar to why an expert photog may prefer a 35mm where all settings must me manipulated vs. a do-it-for-you digital snapshooter. Kind of.
But I also meant what you say about the clean, snappy ornaments with a high whistle, which makes, eg, the NB Burke D seem more “responsive” than the Overton low D, which really doesn’t do “snappy” because it’s a different animal. This could be just an apples/oranges thing.
I’ve never played a Low whistle but I do believe that in high whistles clean,snappy notes and ornamentations come from breath/finger control more so than anything in the whistles design. I have never been able to get my head around this idea that high end ( expensive ) whistles are more responsive than good old fashioned Gens.
Mind you,I have always been cheap :roll:
Slan,
D.
I think it means, how easily does the whistle do what you want it to do. For you.
It would be surprising if you had, because they aren’t. Quite a few of them exhibit what I consider to be deviant behaviour, too, by which I mean not tolerating fingerings that all the good olds handle with aplomb, particularly at the top of the range.
Fair point.
I believe that the whistle is a tool and you make it do want you want it to do,which goes back to breath/finger control.
Tone differences aside, you still have to bring the music out of the whistle and that has got to be down to technique.I don’t believe that miniscule variations in the design can make that great a difference to the playing of the music as it should be played.
I think I might form a whistle band and call it “The Rambling Semantics” 
Slan,
D.
This is pretty much what I mean as well. Some whistles may take a microsecond or two to come into focus, which makes them sound muddled when playing (especially ornaments) fast. I wouldn’t call these responsive.
I think Generations are plenty responsive. I just never have owned a D that was in tune with itself. I really love the little F I use though
I played an Oak for 15 years before buying my second whistle so I can understand the appeal of an inexpensive whistle. I have since owned Generation, Clare, Susato, Doolin and Hoover. I may be deluding myself, but I believe the tone changes more quickly as I go from note to note with the Sindt. It’s not something I can measure such as volume so I can only go by subjective feeling.
Angelo
Hmmm, when I say ‘Responsive’, I very particularly mean the level of,
“When I change fingering, how quickly does the sound change.”
If it is ‘very responsive’, the answer is ‘almost instantly’.
This is, of course, one way in which ornaments could be crisper. It may be the exact same
thing that Wanderer was saying.
Since bore size and body length are the most critical factors here, all soprano D whistles
are pretty darned responsive, but some more than others even with the same bore size.
I think more responsive whistles usually require better breath control (and so have less
variation within a note), but I have a relatively limited collection (comparatively to some here…)