Yes, I am looking for a quiet, inexpensive practice low D whistle. We have a new baby who cherishes his naps. Also my wife, bless her, sometimes offers to drive so I can play my whistles but I’d like to be a little quieter in close quarters.
So, I’m open for suggestions. Materials or breathing requirements are not a huge concern as long as they behave similarly to most low D’s in the Overton, Chieftain vein. For point of reference, my regular low D’s are my Standard Reyburn, Big O Goldie, and Lochlan.
I have a Dixon tapered Low D (the non-tuneable one) and that’s pretty mellow and quiet and reasonably priced. The Kerry Optima is also reasonably quiet though not nearly as good as the Dixon. Over there you also have the O’Brien Low D which is supposed to be quiet. Check it out at http://pipersgrip.50webs.com/Obrien.html. But I’m going in order here of ascending price. I think the Dixon would take a lot of beating. For a long time I’ve kept my eyes open for a Low D by Mack Hoover which would, I think, be great but he no longer makes them and people are obviously holding on to them. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any more help.
Mike
BTW you do have to back off on the low notes which I’ve gotten used to but if you do want a more solid bottom end then a thin piece of plastic card slipped into the windway ups the backpressure without much trouble. DrPhill did a thread on this conversion and I did it for a while but got used to the way the Dixon plays and can transfer between Goldie & Dixon without problem now.
Before you go spending any money on a new whistle though you know that any whistle can be muted or played quietly with little to no sound, right?
You can make a variety of “whistle mutes”. These vary from partially taping over the voicing window, placing putty on the blade, placing various objects in the windway and otherwise reducing the size of the noise making components of the whistle. Do a search and you’ll find plenty.
The other option that takes no effort at all is to play with the whisper method. This is as simple as not placing the windway into the mouth. You rest the beak on the chin just below the lip and blow towards the window. You will hear a very faint whisper of the note. It will only give you one octave of pitches, overblowing don’t work with this method, but the babe will rest with no waking and you’ll get some practice although rather silently. This method saves a lot of relationships.
Joanie Madden recorded the Otter’s Holt using that method. Sounds pretty cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEnlxquwPEQ Some of the other sounds on that recording are also whistle/flute party tricks. Joanie and Brian Keane recorded the fingers plopping on the notes of a low whistle to make the lower pitched percussive sounds, sounding much like the plosive PVC pipe instruments Blueman Group use but a tad more portable. You’ll be much quieter on your whistle than what is on that recording..
For a long time I’ve kept my eyes open for a Low D by Mack Hoover which would, I think, be great but he no longer makes them and people are obviously holding on to them. Hope this helps.
That’s the one I was interested in, too! Thanks, Mike! Maybe he’ll start making them again some day. Those other suggestions you gave look good, too. I’ll research those some more.
You can make a variety of “whistle mutes”. These vary from partially taping over the voicing window, placing putty on the blade, placing various objects in the windway and otherwise reducing the size of the noise making components of the whistle.
Thanks, Feadoggie! Yes, I did know that, and I do usually use tape. Actually, for the Reyburn low D I made an interesting discovery a while back. I happened to have a plastic Susato thumb rest (size 6), and it fits as a muting tone ring on the mouthpiece (like the Parks whistles). It fit like it was made for the Reyburn. I mean it worked perfectly. You could turn it and dial it in exactly where you want and it really quiets the whistle in varying degrees (decibels would be more accurate). And when not needed, it could be turned to open the hole completely and can be left on the mouthpiece to keep the whistle from rolling off the table. I also successfully tried it with my Reyburn low F whistle’s mouthpiece using a size 5 thumb rest- worked like a champ! But, now I can’t find my thumbrests. haha. So, I may order some more, but I am curious as to what’s out there in quiet low D’s.
I need to check out that Joanie Madden clip. Love her!
Yep. I also have a very quiet low D, by Ian Lambe. But it’s a very early model with a slightly mis-aligned fipple block, which I never (yet) bothered to have re-voiced.
Yes, I did know that, and I do usually use tape. Actually, for the Reyburn low D I made an interesting discovery a while back. I happened to have a plastic Susato thumb rest (size 6), and it fits as a muting tone ring on the mouthpiece (like the Parks whistles). It fit like it was made for the Reyburn. I mean it worked perfectly. You could turn it and dial it in exactly where you want and it really quiets the whistle in varying degrees (decibels would be more accurate). And when not needed, it could be turned to open the hole completely and can be left on the mouthpiece to keep the whistle from rolling off the table. I also successfully tried it with my Reyburn low F whistle’s mouthpiece using a size 5 thumb rest- worked like a champ! But, now I can’t find my thumbrests. haha. So, I may order some more, but I am curious as to what’s out there in quiet low D’s.