Hi Wombat, where’s Roy?
From a makers point of view, I make a whistle of a certain dimension and have the option, when etching in the key indication, of putting either Db or C# on it. Same whistle as far as I’m concerned, just depends on the perceptions and education of the customer.
Nah, I only do that when I play sax - a transposing instrument - in a church band. Because when everyone else plays in E I have to play in C# major, when they’re in D I’m in B, and when they’re in A I’m in F# major.
Sigh.
BTW, I have a C#/Db Syn whistle, and it’s fine. Only recommendation I would make is that if you live in a place where the temperature is pretty high, let him know so he can factor that in in working out the minimum length of his whistle when you push it (ie its tuning slide) all the way in.
I can’t flatten my instrument at all because any other position other than all the way in makes my whistle noticeably sharp.
I don’t know why you would think this unless you ‘think in D.’ In guitar books, if I recall rightly, the only major key that is designated with a sharp is F#. The other ‘black key’ root notes are Ab, Bb, Db, Eb. Nobody ever calls a saxophone and A# instrument or a D# instrument.
Exactly. That’s why I asked if there was some difference or change in the teaching of music theory, because I definitely learnt it as the C# major scale and not as Db major. I’m more comfortable calling it C# major because I learnt it that way. That’s why I would call a sax a Bb or Eb instrument - because that’s what I learnt to call that major key.
I think Roy’s whereabouts can only be established after H.G. finishes that anal probe he’s administering. Poor Fatso!
Yes, as any educated person would know, for all practical purposes Db = C#. Even an idiot like me knows it. I really cannot see what the hoo haa is about. There is nothing strange about any key. One simply transposes a song to another key by playing the appropriate whistle or flute - the fingering remains the same.
(I would be more inclined to be concerned about the usage of A minor in referring to A Dorian and the history and rationale for such confusing usage. But that, as Brad Hurley may recall, is matter for another abandoned topic over 1 month ago.)
I encourage anyone who cares to obtain a good Db whistle to get one from Erle Bartlett in Australia. I will be ordering mine soon. (His B whistle is the best in my collection of “strange” keys including the strangely keyed D whistle much used in Irish music.)
When I get my Db/C# whistle I will be sorely tempted for to ask Erle to inscribe B## on it. I will send Peter Laban a photo of it. I understand he is a photographer of sorts.
B## - 
I agree, regarding his B whistle.
And I did regret not telling Erle that he should etch C# rather than Db on my C# whistle. 
Playing with an NSP ?
I made a C# Whistle to play along with an Ivory set of NSPs in F#.
I used a Generation head and made the body from 1/2" polystyrene model tube http://www.udisco.com/hobbies/inv/EVERGR.HTM (scroll down about 3/4)
It is easy to work with files and hand held drills.
Cut or file the tube until you’ve got C# in tune and measure the distance to the fipple, divide this by the same distance for a D Whistle and multiply the fipple distances for the D hole by this figure. This will give you rough positions for the finger holes.
Now enlarge each hole (starting at bottom) one at a time, until it is in tune.
The C#(if it were a D) hole can be a bit tricky because it must be just the right size to keep the cross-fingered Cnat in tune as well as itself. The generation generated positions should get fairly close and if you’re not happy try again with a fresh piece of tube. Basically if Cnat is too sharp C# hole needs to be smaller and therefore further up the whistle and if too flat larger and further down.
Good luck.
John S
It’s the key of Geezer fergawdsakes. Because I want one to play along with old records. Truly, a C#+a quartertone, and tunable would probably be right. That way, you could sharpen up almost to D but not quite down to C#. I bet then I could play along with most of the old discs.
Hello,
I have one of those C# whistles. I bought it from John Sindt as an extra tube to go with my Sindt C whistle. I was playing with an altan song the other day that was in C#! First time I ever used that tube in my C whistle.
I also found that I could play on a B whistle in the G position and get the key of C#!! It sounded closer to the actual notes on the recording than the C# because you could play lower notes on the scale.
Anyway, last I heard John Sindt has an 11 month waiting list so I would recomend a Humphrey!! You can get the wide bore with 3 tubes D/C/C# (and now a modal D/C) and get a lot of keys for the money. Then buy a B/B#/A combo and have even more keys to play around with!!
Just my 2c,
Nate
D flat is the tradidional (?) key for orchestral and wind-band piccolos, as well as being easier to handle in nasty key sigs. The Holst suites, complete with Morris dances, specify Db picc, but modern editions also have C picc parts. Always thought that whistle would sound better in Holst, though.
Well, although Db is more commonly used in the classical music world, after looking around, C# really is what you look for if you really want a whistle in that odd key. And with a diatonic instrument like the whistle, it really doesn’t matter. If it played all half-steps in a scale, definitely a five flat key would be easier to manage than a seven-sharp key. But–it’s the whistle world, and seven sharps on a C# whistle is just as easy as no sharps or flats on a C whistle–a little easier, in fact.
BTW, one of Erle’s nice C# Syns now lives happily in my collection. As well as a B Syn. I can’t figure it out, but Erle’s tone hole placement makes the B easier to play than any of my C whistles. He does a nice job.
Thanks, all, for the recommendations, and thanks for the education.
Good stuff.
I used to think that all the wacky keys for whistles were just to sync up with other instruments (like my guitarist friend who has CF and needs to detune to Eb) or picky singers wanting a better tessitura.
Now I know that it’s about personality. It might not even have anything to do with frequencies or timbre - it just … is.
Bb, Eb, Ab and Db sound great to me (years of wind bands?) while C and F don’t turn my crank. ‘Classical’ composers (mainly Romantics) write of the colours and moods of different major keys, but psychoacousicians poo-poo this because it can’t be measured. Some lunatic with a PET scanner will try to quantify it, someday.
This is just my take; what do y’all think?
Bryce
“Writing about music is a little like dancing about architecture.”
And back we go to Just Intonation. The colours and moods of different major keys COULD be measured, back when the instruments were not as heavily influenced by the piano idea of equal temperment tuning. So, if you play Fmajor on a set of D pipes, you get a completely different colour than Dmajor. Flutes are a prime example of this as well, especially baroque flutes that had only one key, yet were still chromatic.
I could go on… but that’s a start
Different keys are ABSOLUTELY different. D was a happy key for me, even before I discovered whistles in the eighties. F is all right, but E is positively dark. There’s more in this world than meets the quantitative eye.
Yes, yes, yes.
I was mostly considering well- to equal- tempered people rather than the Pythagorean- to Just- folks, but you’ve got a good point.