I have noticed that my whistling is better when I pick up one whistle and stick with that one. The problem is, they all sound a little different, and . . . it is always tempting . . . how would a that song sound on this one, or that other one, or this one after I did a little tweaking . . . I’m always hoping one of the whistles will turn out to be the perfect whistle, yet I find each one has something distinctive about it that I like.
Is there a perfect whistle? I’ve thought my Dixon, then my Feadog. A while back, I pulled out a Mellow D, and thought it sounded great. The other night, it occurred to me that I could fill the cavity under the wind way even if I couldn’t get the whistle head off, and filled the cavity on an old Feadog and an old Sweetone. Then, I used MT Guru’s sticky tack in the barrel tweak to bring my Walton LBW into tune. Now, they all call me to play them, yet, I’m thinking, stick with one . . .
Anyone else fought with this dilemma? I tend to like to play Carolan, and airs (or aires?) more than jigs.
Gosh, I wish this was the worst problem I ever had!!!
One of the nice things about whistles is that there are so many subtle differences … and most of us can reasonably afford at least a small selection … so don’t have a “favourite all-in-one”, use each whistle to play the tunes that you prefer on that particular whistle. A Feadog or a Walton will never sound like a Clarke … horses for courses … and enjoy
Put all the whistles but one in a drawer.
Lock it. Give the key to a friend/family
member with instructions not to open
the drawer for a year. After a year, trade
your current whistle for another in the
drawer. Lather, rince, repeat. Instead of
looking for the perfect whistle, you will be
getting closer to being a perfect player,
and that means you will be able to play
most whistles with fewer differences in
tone.
I more or less have 3 whistles that get played regularly or daily (Hoover, Goldie, one of my own), and I choose between them based on my own mood.
But it seems to me that the best way to limit one’s self is to simply limit one’s self. Pick one or two and lose the others (remove them from being readily accessible by whatever means works). Considering what your aim in this is, the one(s) you choose should be the whistle(s) that you consider yourself to sound the worst on.
Might also consider this… Over a year ago, I decided that having a big whistle collection wasn’t an endeavor worth pursuing, so I started getting rid of whistles, and I have pared the collection down to less than a quarter of what it was when I started. In doing this, i also decided that if a new whistle interested me, then one of the remaining whistles would have to go to make room for it. This helps to keep the collection from taking off like an unmowed lawn in July again, but it also forces me to make whistle acquistion decisions with much more thought and consideration. To get a whistle, I must give one up.
You’re doing this for fun, right? So do whatever you enjoy.
I play my Fred Rose the most - although often with a Dixon barrel attached… One reason is that the voicing of the headjoint enables me to play the second octave relatively quietly, which is something I like. However, I enjoy the Bleazey and Goldie too. Variety is good, and it’s a cheap hobby. I should be getting an Ormiston soon, and I’m looking forward to it.
Like you I prefer airs to jigs, so the ability to modulate the volume in the higher notes is important to me. But even there it’s nice to howl out your unrestrained anguish in a lament sometimes.
I have a Mellow Dog in the glove box of my car and another in my work room. I have a Jerry Gen in my wife’s glove box. I keep a Copeland high D, a Goldie Low A (oh man!!) and a Domnahl Na Gruen low F (spooky sounding) next to my chair in the living room. I have a Guido Gonzato low G and a Harper C at my desk at work. I carry a Sindt D, and a brass Jerry Gen Bb in my backpack. I keep a Parks Walkabout D in my suitcase. We have friends with a beach house we share once a month that is way up in the corner of northern California where I keep a Sindt Bb (like butter), a Tommy Dion Dymonwood high D (sweet as can be) and Burke Composite Low D. And I carry a Burke DBN and a nickel Jerry Gen Bb (a seduction machine) in my jacket pocket every day.
And I have two rolls full of others. No I’m not bragging and I’m certain not wealthy. All 46 of my whistles combined didn’t cost as much as my best friends Martin guitar or my sisters violin. And there is well considered logic to why I have those whistles where they are. For example, the Mellow Dog is inexpensive, tough, forgiving and effortless to play so I keep them where I’m most likely to forget my whistle. I consider those in my jacket pocket to be what I would (currently) grab if the house were on fire so I want them on me. But I play them all, most twice a week, a few every day. I receive a great deal of true joy out of playing whistles and I don’t want to think about being without one.
Kinda like Linus’ blanket.
It’s the only kind of vice to have. Would I be a better player if I stuck to one whistle? Maybe, but does James Galway play just one flute? Did Jimmy Hendrix play just one guitar? Yo Yo Ma says he owns 9 cello’s and I don’t even want to think about how much those must be worth. Hell no I’m not as good as they are. But I will be someday.
Whistles are “horses for courses” ( look it up ). Listen to killthemessenger.
My goal is to have one go-to whistle for each key that I need.
The whistle I play most is my MK Low D. It’s always in my car and gets played daily.
I’ve run into a quandry though, because I have Low Eb’s by Burke and Bernard Overton and they’re SO different! One will eventually win out and the other will get sold.
But which drawer for my spare keys dear Liza dear Liza
which drawer, dear Liza, for my spare keys ?
Actually, this mini episode reminds me of a bloke I supervised once who kept losing certain files and I asked him to keep a log book of their whereabouts and one day he appeared more than usually dazed and somewhat in askance. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he could not locate a particularly important set of files. I asked him to look it up in his log book. He told me that he couldn’t remember where he put the log book …
This was the same fellow who had been found to have not worked enough hours by the end of a certain period and was told that part of his accrued leave would need to be used to make up the deficit. Guess what?
Yeah, I play my Mellow Dog almost exclusively.
But…
Wtih so many whistle out there, and so many that I can afford, I’ll be trying new whistles for years.
Tomarrow I’ll have a Gonzato D in my hands, and next week it will be a stock Feadog D.
Why not collect whistles?
It’s fun!
I play my Feadog most of the time. I have two very good ones. One of them is always in the car the other is my old tortured one with a crack down the ramp held together with super glue and scotch tape. It is always near me in the house.
Yeah, that is the answer that I think I need. Sometimes I the sound of different whistles, but . . . I really think I should stick to one. Work out lots of kinks on that one, and try the others. Thanks.
