I was one of the people that thought my cheap whistles were no good and unplayable when I began to play. I bought a lot of different inexpensive whistles. Then I bought an Alba Q1. I could play it with ease. It was the first whistle I could play and enjoy the music I played. Later I bought a Humphreys. It was also a great whistle to play. I was enjoying playing so much that I tried some of my original whistles. To my surprise they played beautifully. It wasn’t the whistle that changed. I now play a variety of whistles depending on the sound I want. There are some that are really great. I bought a Waltons C that is wonderful. My Feadog brass and my Feadog Pro are wonderful as well but many beginners would not like them. Practice, time and desire are more important than which whistle you learn on.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Developing technique will allow you to play music better which will develop more technique.
That said the path of least resistance is usually best. If specialized equipment is necessary to shorten that path, then get it. Use it. The cost isn’t so much an issue as the functionality. I have a Clark SweeTone that I paid $8.00 for about 7 years ago for that I will never be getting rid of. It is just a super little whistle. Similarly, I won’t be getting rid of my Copelands either.
It is not about the price you pay for the whistle but rather what it does. However, as a general rule, I would say that you get what you pay for in a good musical instrument. While there is no argument about what a treasure a good Generation whistle can be, there is also no reported history of people buying a box of O’Riordons or Thin Weasels or Lon Dubhs or Copelands or [Insert expensive whistle brand here] to find a good one. The vast ranges of quality control issues found in cheap whistles simply aren’t there in more expensive whistles. That is not to say that expensive whistles won’t vary from instrument to instrument, but the hurdles in developing good technique that are experienced with many cheap whistles are generally not found.
I don’t quite agree. Unlike real musical instruments, there are many many whistles that are made by amateurs with a lathe and middling musical ability. There’s nothing wrong with that, and some of the turn out beautiful instruments. There “expensive” whistle makes with quality control issues, and the ranges of quality control aren’t widely different from those in cheap whistles. If I consider every cheap whistle I’ve ever played and every expensive ($50+) whistle, I really don’t think that a higher percentage of cheap whistles than of expensive whistles had flaws. (Some of the most widely erratic tuning, for example, I’ve seen on expensive whistles.)
My main D whistle is an Oak head on an unknown brass tube; Blu-tac tweak, a bit of electrical tape to flatten the Cnat and a folded bit of nylon harp string as a rush in the bell to flatten the bottom D. Oh, and some epoxy on the head’s neck to shore up a crack. Rough-looking and workaday, but it rocks for me.
Looking at Scott’s list of ‘expensive’ whistles, my impression
is that ‘expensive’ for him is pricier than ‘expensive’ is
for you. This may have something to do with his idea
that quality control is better on ‘expensive’ whistles.
My experience with cheapies is that they can be
very good, and some makes are very dependable,
but some makes are markedly inconsistent. I suppose it is unfair to
tar them all with the same brush.
In my experience, in general, people play high end whistles because they want more volume and want to get “heard”. But it’s when you need to push a whistle to get heard that the music suffers. I guess we all go through that phase. I used to play a Susato in loud sessions, now I don’t know where my susato is and I don’t sit in loud sessions
It should be illegal to play louder whistles than generations, feadogs, etc, unless there’s a box player beside you and you just want to annoy him or get some revenge
I agree Peter. I suppose either end of the spectrum presents it’s own rationalizations. People buying high-dollar stuff that aren’t passionate about playing well or they lose interest and it just sits around as well as people buying bottom-dollar stuff because the music is about ‘art’ or some such. I’m surprised a mechanic hasn’t chimed in here with some thoughts about tools. They often ply the waters between having the right tool for the job, high quality and long term investment.
But you’re right about the 'Blads and Leicas, lotta rich folks taken snap shots out there.
I don’t need to dwell on this, but let me just add that very expensive isn’t necessarily more reliable than just expensive (and I say that with Scott’s post in mind).
I got a Hoover Whitecap or Whitehead thing and put it on an Oak tube. The Hoover head wasn’t made right (windway is wider at one side than the other). I don’t know if that’s why it requires so much wind. Breath control is always an issue with these things, and it sure is with this one! I now practice exclusively on this one because it’s so darned hard to make it not squeak. But I play an Abell on stage. It’s like in Chariots Of The Gods…the guys who practiced with the cast iron discus found the real Olympic ones a cinch.
Personally I have only played cheap whistles and whistles I have made myself (which have also been cheap). I would not recommend a cheap guitar since they usually play out of tune as one moves up the octaves, but I have been happy with my whistles (except for a couple I made that I chalk up as an experience). The way I see it if I have a cheap whistle and it sounds good then I look good but if it sounds bad I can blame the whistle Of course that only lasts until some truly talented person takes my whistle and makes it sound wonderful.
Like many others, I went through my expensive whistle phase, and I had an easier time learning some aspects of playing, but I found it was when I bought a plain old Oak and decided to learn how to play it on its own terms that I felt like I gained a clue about playing whistle. A few months later, all of my “unplayable unquality-controlled cheapies,” including an abominable Gen Eb, became sweet instruments with unique character. At one point, I found myself at an event where I had an opportunity to play some tunes, and I didn’t have my flute with me. A nearby vendor had some feadogs, so I bought one, which turned out to be squawky and terribly sharp and had an immoveable head. I just decided to play it more gently, and within a few minutes it became one of my favorite whistles.
I think the term “breath control” that everyone uses is misleading, in that the important thing is learning to be sensitive to what you are doing when you play. Learning to play that finicky Oak didn’t just teach me how to make that Oak sound good, it taught me to pay attention to how the instrument responds to my technique.
There’s nothing wrong with expensive instruments. I’m not convinced there’s really anything special about them, either. They tend not to sound like what I expect a whistle to sound like.
I just have one wish for folks just starting out: they deserve good cheapies, at least. If they got hand-me-downs from experienced whistlers, or got a Freeman-tweaked, then they’d have a less frustrating time. As much as I like Generations, a bad Gen could end a whistling career before it had begun. Ditto Clares, Waltons, Feadogs (I haven’t found any truly horrid Oaks, Sweetones, or Clark Originals, but they’re probably out there, just waiting to frustrate the unaware).
I can testify for the existence of horrid Oaks. I tweaked mine to a better level of play, but have since permanently whitecapped it. I think all the cheapies can be made to play well, but I like the pricey ones too. They’re still cheap compared to other types of instruments, and very rewarding to own and play. Buy 'em all.
