Bloomfield is to blame. I thought I was done. I’d achieved all the whistles I needed, and would retire to my chair and spend my golden years with my little whistle collection. . .
Okay, I have my Burke D, and a glorious Burke A for 90% of my session needs. I’ve got a Walton C that is surprisingly mellow and pleasant, that matches a few of our vocalists’ ranges, and a Generation Bflat to fill in any gaps. Thanks to Loren I have a nice boomy G whistle that the macaw actually likes to hear.
Then Bloomfield has the audacity to bring a low D to session. And not just ANY session, but one where PV O’Donnell and Eddie Burke seemed to have had a touch too much caffeine during the day, so the reels seemed to be on hyperdrive and I was reduced to playing a feeble oom-pah line behind them.
Hey, if I’m going to oom-pah, let it at least be felt…so I pick up this Low D and WOW! WhOA! whoooo hoooo!
And I thought my case of the dread disease was mild. Hey, does anyone have a low D to loan?
It was amazing to watch P.V. and Ed rip last night. Two accomplished masters who have played together much. The bowing was so fluid and natural and what impressed me most was the way these guys can sit on the beat, just nailing those fast reels. Sigh.
Anyway, the culprit low D is a Kerry, the cheap Phil Hardy line. I got it when I didn’t want to spend too much on an instrument I might never be able to play. I haven’t seen that particular Low D mentioned, so let me describe it a little.
It’s a basic Generation design, cylindrical tube with plastic mouthpice. The shaft is thick aluminum, and the mouthpiece is black. The holes are fairly large and spaced pretty far apart. I use pipers grip in my left, upper, hand, but the regular grip in my lower, right, hand. (Don’t know how Thygress does it with her paws…)
At first I was not so happy with the whistle because the windway is very narrow and clogs easily. But once I got the nack of using quite a bit of air also on the lower octave, that problem has gone. Above the high A things get tough, but not extremely so and not more so than on other Low D’s I’ve tried. And the Kerry seems to require less air than my Susato low G.
Most importantly, the sound of the Kerry is great. Round, with the right amount of chiff and the right amount of “haunting”. What I like best now that I play at sessions is that it has good volume and does not get squeaky or thin in the upper octave. I’ve been giving it more time lately and can now comfortably play along on jigs I know well, like the Swallowtail, Tenpenny Bit, Donnybrook…
I paid $65 for it, but they are more like $80 now I think. And while I can’t really rank it with other low D’s (I own only the Kerry and I’ve played so few other low Ds), I am very happy with it. Now I just have to get the paw prints off…
I just saw that there is a description of the Kerry Low D in the Low Whistles section (doh!). It says pretty much what I say here, except that the reviewer there feels that pipers grip is necessary on both hands, particularly the lower hand. I use the regular grip on the lower hand, but I do have absurdly long fingers.
