I am new here, and also new to the tin whistle world, since I started playing the tin whistle only last year. I have no musical education, no talent, and no ear. But it’s fun to me. I just try not to play when my family is at home, apparently my playing has a detrimental effect on the mental health of anyone present.
But to the point - I recently discovered the Svirel. It is a diatonic, 6-holes flute from eastern Europe. I acquired two such instruments, and I am delighted with them. They are functionally identical to the tin whistle (same fingering, same scale), but I find their sound much nicer than my Generation and Feadog whistles, perhaps a little less “aggressive” to the ear. Anyway, that’s how it looks:
I have also recorded a couple of tunes with it. Keep in mind that I have no playing skills, so the end result is not the instrument’s fault.
I know, but I struggle with 6 holes already, so I cannot imagine having to deal with 10
I was seduced by the 6-holes Svirel because it’s a tin whistle in disguise, and I was not disappointed - it’s awesome! But yes, there is a range of very interesting eastern Europe wind instruments. The 6-holes Svirel (sometimes called a “dudka” in BY) is the easiest to grasp, but then there is also the 10-holes (chromatic) version, the double-barrel (polyvocal) build, a few variations of Sopilkas, like the “Sopilka Besdentsivka” which is a rare, whistle-less instrument somewhat in between a Svirel and a quena. And of course the telenka: basically a tube with no lateral holes at all, popularized not so long ago through the Eurovision Стефанія song by Калуш - this instrument requires MAD skillz btw. There is also the fujara, popular in the Carpathians, but it was meant more as a shepherd communication tool than an actual instrument so its capabilities are rather limited.
So an entire world of marvelous instruments! But I am focusing on the 6-holes Svirel for now, as it adheres to the “standard” of a tin whistle, which makes things much easier (for example I can tag along the tin community, pretending to be one of you guys).
I have something similar from Serbia, but its called Frula.
But i have a thumbhole for the C.
Its a realls nice whistle with a weired headjoint (just flat and the part who makes the sound (don’t know how its called english) is towards yourself
The nomenclature of European folk instruments is not very strict, so indeed similar inventions may be called different names in different countries. Even worse: an instrument’s name may mean different things depending on the region.
According to Wikipedia, the Frula is also called a “Svirala” (ie. the female counterpart of “Svirel”).
Here below is a picture of the head joints on my Svirels - is it similar on your Frula? As far as I know such head is typical for the Ukrainian Sopilka and has been borrowed by other folk flute makers because it is simpler to build. Personally I like this construction very much, and I find it more hygienic since I touch the Svirel only with the external part of my lips, so it does not get wet after a playing session.
Overall I like these Svirels very much, plus they were really cheap (for a hand-made, human-accorded, wooden instrument) - they cost me ca. 30 EUR piece, which is roughly the cost of an all plastic DX001 whistle.
I’ve been designing whistle heads like that too specifically so that you don’t need to stick any part of it into your mouth. I didn’t know that it had already been done, but because I make instruments out of epoxy, I wanted to err on the side of caution. I use food-safe epoxy, and some people use the stuff to mend their dentures, so it isn’t going to poison anyone fast, but I’m making instruments that will be bought for children, and you don’t want any of them to suck epoxy for thousands of hours and then have science discover some previously unrecognised threat in the material. The same risk potentially exists with plastics, and it may turn out that most whistle mouthpieces are damaging to health, so all manufacturers of such instruments that children might play really ought to be providing this option too.
Always good to see people exploring new kinds of whistles.