My first whistle was a Clarke original in C, and I had no other whistle for the first 10 years I played.
In my opinion, if your going to play IrTrad, starting with the Clarke is a great idea. You get an immediate and dramatic idea of what properly executed cuts, taps and rolls can sound like with the Clarke C. It gives you that nice burbly plop and pop. Breath requirements? If you can’t handle the breath requirements of a Clarke C, you need to get out and walk around the block a couple of times every day.
By the way, my second whistle was a Soodlums in D. I had only those two whistles for the next twenty years. Then Tom Dowling told me about this web site called Chiff and Fipple…
I have read through everyone’s comments and I think I have a different opinion to add. I don’t like Clarke originals at all (way too breathy, the upper octave is too thin, etc.), but that’s neither here nor there. I think it’s a bad idea to start on a Clarke original for the following reason. Most inexpensive whistles, and even some handmade whistles have a weak low end, so that it is necessary to hold back a bit in order not to squeak on the lowest notes. If a person starts on the Clarke and gets used the the high air requirement, it will be that much more difficult to hold back when he or she switches to almost any other whistle.
Yup. I love it. It can either sing sweet or give you that nice brassy slush-pumper blat, depending on the mood desired. Mostly I play ska with the above mentioned praise band (the hornmaker no doubt turning in his grave all the while), but I sometimes sub out to our church orchestra for seasonal things.
My friend and co-worker Larry gave his daughter a (used) high-end Bach Strad trumpet for Christmas a few years ago when she was ready for a better horn.
She has no clue what she has in that trumpet; when Larry plays it he can get the softest, most round and controlled sound out of that thing, all up and down its range.
I’m also a trombone player turned whistler, so the air requirement was never reallya factor for me. A Clarke D, unpainted, was my first whistle as well and it was truly a valuable experience. I still love that whistle, though it has tarnished almost beyond recognition. The Clarke is, IMHO, very versatile; I play with a praise band as well, in kind of a free-improv style. If you want, go to Clips and Snips, look under the Misc. category for my name and you can hear what I’m talking about (it’s called Sing Like the Saved).
My first whistle was a clarke original, with the book & tape, but within a few weeks I’d added several other cheapies, just so I had a choice of whistles. I didn cinch down the airway a bit but not much.
A friend who also had a Clarke tried mine, and found it much easier - hers had a HUGE breath requirement and was putting her off playing, and as we met at a singing class, I know she wasn’t suffering from tiny lungs.
As Patrick pointed out, there’s a lot of variation between Clarkes, get a bad one (airway like the Channel Tunnel) and it could put you off.
Of course there’s a lot of variation in Generations too, but a good Generation is a wonder!.
I started on a Clarke C with Bill Och’s pamphlet and tape. The Whistle Shop has a great idea, a starter kit with two whistles, a Clarke Sweetone, and a Clare. It is under $39 with CD and pamphlet. (The kit I started with now lists for $25.) I would favor this approach over a Clarke original, and over a novice dropping over $30 on an instrument without knowing the basics and having first hand knowledge of how whistles can differ.
Other pairs of inexpensive whistles would make a good starting tandem, but I believe the Whistle Shop chose carefully and wisely when picking the Clarke Sweetone and the Clare.
I don’t think a single poster has actually addressed the argument James began with. (Yeah, I know. This is C&F, what did you expect?) Well, just to be perverse, that’s where I’m going to start.
I think this argument has absolutely no merit whatsoever. Do piano players do best to start, say, on clavichord? Should guitarists learn lute for a few months before committing to a guitar? Of course not. Learning an instrument is one thing, finding out where the modern version of that instrument came from is another entirely. The latter activity is very worthwhile but has nothing whatsoever to do with acquiring profiency on an instrument.
That said, I started with a Clarke original and an Acorn. For a couple of weeks I moved between the two, trying to do things on the one that weren’t happening on the other. I’d recommend that approach to all beginners. I quickly settled on the Clarke and still enjoy playing it. Breath control was no problem; I came to whistle from saxophone. I went from the Clarke straight to Overtons. I did go through a brief period where I found a Sweetone easiest to learn and improve on. It was just easier to manipulate than the Clarke Original and the Overtons. Buying several cheap whistles still seems to me the best way for the beginner to proceed. You do get a feel for the ways in which whistles vary, a feel for what really suits you (which no amount of reading C&F can give you if you are a rank beginner) and an opportunity to exploit the good qualites of various whistles to build up your confidence.
I was just about to submit my reply, when Wombat’s post appeared. His post addressed just about everything mine did – even including an identical example (piano/clavichord)! – so I’ll just say: I agree with Wombat. Dude’s a smart marsupial.
While Wombat’s basic analysis is sound, the analogy from other instruments does not cross over entirely. The main difference is that the Clarke original is STILL a serviceable whistle (see all the testimonials just in this thread) and inexpensive, while many of the other original instruments are expensive and/on lousy approximations of their modern counterparts.
I believe every whistle aficianado would do well to own a Clarke original, though I agree there are better ways for beginners to start (Whistle Shop’s starter set with Sweetone and Clare plus a CD and booklet).
Both the Clarke and the Shaw, which are relatively inexpensive tapered/conical whistles with wooden fipple plugs, are readily available in ‘tweaked’ versions by such fine “Value Added Retailers” as Thom Larson and Jerry Freeman. I think once the airway is narrowed a bit and aligned with more precision than is always the case when they come off the production line, they can be fine whistles that have a place in anyone’s kit bag. I think the view can be supported that they have a ‘certain something’–especially on the low end–that, if not unique, is certainly distinctive.
By way of example, I am currently having a ball learning Paddy Breen’s version of Tralee Gaol. (This entails unlearning the version I have been playing for about 4 years!) Of perhaps a dozen D whistles I have–ranging in price from $300 on down–without doubt my tweaked Shaw D is the one that comes closest to replicating the tone and texture of that particular version of that particular tune. Second place? the Clarke.
Bottom line–get one and, unless you are handier than I am, spring the extra few bucks for the tweak. I am a fan of and loyal to both Thom and Jerry, though I have done business with Thom longer. I’ve never been disappointed with either.
I think the analogy does carry over Bill. Lutes are not lousy approximations of anything and can be built reasonably inexpensively by a good luthier. Older styled guitars are still used extensively in Portugal and can be picked up there by anyone who wants to buy one. I would like to learn oud. I don’t regard an oud as an imperfect guitar and, last time I looked, entry level instruments weren’t very expensive.
What makes Clarkes good instruments to learn on is that they are good inexpensive whistles. Their resemblance to olders styled whistles has nothing whatsover to do with this issue. Not a single person who recommended them endorsed the point James made at the start of this thread. OTOH, the minority of people who have said they don’t like Clarkes would not regard them as good to learn on and none of them used the historical point as telling in their favour for that purpose.
Those of us who do want to know what early whistles sounded like will gravitate towards instruments we think will be good guides at some point in our playing careers. That’s fine, but it’s an entirely different issue.
