Hi everyone,
could someone explain to me the exact function of the thumb hole in Burke whistles, please? Thank you.
The workings of the search function are pretty self explanatory, give that a shot, perhaps? 
Like a recorder?
My guess would be – a C natural.
I think, I guessed right:
https://www.burkewhistles.com/Thumb-Hole-Option--Do-not-click-Add-to-Cart-Click-this-text-to-see-full-description_p_14.html
Thanks, it’s very kind of you. I hadn’t seen the explanation.
But … under these structural conditions … is it still possible to speak of a whistle, or is it a different instrument?
I’d say it’s still a whistle. But John Bushby, who makes the Shearwater whistles makes a recorder-whistle - plays like a recorder but sounds like a whistle. I’d call that a hybrid-instrument.
While the six hole whistle is the basic standard, makers over time have made different configurations from adding thumb holes for c and f naturals to pinky holes ( and obviously a longer body )to reach a tone below the scale and fully keyed ones to enable a chromatic scale. They’re the outliers but would still be classed as whistles, even while none of them have had more than marginal appeal.
The thumb hole gives a perfect flattened 7th. So for a D whistle, this would be your C nat used for playing in G. Same concept for the other keys.
Some whistles have great oxx ooo fingerings, like my MK pro D. Its C nat sounds like all the other notes. On ones like this, a thumb hole isnt needed. One of burkes cons is that they have a bad oxx ooo, and in my opinion an even worse oxx xox. You can underblow oxx ooo into tune but when playing fast its harder to do, but at least less noticeable when playing fast anyway. The thumb hole on the burkes gives a perfect tuned note that sounds like all the other notes.
My Burke A has the thumb hole. I just put a clear piece of tape over it. My thumb is the support of the whistle, so when I start having to move my thumb the whistle moves around too much and it messes me up or I somehow hit my teeth with the whistle. so I’m not a fan of it. that said it could be worth trying the thumbhole version if you were buying a new one, its only like an extra $10. If you were looking at a used one dont worry about the thumb hole because you can tape it anyway if you don’t like it.
While recorders have a thumb hole their fingering is more complex I think.
Playing in D, C is your 7th. Playing in G, it isn’t.
I think that Narzog meant, you’d use the C nat for the G scale. Not that it’s the 7th of that scale.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have brought up the flattened 7th in the same breath as the c in the g scale? It all seemed confused to me, even if I could understand what he was trying to say.
Seems to be a quote from the Burke homepage. I never use all those terms - never know what they mean, even though I play guitar and can read chords. Still most of the music theory eludes me. Most of the time I couldn’t even tell the key of a certain tune even when learning classical pieces as I only learn by ear.
It’s a recorder.
Sedi is correct. I can see how my wording could be taken differently from what I meant but my wording also wasnt that bad.
“The thumb hole gives a perfect flattened 7th.” Is meant to mean, it gives a flattened 7th on the whistle the thumb hole is on.
“So for a D whistle, this would be your C nat used for playing in G.” I feel like this is a decent explanation for anyone who didn’t know what the point in the flattened 7th is.
Unless I’m mistaken, I separated both statements with a period, so they weren’t in the same breath.
Doesn’t sound like one though. It’s a whistle with recorder fingering. Unless you wanna define the type of instrument just by the fingering it uses. I don’t think that would be correct. Or a boehm flute would be a saxophone and vice versa as they use almost the exact same fingering and key mechanics. So I’d say – sound quality does have a say in defining into which category an instrument belongs.
Another example of an instrument that uses recorder fingering but clearly is not a recorder, is the Yamaha Venova.
I have one of Joseph Morneaux’s “drop C” whistles with C & Fnat thumbholes along with a 7th hole below the low D for C. It definitely is a whistle, not a recorder. For example, you do not half hole the thumbhole to reach the 2nd octave like a recorder.
I am still getting used to it, but it has opened up a variety of different genres of music since it is essentially fully chromatic with cross fingering working well for Bb, G# as well. This is a fine instrument, and Joseph is a delight to work with.
I think the easiest way to answer the question of what makes something a whistle is to use a more extreme example. Carbony makes a whistle with highland bagpipe fingering and scale. Is it a bagpipe or a whistle?
If you make a fipple, internal duct, flute that has a Recorder style fingering then it is by definition a Recorder. It’s as simple as that really.
References to Saxophones. Boehm flutes and Venmos are just deliberately misunderstanding what was being said.
Also, when was a fipple flute ever a bagpipe? The question doesn’t arise at all, in any way, whatever the fingering.
A recorder has a very particular bore profile and mouthpiece geometry. Even the interior profile of the windway is carefully considered. All of this produces a particular tonal character, quite different from a typical whistle. That’s what makes a recorder, not just the fingering pattern.