Hi all, someone posted a video containing a low F from 1992, and it made me wonder if anyone has ever constructed a timeline of the history of whistles, with notable makers and design innovations, and cultural events (i.e. 1997 - Chieftain whistles played by Tony Hinnigan in the “Titanic” soundtrack?
For example, other possible timeline events:
Earliest bone whistles: 30,000+ years ago
Clarke “Flageolets” : 1840
Generation “Flageolets”: 1968
Feadog: ?
Walton’s:?
Bernard Overton makes the first modern low whistle for Finbar Furey: 1971
Copeland whistles:
Alba whistles:
Chieftain whistles:
Obrien:
Clarke Sweetone:
Goldie takes over for Overton:
Earliest bone whistles: 30,000+ years ago
Clarke “Flageolets” : 1840
Generation “Flageolets”: 1968
Feadog: ?
Walton’s:?
Bernard Overton makes the first modern low whistle for Finbar Furey: 1971
Copeland whistles:
Alba whistles:
Chieftain whistles:
Obrien:
Clarke Sweetone:
Goldie takes over for Overton
A timeline with obvious enormous holes in it. Many whistles have come and gone over time, in a lot of different places too.
First of all, don’t believe everything you read, Generation, for example have been around a lot longer than stated on their website. Likely pre-1900 and certainly long before 1968 and we have the whistles to prove it:
I have seen Feadógs around since the early eighties. And the awful first Sweetone was around by the first half of the nineties.
And this:
Goldie takes over for Overton
is a bit different and probably more complicated than you make it sound. Colin Goldie went ahead under his own name after being lcienced to use the Overton design and name for years, not sure you can say he ‘took over’.
Oh man, my list wasn’t supposed to be any more than a rough idea, and you’re hitting on the exact sort of stuff that I’d love to see in a fleshed out version of this, or even in a book or website.
I did find the 1968 date for Generations odd. I’m thinking that might have been when they first started producing the plastic tops? As for Colin, he certainly “took over” for Bernard at some point, and definitely by the time he started making “Goldies” instead of “Overtons by Goldie”, but you’re right that it wasn’t like he showed up one day and Bernard handed him the keys to the shop and retired.
I’m sure the whistle world has tons of interesting history, some of it possibly being lost as makers and players pass away. I’m really just interested to see if anyone has been actively preserving it.
I’d like to anticipate the dates in the future when innovations in whistle design come onto the market, that solve the frustrations and limitations of current whistle designs. Of course, since they aren’t here yet, I can’t say what they’ll be. But a list of whistle frustrations I have would start to suggest:
Chromatic whistle (we already have Bracker 9-hole models, and other makers provide some options to the standard 6-hole whistle). I think this is still in the very early stages of R&D and market penetration.
Evolution of the blade and general fipple design. What can be discovered with experimentation? We know the shakuhachi-style mouthpiece design is an option with some bamboo whistles/flutes. Double and triple chamber ocarinas may hold some ideas that can transfer to whistle. Drone chambers that can change note.
the use of keys to aid the limitations of # of fingers and physical range of finger actions. This could be extended to include mechanisms that provide vibrato, trills, tone shifts, volume changes, key changes. Why not have a D whistle that can shift into being a C whistle mid-song, with the use of a lever?
use of a bellows. Why not transfer the bagpipe air bag mechanism to a single or group of whistles, for vastly increased capacity to hold long notes, play vibrato with perfect control and endurance, phrasing gains options, etc.
Keyed whistles have been around since the late 19th century , both in wood or as standard metal designs with added keys. They just never took off. You can wonder why (I could suggest a few possibilities but never mind).
Other designs, typically the late 19th century French ones, were made to allow cross fingerings of chromatic semitones.
I’m thinking that might have been when they first started producing the plastic tops?
Plastic tops were documented in photographs of people playing them well before that.
You might also take a look at Ch. 4 of Grey Larsen’s book, which has a bit of history on the whistle.
I’m not sure when Colin began making whistles on his own, sometime in the early 1990s. Perhaps Brigitte could fill in the details for you. Someone put together a rather detailed history of the Overton/Goldie/Hardy story some time ago, but it might have been on the old C&F site.
As for Copeland, Alba, and Chieftain, it should be easy enough to inquire by email to each maker.
Sounds like an interesting project you’re working on here!
Patrick O’Riordan isn’t on your list, but deserves to be. His obit mentions that he was an ‘exhibitor and demonstrator’ at the first Johnny Appleseed Festival in Ft. Wayne, IN, in 1975. I’m not sure when he stopped making whistles before his death in March, 2019. I have an early wooden set marked ‘62’, which is likely an opus #, but I have no idea when they were made.
One detail is that the first Clarkes were all in C. It would be interesting to know when the first D whistles were made.
I have my great grandfather’s whistle. It looks kinda like the third from the left in the photo of Generations above, but the decorative lines are in different locations. It’s stamped C. If he bought it when he first joined the army that would be 1891. After leaving the army he moved to the US and raised a family. My Dad says my GGF would get out the whistle and play tunes whenever they got to drinking, so my assumption is it’s something he learned while in the army.
I wonder if that is actually true. As far as I remember the book on Clarke history mentiones different keys at different points in the text. It also reproduces catalogue images fro maround 1900 that list Ds so they certainly were around then. But I believe there was a wider range of keys before that.
I have my great grandfather’s whistle. It looks kinda like the third from the left in the photo of Generations above, but the decorative lines are in different locations. It’s stamped C.
That’s pretty much a generic unbranded whistle of the time. They play quite well and are well balanced, probably due to the narrower tube diameter compared to modern Cs.
I wouldn’t think that injection-moulded plastic whistle heads would be seen earlier than the 1950s.
That’s when, for example, the plastic model industry began (build-it-yourself kits of miniature planes, boats, cars, etc.)
Wiki has this
In 1946, American inventor James Watson Hendry built the first screw injection machine, which allowed much more precise control over the speed of injection and the quality of articles produced. This machine also allowed material to be mixed before injection, so that coloured or recycled plastic could be added to virgin material and mixed thoroughly before being injected.
I wouldn’t think that injection-moulded plastic whistle heads would be seen earlier than the 1950s.
That’s about right. They were around some time during the fifties. At first with decorated tubes, like the older style. I have, for example, seen photos locally of WIllie Clancy playing a plastic top that can be dated fairly acuarately to a point during the fifties. No plastic before that (although I have seen whistles dating back to WWI made of celluloid).
My source was a presentation given by John Skelton. I assume it’s true but it might not be. It’s also possible I’m not remembering it correctly.
It is true they were available in C only for a long time, a D was (re)introduced some time during the eighties (? I remember them coming in but not quite when, I wasn’t paying too much attention at the time to be honest). But there is enopugh evidence to suggest they were originally available in a number of keys. I can see where he was coming from saying that anyway.
The most mysterious timeline thing for me is this:
While shopping in London in the 1970s Joe spotted around 20 large red whistle tops in the window of a junk shop…which Joe bought.
On returning to Ireland he went into his pipe workshop and made a prototype…we toured for many years with this prototype low whistles which was much loved and enjoyed… (sic)
As we know injection moulding is very expensive and only economically viable if the item is to be produced in large quantity.
So whatever happened to the thousands of huge Generation-style red plastic Low Whistle heads which must have been produced?
And who was the maker, the very maker who perhaps should be credited with inventing Low Whistles?
Whistles once used as to serenade mammoths? The imagination runs wild.
Eric The Flutemaker is offering a whistle based on
flute/whistles found from Ice Age Europe, about 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.
Mammoth bones found at the same dig.
Completely different and unrelated material, much bigger bore, no measurement of the instrument so who knows about the holes (one of which he moved around the back), and a guess at how long the instrument is to make a “scale.” Oh, and the original has two grooves in the top, this just one.
He also makes what he calls an Arabian flute or whistle. Something that bears no resemblance to any Arabian flute-type instrument in it’s tuning. It would be like making a whistle in Dorian scale and calling it a traditional English whistle. Ridiculous and a little insulting to the culture in my opinion.
I don’t exactly know the specifics, but as I understand it both Goldie and Phil Hardy studied with Overton and had a license to make whistles in his name. Then, due to philosophical differences, Hardy split off and moved away from the Overton/Goldie orbit, focusing on techniques that allowed him to mass-produce whistles before hand-finishing. That’s probably fairly oversimplified but the gist is that both Goldie and Hardy come out of the Overton “family tree” of whistlemaking, and at some point in time (I believe the early to mid 90s) one could potentially buy an “Overton” whistle made from any of the three.
.