Can anyone name whistles (especially low whistles) with unique fipple shapes? I’ve noticed two major variations, which can be seen in a Burke vs Goldie comparison:
Burke fipples are curved while Goldie fipples are straight across.
Burke fipples are blunt while Goldie fipples are sharp.
The wind-way/fipple design is quite unlike the embrasure/hole design of Irish flutes. I don’t mean to imply that low whistles ought to sound like Irish flutes—it just seems to me there must be plenty of room for experimentation when it comes to wind-way and fipple designs. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
The way to remember embouchure is that it’s from French “bouche”, meaning mouth. As in “fermez la bouche”. Which does not mean “shut your bush”.
[I guess embrasure could be what you do with your arms!]
I think a binary division is too simple. And it’s actually not that different from the issues of flute hole design and the flute player’s embouchure. Every aspect of the fipple geometry can be varied: curvature, length/width of blade, sharpness of blade, bump on blade, length/angle of blade bevel, length/width/size of window, window “ears”, shape and position of plug, width/height/bevel of windway exit … etc. These all turn up as separate variables on different whistles.
And there’s a rough equivalent of each of these in flute embouchure, except that the dividing line between what’s fixed by the instrument and formed by the lips is in a different place, of course.
Thanks!
I typed something into google and thought the result might be like the word February, but I didn’t look at the context…
Great list of variables, especially “ears” and the bump on the blade (like a Generation?). I’m really interested to see if anyone has seen any whistles that are drastically different from other whistles. For example, an inverted blade where most of the air flows into the whistle instead of over it… something to that effect–something really unique…
Cheers,
Kevin
I sometimes makes a flat windway floor that is chamfered on the sides, starting about 1/8" in from the mouthpiece, with each chamfer widening as it approaches the exit. The effect is a traditional sound that deals with moisture much like a curved windway does, while maintaining a flat ramp. Curved windways tend to sound a bit more “pure” in my experience. Getting proper alignment, etc. is a lot more tricky and time consuming, than building the whistle head along more conventional designs - and honestly, it isn’t always worth the effort, but sometimes it is. There are also many variations on ramp and blade designs that I’ve seen. The “V” shape of the laughing whistle, for example… or cutting notches in the blade… or cutting the ramp so it curves upward, or cutting the blade so it is arched… Some of us also taper the windway sides on some whistles, to focus the airstream more for a particular voicing or air requirement.
If you are looking for diversity in voicing design, you can’t find a better site for diagrams than this… http://www.organstops.org/_apps/Illustrations.html
Not all the voicing designs are “practical” for a Tinwhistle Maker", but parts are still worthy of study.
It may seem strange to a Whistlesmith to study “organ pipes”, but these voicings have been developed and tested for more than 5 centuries now. The Fabled Nero of Rome played an Organ at the Colosseum at the beginning of the Christian Era. http://users.ipa.net/~tanker/organs.htm The Author/Drafter of most of the diagrams above is George Ashdown Audsley. The most helpful book of his is “The Art of Organ Building, Vol-2” because this is where he focuses on the pipes and voicings themselves. This is a LARGE database website with months of research material, including voicing designs and how they function. Here is the main site… http://www.organstops.org/MainFrameN.html
The “Air-Reed” voicing is an incredible animal with the ability to mimic most of the other woodwinds in the orchestra. The voices it can produce are Legion!
