I just got a handful of new whistles myself, and it struck me how utterly different my first actions were to what Phil describes here.
Basically, I danced with glee, randomly grabbed a whistle head and body, put them together, blew a few notes to make sure the thing worked, and dived in playing tunes, mostly reels and jigs. Then I switched to the next whistle and repeated. None of them has come anywhere near a tuner yet (though they have been tuned to other instruments I wanted to play with), nor have they played scales, etc.
I will hug them, and squeeze them, and call them “George”… well… at least the first two… and I will blow in their ears and make them follow me everywhere.
Play tunes first then scales with a tuner. If it has a plastic head I remove it and put some sticky tac in the cavity. Then start over. Sometimes I wonder why I bought another one.
My first test of a whistle is to play Inner Light, from that famous Star Trek episode. If a whistle can handle that, than I get out the gonkulator and put it through it’s paces.
When the mail lady brings a tube-shaped package to the Jones house it is greeted with much squealing and jumping about by all the liitle people.
A delegation of 6 or 8 of the little munchkins then comes flying out to the clininc to tell Daddy that he got a new “fwoot” (all whistles and flutes are “fwoots”).
I always stop whatever I’m doing (as long as I’m not in surgery…well as long as I’m not in a serious surgery) and give the new arrival a toot. I usually start with Rosin Dubh then progress to a Hornpipe or two, usually Off to California or Harvest Home this gets the littlest girls dancing around. Any whistle that can’t get Katherine and Lindy (5 and 6) dancing is not a keeper. The final test is a toot by Kara (age 3) She has to toot all the new arrivals. She gives a single toot of C# and the new tooter is officially inaugurated. After that some of the older kids will sometimes play a tune or two. Eventually I play it for my wife who tells me it’s really nice but not as nice as my Burke. :roll:
Then if I have two whistles in the same key I play them at the same time.
Just the top three holes. Check them with a tuner again. The vocals I play for are real fussey about being in tune. If the whistle needs adjustment, I reshape the holes till it is in tune. I also play whistles under a slow moving celling fan. It gives it a wavering effect and sounds like two whistles playing right with each other. So if you do not want to spend big bucks for a reverb. Put that celling fan on low.
I stare at my new whistles for a while…just pondering how they will sound. To try them out, I first of all make sure that it is fine tuned. Then, I play Schubert’s Ave Maria. After all that [and much to the dismay of my dogs] I push the limits of my whistle, and see how high they will go. I hope to do this all again very soon, as I have a Dixon on the way.
I look at it, feel its heft or its lightness. I play something familiar. I try out a few notes such as the bell note and some upper register notes. I start noodling to see if the whistle has an immediate need to express itself in the form of a new song. That first new song often has an effect on how much I end up liking that whistle.
First it must be meditated upon in a darkened room for four hours.
Then it must be cleansed. This is done according to the ritual for magic artifacts, using spring water, salt and frankincense.
The whistle must be closely observed for three days and nights, in case there are malevolent vibrations associated with it. Then I cast the I Ching, and if the auspices are correct, I may play it.
The first tune is always “The little Red Lark”.
Then “The Blackthorn Stick”.
Then, if it sounds okay, “The Waves of Tory”.
Then “Planxty Hewlett”.
If the whistle is not satisfactory it is hurled into the Thames at the dead of night (people are paranoid about littering in these parts).
If it is satisfactory then it is left on the sofa for my wife to sit on.
Oh, I admire the way a whistle feels in my hands first. This never lasts long. For some reason “A” is my favorite note on most D whistles, so I plop down two fingers and check the A. Then I try Wayfaring Stranger for tone. If I don’t want to cry, it’s no good. Then I do Killavil Jig, my favorite. Then maybe Si Bheag Si Mhor. Cry, laugh, cry, in that order. If it doesn’t evoke, it goes on the shelf to be sold or given away. If it evokes, I play till my fingers ache.
I usually play a G, then a B, then a D scale, then a few snippets of tunes. Then a scale with tuner, and if anything is seriously out I fix it with an XACTO craft knife and/or a file and some fine sandpaper. If it’s pretty close I leave it alone. Any flanges or weirdnesses that look like they might want to be removed get removed. Then some more tunes, all the way through this time. Usually by this point I’m outside in the barn, playing after milking the goats (they actually like whistles). I decide if I want to tweak anything else, and if I do, I tweak it when I go inside. If I don’t love the whistle, it goes in The Basket. If I do love it, it goes in The Flute Case.
Each whistle starts it’s life with me by playing " Amazing Grace ". It 's the first tune I ever played on a whistle , my personal favorite and , hopefully, honors my Lord and Savior , Jesus Christ. From there , I usually look for something appropriate to that whistle. Slow airs for the lower keys … jigs and reels for the sopranos. Some have tunes that just seem to fit. For example , when I got my lancewood whistle from Erle Bartlett , of Syn whistle fame , it just seemed appropriate to have a turn at “Waltzing Matilda” , in his honor. There are times when a certain whistle just sounds really great with a specific tune. I’ll usually play that piece “ad nauseum” , simply because I love the way it sounds. If I don’t really care much for the new addition , it usually gets relegated to my “play you , later” stockpile. Oddly enough , most of those , when I come back to them , seem to improve considerably. Or , could it be the player ? Seems like a very good possibility !!!
First I look at it then I play some tunes usually starting with something I have goi8ng through my head I just play it and get aquianted with it somethimes I will play it then a different whistle to compare the two. After a little while I will pull out ye olde tuner.
