Hi, to all of you with the hundreds of whistle c.d.'s.
So what do you think is the most widely used
instrument to accompany a solo whistle album…guitar, fiddle, harp, piano,
drum???
lolly
guitars, bass, bodhran, cheesy keyboards
Guitar (of course, I’m biased).
Bodhran seems to work well for Mary Bergin on her CD.
I also think whistle and guitar sound very good together
Tres
neophyte whistler/grizzled veteran guitar player
I dream of writing a suite for piano, saxophone, bodhran & whistles someday. You guys think that would be a good idea?
Christian
On 2002-06-20 10:11, ChristianRo wrote:
I dream of writing a suite for piano, saxophone, bodhran & whistles someday. You guys think that would be a good idea?Christian
Sounds fine. Have you ever heard “At The Rackett’s” self-titled first albumn? Lots of Sax, piano and flute, as well as fiddle and banjo. I don’t think any whistle or bodhran, but very fun-none the less.
Also in general, nobody had mentioned bouzouki or mandola
Harpsichord comes to mind as a great potential trad instrument. I would love to hear a flute/whistle, violin, guitar and harpsichord recording. I’m still in the “trying to like it” phase where celtic piano accompaniment is concerned. But David Sandall of Puirt a Baroque does wonderful things with harpsichord on the albums, “Bach Meets Cape Breton” and “Return of the Wanderer.” He’s playing with fiddler David Greenberg and guitarist Terry McKenna. Sadly, no flute player on these recordings.
(edited to take out shouty capitals)
[ This Message was edited by: thurlowe on 2002-06-20 18:15 ]
Another whistle.
I don’t know about most used, but I’ve heard some stunning slow airs played w/ just whistle and harp. Jerry O’Sullivan plays O’Carolan’s Farewell to Music on the Gentle Breeze compilation cd. Derek Bell and Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains have done some great pieces together, as well.
I’ve generally played with piano accompaniment. If you’ve got a person with a good bounce and a strong harmonic sense, it works just fine. Unfortunately, my ex-bandmember didn’t have the good bounce in her rhythm, but she did have a strong enough harmonic sense to make it worthwhile. Besides piano, she’s a first-class clarinetist, and played Irish on clarinet well enough to impress Gerald Trimble, who we opened for in the 80’s and who called her up to join him in her set. But when we tried (on several occasions) to do whistle/clarinet duets, the results were disastrous – incompatible keys, she told me; too much transposition, she said. (I think she just didn’t want to do it.) In retrospect, I should have pulled out a whistle in another key, but it simply didn’t cross my mind at the time. But I’d say piano and whistle are a great combination. Guitars are more flexible, though (or maybe it’s guitarists who are more flexible), and next time I’d team up with a guitar player.
Er, Gerald Trimble called her up to join him during his set. Sorry.
An outrageously good (and surprising) combination is Low Whistle and Harmonica and Guitar, who’d a thought? Check out the last track on Emer Mayock’s Playground CD for an example.
I never would have thought to pair the whistle and harmonica, what a concept…
Loren
The instruments that my band use to accompany whistle are: accordion, guitar, bouzouki (spelling?), lots of percussion (bodhran, bongos, side drum, etc.), clarsach, piano + loads of other stuff!
Also the whistle is GREAT as an accompaniment for voices.
My vote goes for the guitar. The whistle & overdriven electric guitar duet on Iona’s “Irish Day” is a good example of how well they work together.
Hmmm… Now it’s got me wondering what that would sound like, played a 5th apart. 
Gary
My favorite local whistle player plays in a group with a guitar, acoustic bass, and concertina. I was surprised when I first heard how sweet the concertina and whistle sounded when played together.
On 2002-06-19 21:37, lollycross wrote:
Hi, to all of you with the hundreds of whistle c.d.'s.
So what do you think is the most widely used
instrument to accompany a solo whistle album…guitar, fiddle, harp, piano,
drum???
lolly
Most of my CDs have fiddle, concertina, harp, uilleann pipes and bodhran (I have one strictly bagpipes so that doesn’t count). My favorite is Siucra which consists of just three musicians: a wonderful flautist and whistle player, a guitar player, and a vocal soloist and bodhran player.
The one I have with digital keyboard doesn’t get played much! Though not on a CD, I’m happy with any accompanyment that keeps me on beat.
And you are still looking for an answer to: which is “the most widely used?”…
Mack