Very much a beginner here - I’ve been at it for a little over a year. I had no musical background and came to music through the whistle at age 55. I now play Irish flute and whistle for an hour or two a day and the joy it brings me is mammoth. I have a few D whistles and always play my Killarney. I have a Sindt on order, and might see it within the year. Here is my question: For an unsophisticated player (no musical background) what whistle would you recommend if he dares to step into a key other that D? What types of tunes would it open?
You will still be able to play the same tunes you play now with the same finger sequence.
Generation Bb whistle is a good whistle and key to play.
Bb is a very nice key for a second whistle. It’s very popular for good reason.
C whistles are not bad either.
Becker makes very affordable whistles in most keys, which makes key experimentation painless.
I have one of his alto G whistles which is lots of fun.
http://www.beckerwhistles.com
Bb is the Goldilocks whistle key: not too high, not too low. It’ll feel big compared to your D, but you’ll get used to it quickly. It won’t open new tunes to you, per se–you’ll just play the same stuff in a new key–but it will allow you to play along with recordings of Bb whistle/flute/pipes.
It won’t open new tunes to you
That really depends on the sort of music you play and in what setting or company you play it. Surely you can play your regular tunes and use a different whistle as an instant means of transposing your music into a different key. I can imagine settings though where playing a particular piece of music in a particular key is required and in that sort of cases a different whistle will open up new tunes.
Have you thought of trying a Low D? You’re already playing the flute but a low whistle would open up another area of creativity. The Dixon tapered bore Low D is a great whistle and relatively inexpensive.
If it’s Irish music you’re into, I might suggest a C whistle. Depending on which players you listen to or sessions you go to, there may be a need to play in C, F, Dm, or Gm, which would all be pretty easy on a C whistle (just like playing your D whistle in D, G, Em, and Am, respectively). Either that, or an Eb, because many players record in Eb, and there are such things as Eb sessions (although in most places outside of prominent traditional centers I think they’re more talked about than experienced).
Honestly, I’m not sure why any whistle player wouldn’t have a set of Eb, D, C, and Bb Generations. You’re looking at an outlay of $40-50 for the whole lot, and you’re covered for a good few keys.
Thanks so much for the insights and opinions. Terrific.
Yes to all the above.
Whistles are amazingly cheap as musical instruments go, so whistle players end up with a pile of them in many different keys.
I have all the keys, chromatic, from Low D to high Eb.
Yes there are Eb sessions. And if you hang around pipers you’ll see C sessions and B sessions.
As has been said, there are several common session tunes for which you’ll want a C whistle, that is unless you play a keyed flute and get good at playing in D minor etc on it.
And there’s a body of fiddle tunes in A Major for which I really like using an E whistle. You finger the tunes in G and they come out in A. Low E whistles tend to be sweet players anyhow, with a more comfortable finger-stretch than Low Ds. Of course if you have a keyed flute you can handle A Major just fine on that.