Now please excuse me for asking the question but I am using precious practice time looking through this vast forum which is a mine of information
When looking for a new whistle I came across the Tony Dixon site and you can purchase one body with a whistle head or a flute head, or a piccolo head.
Is a flute a whistle with a different mouthpiece? and if so why would you want to play it sideways?
Are there different types of flute? Don’t some of them have elaborate valve thingies for closing several holes at once.
I am so ignorant of such things
So many questions
Ooh! A flute’s a totally different thing from a whistle! I think you need an answer from someone who owns a Dixon flute/whistle combo. I stress “owns” because I don’t think it would be enough just to have played one for a few minutes, or even an evening.
To be honest, I’d be fascinated to hear, because I’ve been looking at Tony’s site, and thought I might be tempted myself. It would have to be a low D whistle/flute combo for me, and my motivation for getting one would be to have something that you could switch easily during a session. I would expect the flute head to produce a very different sound from the whistle head on the same tube. But there’s where the Dixon combo owner’s advice will come in handy …
On another point in your post, why do you want a new whistle? And what are you looking for in a new whistle?
I was sure they were different but am totally flummoxed by the Dixon choice. I still don’t know why you would want to have the choice.
A new whistle is because I kept having squeeky notes with my sweetone after about 20 mins of practice so was looking for a plastic/PVC (or whatever it’s called) to stop so much condensation. It’s just a theory. I eventually ordered a Guido one as although I had spoken to Yasmin Dixon, they were closed whenever I phoned to ask more and order one.
As a beginner I don’t want to spend too much on a whistle just yet besides there are so many to choose from.
I love the beautiful clear sounding whistles such as the one Joannie Madden plays but the cost Phew - even if you could get one. O’Riorden is it? I know much of it is her ability so even if I was lucky enough to be given one I’m sure it would not sound like that for me, so that is really why I don’t want to spend too much just yet untill I can produce a half decent sound.
In this day and age of health and safety. How do you get to try a new whistle before buying it anyway, to know if that is what you want.
i have a low D dixon combo and i have a high D dixon combo. the difference in tone and sound between the flute configuration and whistle configuration is extreme! i am not enough of an expert to really describe with any detail, but ben is correct, the difference is huge.
i really love the sound of the low D in both configurations. i am not a big fan of the flute mouthpiece of the high D.
to me, it seems the tone is fatter in the low D when in the flute config. it’s a huge sound. because of the way you can vary the wind across the mouthpiece there is an amazing variety of sound and tonal control with the flute as compared to the whistle.
a big difference is the embouchure. seems to take a lot more practice and work to get a good solid tone with the flute. and the embouchure changes as you go up or down through the registers, as well.
anyway, like i said, i don’t know enough to say anything intelligent, so i’ll stop for now. good luck.
Start with something widely thought of as good by people who have played a long time, e.g. jerry freeman
tweaked whistles are very good and not expensive. One of these can keep you happy for a very long
time. (I’ve been playing whistle for 8 years, FWIW.) One of the neat things about whistles is
that some of the most accomplished players play cheepies, often tweaked cheepies.
So one option is starting there.
Guido’s whistles are a very good choice, I would say - especially as value for money. The Dixon double headed monsters are IMO best avoided - I haven’t actually played one, but I have (was given) one of his plain conduit tube flutes which are essentially the same beasts - and it is dire. I don’t condemn things lightly. I’ve made far better ones myself. Any plain cylindrical flute will have a flat second octave, and that is what the Dixon combo flutes are. I can’t speak for the whistle heads which may be good - some of his whistles are quite decent, though none I’ve played has wowed me. (I have played 2 or 3 of Dixon’s more expensive conoid bore flutes and have been consistently quite impressed by them - I’m not all negative about his products!) The tuning issues mentioned for the flute do not apply to the whistle. In theory one could do this kind of swap, but you need a head with a reverse taper in it as in a Bohm flute or Doug Tipple’s wedge to correct the tuning. I know Dixon’s prices for these things are quite reasonable, but for not a huge amount more you could get a Tipple flute and a Gonzato whistle, both of which would be much better players - not a combo, but worth having, decently playable, not a frustrating waste of money.
Jiminos’ description of the playing differences between whistle and flute is a fair one despite his disclaimer. There’s a lot more control with a flute, but you have to learn it! Fingering is mostly transferable between the two.
FWIW & IMO, almost anything that isn’t broken or a faulty product will be better than a Sweetone. Yuck!
I got a plain black tubing Dixon Low D Flute/Whistle combo a number of years ago now - getting on for a decade, maybe? Certainly a good few years. Anyway, the whistle is nice enough. Got me into Low Whistling, not a difficult whistle to play and the stretch is fine (compared to my Overton, say, and I have small hands) The tone is nice enough too.
I’m not much good on flute, which may well have a bearing, but I haven’t been too impressed with the flute head. Certainly it’s rather flat in the second octave.
A whistle is a technically 6 -hole fipple flute. In otherwords it is a flute with a fipple - the fipple being the particular configuration of windway and labium that give it its unique sound and blown from the end rather than with an embouchure.
I think I will stick to whistle for now certainly. My ‘music teacher’ sister in law says that playing the flute you need more to push your bottom lip out to get a note? I was a brass instrument player so I am used to playing that, hence the one time I tried to play a flute I could get nothing.
My Gonzato whistle arrived. The sound is lovely however I find the low D a bit difficult to play after higher notes and top A and B I nearly have to blow my head off. I know I am a beginner but having tried to play this one makes me realise how easy it is to play the Sweetone.
Jem what would be the alternative to the Sweetone as you are not fussed with that?
You will probably say - anything is better
Pammy, the main problem in my experience/opinion with Sweetones is that they have particularly poor intonation - no whistle is perfect, of course - and I don’t much like their tone either, but that is more a personal taste thing. There have been oodles of threads here over many years on the pros and cons of the main commercial brands as well as of low-middle price range maker or tweaker instruments including threads with sound samples etc.. I’ve had my say in a few of them (!) and don’t want to start that again… Much depends on things like how much you want to/can spend and what access you have to music shops that will let you try whistles.
If you are having some teething problems with your Gonzato, stick with it - you’re not used to breathing for an instrument with relatively low resisitance - that will come with time and you will become more economical and won’t have to push all the time - and those big leaps will get easier. It is in part to do with how you support yor air-stream from deep within your body once you have learnt to breathe for both you and the instrument - this should be familiar from your Brass experience, I imagine, but perhaps applied a little differently. FWIW, a flute has even less resistance and is initially still more air-hungry until you develop the beginnings of a decent embouchure, so maybe now isn’t the time to go there… No, you don’t push your bottom lip out. Again, I won’t go into embouchure formation here/now - plenty to be found on that here and elsewhere on the web if you search well.
From my personal experience, i find a flute way easier than any low D. It’s just a matter of finding the right flute…Some makers do offer a 30 days money back guarantee, but maybe that’s for later on. For now, a very good alternative to the Sweetone would be a Hudson. Peter could make you a custom whistle without much back-pressure. http://www.hudsonwinds.com/
I notice that Tony Dixon now has a whistle head for his three piece polymer flute advertised on his website.
I can recommend the resulting low D whistle as an easy-player as I was given a prototype to play. It seems to be my quick pick-up-and-play whistle at present.
On a sister forum the flute seems to be quite highly rated as a beginner flute, but I have not got any pleasant sound out of it yet - my fault entirely. My non-musical partner managed to get better sounds from the flute than I ever have. I am hoping that it will encourage her to be musical.
Why do you guys all hate sweetones that much? Its only problems are “dull” timbre and “toy” looks. In all other sences, it’s a perfect beginners whistle. They’re very consistent and you don’t need to “hunt” for a good one. They’re always in tune, it’s harder to blow them out of tune, they don’t require too much breath control, they don’t squeak, etc.
What compares to them? Feadog, that squeaks and squaks all the time? Walton with its consistently sharp bell note? Generation, which can be, well, not perfect?
With sweetones, I can tell the guy who saw me playing and wants to learn also - “go to the shop, get Clarke Sweetone, download a book from (censored), and start learning”. I can’t do that with other cheap whistles.
Though I love the sound of feadog and walton wellow.
I own a Dixon Duo, so I can give a reasonably experienced opinion.
The Low Whistle configuration is pretty good (and has low air requirements). Rather quiet, too - nice for slow airs, but not quite as ideal for a fast reel. The reach is pretty easy - I’ve got smallish hands for a man, and I can play it using my fingertips, like it was a high D. It sounds nice, and is (I think) an above-average beginner’s low D. If your hands are really tiny, you might need to use piper’s grip, but my younger daughter could manage the reach when she was 12 or so. Depending on your musical taste as you gain more experience, it might or might not remain your favorite low whistle - it’s certainly a different beast than makes with higher back pressure, like a Howard or Overton.
The flute head? If you’re buying the low D whistle anyway, it’s a cheap way to see if you’re interested in playing flute. But if you think you really more interested in flute from the beginning, you’d probably be better off buying a much better cylindrical flute like a Tipple or making the jump to one of the many decent beginner model conical bore flutes.
I spent several months getting my basic chops on the Dixon and thought it wasn’t too bad, but that was my lack of experience with something better. When I got my Casey Burns Folk Flute I was astonished at how much better sounding (and easier to play) it was. These days, I split my flute time between my Burns and a Jon C R & R model - either one is a far better flute than I am a player. But I can’t recall the last time I played the Dixon with the flute head (I do play it as a low D sometimes).
Summary:
If you want a good beginner’s low D (and are curious about flute), get the Dixon Duo. If you really want to play flute, get something better (and less discouraging) to start on.
And yes, a flute sounds different than a low D, even though they play in the same register.
