Although I make whistles, I also play and love the recorder. One thing great about the recorder is it’s ability to play chromatically in all keys, albeit with some forked fingerings necessary. Alas, many people don’t like the sound or look of a recorder, so I’ve been toying with the idea of making a recorder-like whistle using my basic D+ whistle design. I haven’t tried it yet but I’m thinking that with the addition of a thumbhole and some tinkering with the size and placement of the fingerholes, it should be possible to make something sort of like a chromatic Renaissance recorder with a cylindrical bore that will still look and sound like a whistle. Imagine being able to play tunes in any key necessary at a session without changing instruments. Recorder players who want to try whistle might like it too.
Do you think there might be any interest in a hybrid like this?
I don’t really have a great idea where to start in my experimentation either. I’ve written to one well respected recorder and whistle maker who offers a copy of a very old recorder of the type I’ll be trying to simulate so hopefully he can steer me in the right direction.
Sounds interesting.
Susato make them in C, F, and G but a D would be very useful.
Very interesting, Paul!
I think I will want one… someday! Put me on the list of recorder/whistle players who would like to try what you produce.
Consider Adri’s Dream Flute by Mollenhaur. It is basically a cross between a Renaissance recorder (straight cyllindrical bore) and a Baroque recorder. They still manage to have the full 2 octave plus one note range, while most Renaissance recorders only play an octave and a sixth. Lovely bold rather-whistle-like tone.
Then consider that Susato makes a Renaissance recorder which is nothing but their whistle fitted with a couple of extra holes.
I like Adri’s Dream Flute better.
Oreo Phil
Sounds pretty cool, I just don’t know if I can deal with it. I think something like Gary Humphrey and Skip Healy do with 10 Hole instruments might be more appealing to me.
This may be the incentive I’ve been looking for to buy a plastic Adri for research purposes.
Is the “well-respected recorder and whistle maker” by any chance Mr. Bleazey? What about Mr. Grinter? 
I have played such a thing before.
I liked it; other folks seemed to not care for it.
Every maker is different, though; I’d be interested to see what design you came up with, and how much of the whistle fingerings you could keep.
–James
Yes, Phil is a really great guy and has already responded with some useful information.
I bought some PVC this afternoon to tinker around with-- much less labor to create something that may or may not work at all!
I can’t really imagine to play session tunes with a recorder. The fingering is too “forked” to crisp ornamentation, I think – but might be and interesting experiment.
I’d be interested to see what you come up with. I switch between the recorder and the whistle. The fingerings are just similar enough that it causes problems when switching from one to the other. A recorder-fingered whistle would be neat.
Gabriel, early recorder music has even more convoluted embellishments that the whistle. You practice a lot and use alternate fingerings for some notes when the tangle of fingers gets too complex.
I went with the D whistle because the fingerings are very close to my German fingered C recorder. I also do play baroque in both C and F so I’d be open to try one fingered either straight or forked. hhuumm, a brass recorder..sounds intriguing.
hey: i’d consider it if you made one left-handed. is there such a thing as a left-handed recorder? curses for learning how to play backwards especially since i’m right handed to start with.
and please folks, i will not, will not, will not, learn how to play right handed, but thanks for not asking.
I have the Silkstone D plus, which is cylindrical, and I find that cross-fingerings do well on accidentals in the lower octave - you can just about play a Cnat scale, but the intonation isn’t accurate enough for it to be serious. As flute players will know, forked fingerings in the upper octaveoften lead to 3rd octave squeaks.
so it’s not chromatic in the sense that you can play in all the keys, but you can get a lot of the flats & sharps.
is this because the whistle is tuned in just temperament rather than equal temperament? (like bagpipe chanters are?)
b
I bet someone’s complained that the Susato Recorder sounds too
much like a whistle…
I dunno - wouldn’t the extra hole(s) violate 6 hole theory?
Were it possible to make a 10-hole (Cnat LH thumb, Fnat RH thumb, double hole for RH pinkie for C, C#) I would be really interested. As long as it would normally play with the ‘normal’ 6-hole fingerings (XXX XOO for F#) I would find it intensely useful. I’ll take mine in boxwood and brass, thanks!
As an aside, my old boxwood (firewood) flute now has a C extension foot bodged together from a hunk of eucalyptus and a clarinet key. Very useful! I’m finding the C more useful than the D# key, especially for some Canadian fiddle tunes. I tried to make a C extension to a Generation tube, but the only way I found to fix the intonation was to make the C hole so large my pinkie falls in 
. Guess I’ll start fresh!
I have seen whistles advertised with up to 10 holes but are they are still regarded as whistles. The Susato ‘Renaissance recorder’ has recorder fingering so in what way is it not a Renaissance recorder. I’m interested as I was considering buying one. Susato whistles I have and like. Is the Susato Renaissance recorder a really inferior instrument?
What is the difference between recorder and “Renaissance recorder” fingering?
Inferior to what? Oh, some people frequently suggest that Susato
whistles sound like recorders… that doesn’t really say much about
how good the recorders are. They’re sure to be better than those $4
Yamaha school recorders.
Baroque recorders, the ones most people are familiar with have ten holes with the bottom two being double holed with the notes requiring either both or just one of the holes be covered. They also have a narrow bore and depending on the maker a curved windway. A Renaissance recorder has a wide straight bore and only eight holes. They had been designed for a smaller range of notes but with a totally different tone and volume (these babies have outdoor voices only). In order to increase the playing range some rather intricate fingerings were designed. The German fingering was designed to be a modification of the baroque and to eliminate as much as possible the cross fingerings. It is not as comprehensive as the baroque and will only sound on key with recorders designed for it. Most players learn at least baroque fingering in C and F.
IMHO it is inferior. It doesn’t sound like a whistle either, but is a half-step above the white yamaha. Most people think of a white yamaha when they see a recorder. Many brands Aulos, Zen-on and even Yamaha make fairly good plastic recorders. And most players have one to use as a practice instrument to keep from overplaying (and ruining) their much more expensive wooden ones.
Judy