Hi,
I’m an Uilleann piper and am looking for a tin whistle with piping finger (the 4th finger hole on the lower hand I’m not so worried about), which I’m told exist. Thought I’d have better luck here than the whistle forum.
Does anyone know who might make these? Any links would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Icturret
Are you looking for a 7-holed whistle? Your wording isn’t particularly clear on whether you’re asking for a top hand thumb hole or a lower hand pinky hole.
The 7th bottom hand pinky hole on those fairly uncommon whistles is normally for an extra C note below bottom D. The back thumb hole is (from what I’ve been told) related to the C natural note rather than the “Back D”.
You’d be much better off just sticking to your everyday 6-holed whistle in my opinion, but I know that Burke makes whistles with the thumb hole.
Piping fingering also implies closed fingering: only one or two finger holes are open for any note, the rest are closed. I think getting a whistle even close to in tune and physically playable with that fingering would be next to impossible.
[/quote]Burke makes whistles with the thumb hole.[/quote]
Thanks. Its the thumb hole I am really after.
Thanks. Its the thumb hole I am really after.
Then do take note, as TR above already mentioned, the whistle will have a C natural sitting under your thumb so it will be a completely different thing from what you get from your chanter.
Musique Morneaux makes the whistle.
http://musiquemorneaux.com/whistlesflageolets/
I must have bern misinformed that whistles existed with D thumb holes. Nevermind. Thanks for your help.
Many years ago I was in Maine, Bar Harbour I think. And there was a shop selling an Uilleann fingering whistle made out of a susato Bb I think and it had a tube running up to the mouth. It had a (back d) and was closed off at the leg.
I tried it but wasn’t inspired to buy one. It may have worked somewhat.
That would have been Song of the Sea in Bar Harbor. I believe they’ve been out of business for several years, but back in the day they did advertise something like you describe. Never heard of anyone who owned one, however.
Best wishes.
Steve
Apparently Song of the Sea’s “Uilleann Whistle Chanter” had a drone available as well.
Here’s a blast from the past from the Internet Archive, including an illustration of somebody playing it: Link
I’ll confess I’m completely mystified by Uilleann Pipe fingering. Why CAN’T you make a whistle with the same fingering?
Here’s a partial answer. Part of the fingerings for uilleann chanters involve stopping the chanter on the knee. Try that with most fipple style instruments. Granted you can play many notes, and on some chanters, all the notes ‘off the knee’, but often only with alternate fingerings to get anywhere near good intonation.
Bob
There have been heated discussion about the use of mouthblown practice chanters and whistles in the past. Truth is, there’s no real alternative for the real thing that will enable you to -learn the basics of good piping.
Right but I’m not understanding why. You have a tube with holes in it, or a conical bore tube with holes in it. I’m not understanding the physical differences here. The flute and the whistle are the same. A recorder has more holes for more notes, but has to labor under the same principles of physics under which all windy musical tubes labor.
I’m not arguing here, just not understanding, and speaking for complete inexperience
Tunborough also makes a good point above about closed fingerings.
Whistles (and flutes) resonate as if they are (mostly) open at both ends. Chanters (and other reed instruments) resonate as if they are (mostly) closed at the reed end and open at the other end. These animations from UNSW, and the standing wave diagrams above them on the same page, may help you visualize the difference. (The conical bore on the chanter produces a resonance at the second harmonic, but still acts as if it’s closed at one end.)
The difference in the standing wave patterns are why the chanter has a much lower pitch than a whistle of the same length. These differences also make it harder to make closed fingerings and on-the-knee notes work on a whistle, particularly over a two-octave range. Maybe it is possible without impractically large or widely spaced holes, but I’m not yet convinced. Given the evidence of the Song of the Sea whistle-chanter, though, I should take a second look at how it might work.
I have never seen a Song of the Sea Whistle/Chanter. If it had 'tuning holes on the bottom, essentially making it an open ended tube, getting the ‘whistle’ to sound in tune would be trivial. But you would have no finger articulated staccato as you do with a true chanter.
Bob
US patent 6,031,168, filed by Edward Damm of Bar Harbour, Maine, expired just recently. It gives the hole layout for Bb and A versions. Assuming the Bb is built on a Generation head and tube, I’d expect about half a dozen notes would be out of tune in normal playing, up to a quarter tone. The sample scale (on the A version) was better than that, only a few notes out of tune. This is better than I expected, and maybe close enough for playing around by yourself at home, to get a feel for the fingering.