As it stands now I have a Jerry Tweaked shaw, a whitecap on an oak body, and a sweetone all in the key of high D. None of these have the volume I am am needing to play with other musicians.
I am not very experienced with the volume of other whistles. And would love some help understanding what whistles have volume and which ones do not. As well as and what makes a whistle quiet or loud in relation to material and size of bore.
I am still on my quest of deciding on my one “high-end” whistle to buy. And I need to make sure that I wont regret my decision because of getting a whistle that can not be heard while playing with others.
The Humphrey wide bore high D has a bit of volume, like a Burke WBB I’d say. The narrow bore is slightly softer. About Oakish, I’d say.
About playing with others and volume: Don’t underestimate how load a whistle is to those who aren’t playing it (the sound is directed away from you), and don’t underestimate the cutting power of a whistle: You’re an octave higher than everyone else. If you can’t hear yourself stand out in the first octave, and you can still hear everyone else when you’re in the second octave, you’re about right. No need to go louder than that.
I have the opposite problem. I got interested in learning the flute partly because whistles are so loud in the upper register that I worry about bothering my neighbors. My rooms that are most distant from neighbors are also the loudest and most resonant.
On the other hand, I’m a beginner with the flute, and so I am struggling with embouchure, and so I want to learn tunes on the whistle that I can play on the flute when I get the hang of embouchure.
My current lineup is a pair of cheiftain low D’s (one tuneable, one non) and a feadog D. The Feadog is so piercing in the upper register that I don’t feel comfortable playing it often, although (after the sandpaper in the windway tweak) it sounds pretty good to me. A lot of people say “get a low whistle if you want a quiet one”, and I love the Cheiftains tonally but they still seem quite loud in the upper register when blown into tune. I realize that loud volume is a selling point, too, and I am looking forward to being able to play more tunes on the cheiftains as much as I am on thhe flute, I just want something quiet to practice on.
I have ordered a Burke composite small-bore D, because the whistle shop said he came out with the ‘session bore’ one because the regular composite D was too quiet compared to his metal whistles… So I figured it must be quieter, but that doesn’t mean it’s quiet enough… not that I expect to regret the purchase in any case.
So yeah, I’m looking for as quiet and mellow sounding whistle as possible, or is there perhaps a tweak for the feadog that could significantly drop its volume?
I want to play flute so I can control the volume. It is possible, on my flute at least, to play the upper register significantly quieter than on any of my whistles.
My Alba high D is quite loud in fact I was at a Session with like 5 other Whistlers once and I was the loudest they were all using Burke Aluminums except me and another guy using an old Gen I think.
True, you can control the volume on a flute and a good flutist can play significantly softer on flute than on whistle.
One thing lots of folks don’t know, though, is its actually harder for a beginner to play a flute softly. It can take quite a bit of time and practice to be able to play that softly with control and support.
However, I --never-- think it’s a bad thing when somebody wants to learn flute! Hop on board!
–James
Edited: it is worth noting that a lot of folks perceive the flute to be softer because it plays an octave lower. Whistle, because of its range, does tend to carry well “on top” of the other instruments, even though almost all of them are, in fact, louder.
However, I --never-- think it’s a bad thing when somebody wants to learn flute! Hop on board!
–James
It’s one of my favorite instruments for irish music. I would be happy enough just to be able to play the low whistle well, but there’s an extra bit of expressive control the flute gives that I am fond of.
For the most part, I am a guitarist, and I also play octave mandolin.
Because of it’s high pitch, a whistle doesnt need half the volume of a typical flute. A bad player on a loud flute won’t annoy me half as much as a bad player on a not so loud whistle. Mary Bergin plays a Sindt in most of her sessions, even with pipes and boxes around, and you can still hear her through. She’s not shopping for the loudest whistle, she just want a very responsive one.
I agree with James, learn the flute if you can, it’s such a wonderful instrument.
The quietest, most mellow-toned whistle I have is my Laughing Whistle D.
You may have seen discussion in another thread regarding potential clogging issues, but I don’t seem to have that problem.
Even compared to my Burke NB composite, the laughing whistle is the one least likely to annoy other family members at night.
I agree that if one wants a quiet whistle the Laughing one is the way to go. It is very pure in tone. Mine does clog quickly though, which is irritating, even with “clogging treatments”.
It is so true that the high tones of a whistle don’t need near the volume of most other instruments to be heard. Thats why you don’t see a whole section of piccalos or oboes in an orchestra.
It might good to note here that if one wishes to contact Noah Herbison (Laughing Whistles,) it pays to be patient. He also tends to underestimate the wait time. He made mind recently while transitioning between living in two different parts of N. America, but he does eventually come through.
The one with the smallest opening is the quietest. It’s on a Feadog tube.
The one with the next larger opening is moderately quiet. It’s on a Hoover brass tube.
The one with the largest opening is also the loudest–as loud as my Jerry-tweaked Generation. It’s on an Oak tube.
The Feadog Whitecap is my choice for playing when the rest of the family is sleeping. With my bedroom or office door closed, it won’t bother anyone. It requires the least air, too, so it’s a bit less expressive than any of my other whistles, but it has a very sweet sound, which is good for the kind of music I play.
If you order a Whitecap, you can ask Mack to make it quiet. I suppose you could even get a couple, one quiet and one loud, and swap them back and forth. In that case, you might want to send in the Feadog so that Mack can do a nice job of fitting both Whitecaps to the tube. I did that with the Oak, but not with the Feadog.
