I’ve been pondering whether WhOA is good for whistle playing improvement or not.
On the one hand, looking forward to and then receiving a shiny new whistle from the nice man in the brown truck can get you excited about playing.
OTOH, you can spend more time jumping between whistles and not really making any progress in your playing. It can also lead you to think that once you get that next whistle, your sound will improve.
Any thoughts?
John Mac
I think it’s good in that when you find a whistle that you truly love, your WhOA drops off a bit, and you concentrate your time on that one. If I had stopped at Susatos or DIxons before getting my Laughing I would be playing a lot less, and if I had stopped before getting my weird hybrid hoover/feadog I wouldn’t have a great whistle for playing in sessions (where I actually KNOW the tune, and want to be heard!)
Also I like WhOA because it keeps you analyzing what you like and dislike about various types of whistle.
Also I liked introducing my whistle student to the world of different whistle keys - brought a Gen high G, F and a Laughing low D to her lesson yesterday. She liked the F a lot and said I sounded like the flute in Pocohontas on the Low D so I promptly began “Colors of the Wind.” 
QUOTE: “It can also lead you to think that once you get that next whistle, your sound will improve.”
Sometimes it will. Not that I’m any great shakes as a whistler, but even leaving aside the obvious of getting your first high-end whistle to replace the Generation you’ve come to love/hate, I tend to believe that we all attack a whistle in slightly different ways. Subtle differences in the way a whistle is held or blown may well mean that a new whistle WILL sound better in the hands of some folks.
I think whoa can help a bit. 1. Something new tends to reinvigorate our interest. 2. There’s a motivation to become “worthy” of a high end whistle.
jb.
What’s with the handle? goesto11. I can only go 'till about 9:30 or 10, but I have to get up early in the morning.
[ This Message was edited by: brownja on 2002-09-11 16:56 ]
On 2002-09-11 16:55, brownja wrote:
What’s with the handle? goesto11. I can only go 'till about 9:30 or 10, but I have to get up early in the morning.
That would be a Spinal Tap quote.
“This one goes to 11!”
The handle comes from the movie “Spinal Tap”, which was a spoof of the 70s and 80s “Rockumentaries”. In it, the lead singer of Spinal Tap is showing Rob Reiner (the narrator) all of the band’s great equipment. He goes on and on about their great amp that they had custom made, because the amp “goes to eleven”. Rob Reiner asks him why they just didn’t make 10 louder, and Nigel gives him the funniest look and says “Well this one goes to 11.” (It’s funnier in the movie.)
John Mac
p.s. And also I think the JohnMac and JohnnyMac were already taken.
There are some interesting benefits to WHOA.
First, even the best whistles work better for some folks than others. Pretty much the only way to find out is to play a bunch of them. If you play a lot, you’re more likely to find your “perfect” whistle. 
The flip side is that some tunes seem to sound better on one whistle more than another. I’m not fond of my Soodlum for slow airs and such, but I like it for reels and jigs.
For me, straight tube style whistles with larger holes work best. Of my soprano D whistles, I find the Chieftain, Dixon and Soodlum the easiest to get the fingering right. I really love the sound of my Meg, but I find it very difficult to get the fingering right on (the high seam on the back doesn’t help any).
One benefit I’ve found from having whistles in various keys, is that I don’t have too much problem with differences in finger-spacing. I can adjust very quickly to new whistles.
And besides, I have all these really cool whistles.
Speaking as one who is in bad flare up of WhOA, no, I don’t think it improves your playing at all.
I do think it improves your understanding of all the differences between whistles, and a self-revelation of what you like or dislike in a whistle and why someone else might appreciate it. I think you’ll find that certain tunes sound better on one whistle than on another, but technique sure doesn’t improve when you hip-hoppity from one critter to the next, and have to rethink when you have to put in the effort to hit a high note purely, and what pressure makes it squawk.
I had three cheap whistles (two of them incurably bad…albeit fair to middlin’in the hands of a REALLY GOOD PLAYER) and probably wouldn’t have pursued the skill much further if I hadn’t stumbled on a Burke and found out that there is a vast difference between what I had and what was out there.
I think, for a while, I thought that there might be as great a leap beyond the sound of a Burke if I just found the right high-high end, but that hasn’t happened, though WhOA had me going for a bit (okay, I STILL have it). Then I was in a situation where I didn’t have ANY whistle and needed something cheap and available, and found that the low ends were as variable and fun and utterly collectable.
Maybe there is some skill improvement, as I can now get a fair to middling sound out of the Clare, SweeTone, Feadog, Gen, Doolin. . . but I do think it is because I’m playing a lot since getting that first whistle that really really pleased me, not because of the variety in my bag.
It has helped me to have Whoa because I thoroughly exhausted the potentials of store-bought (non-tweaked) Gens, and Feadogs and several Susatos. And I wanted something more, which led me to the Burkes. First I got the D then wanted an E because I have always wanted a good E whistle and didnt care for the Susato I had ordered.
Since receiving it, the little E makes me want to play jigs every morning/evening. That has made me want to practice more, perfect rolls and lately I have carried that feeling back to my slightly more sluggish D whislte.
So the answer , to me, is YES! As long as it leads you to something that makes you want to practice more.
Everyone needs a bare minimum of 12, one for each key. Or, at very least A, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and G.
I guess it’s 6:00 on the East Coast. Is anybody playing Amazing Grace?
On 2002-09-11 17:15, goesto11 wrote:
The handle comes from the movie “Spinal Tap”, which was a spoof of the 70s and 80s “Rockumentaries”.
Should have picked up on that. That is a great flick. “but it’s one louder”
jb’
On 2002-09-11 18:06, brownja wrote:
On 2002-09-11 17:15, goesto11 wrote:
The handle comes from the movie “Spinal Tap”, which was a spoof of the 70s and 80s “Rockumentaries”.Should have picked up on that. That is a great flick. “but it’s one louder”
jb’
A friend of mine does artwork on leather goods I make by burning the image into the leather. She’s got a really nice professional wood-burner, with a heat knob that goes “LO 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HI”
So, in reality, it goes to 11! The fact that her husband is an electronics engineer who designs amps for Fender Guitar just seems to make it that much more amusing.
Tyghress wrote:
I think, for a while, I thought that there might be as great a leap beyond the sound of a Burke if I just found the right high-high end, but that hasn’t happened, though WhOA had me going for a bit (okay, I STILL have it).
A great leap beyone the sound of a Burke? Different, yeah, but there ain’t anything that’s a lot better than a Burke out there.
Dale once pointed out that he seems to make fewer mistakes with high-end whistles. I agree with him. With something like a Burke (or Weasel, Sopeland, Abell, etc.) I think you spend less time fighting with the whistle, trying to keep from jumping octaves, etc., that you can’t devote as much attention to where and when your fingers go.
Re: goes to 11. I had a summer student about 10 years ago who looked at a vacuum gauge and said “This gauge goes to eleven!” I got the reference, chuckled, and looked – it did go to 11! I hired him when he got out of graduate school, so it must have made a good impression.
WhOA will probably get you to something with a sound YOU like better. So in that sense, you like it more, you play it more, you play better. Simple.
Or, the happiness euphoria gets to your head, pop, clears your mind and there you have it, the next {insert popular guy/gal}.