I noticed a nice looking Burke brass whistle in B on eBay at a nice price, so I had a WHOAD relapse and bought it. I had never seen a B Burke on eBay UK (or US for that matter).
It arrived the next day and I took out this nice shiny whistle to try it out and all I got was high pitched tones. I covered the windway and blew through it, thinking there might be a blockage, no change. Took the head off to look through it to see if there was something wedged in, but nothing to be seen.
Started thinking I had been sold a pup, and that was why it was that cheap for a Burke (the equivalent of $101 and change), then while putting it back in it’s pouch I noticed that it had a thumb hole that I had not been covering, hence the problem. Tried it again with thumb on thumb hole and it worked perfectly, with me feeling like an idiot for not realising it had a thumb hole.
Not sure I hate them (it’s such a strong sentiment) but I certainly would never buy a whistle with one. And if the thumbhole wasn’t mentioned in the ebay listing, there’s your reason: it limits the number of potential buyers to the extreme.
I don’t think I have any whistle I paid 100 for but in the unlikely event I would consider getting one, it certainly wouldn’t be one needing a piece of tape to work to satisfactory.
Me neither, but I was given one as a gift from my wife (who doesn’t play the whistle and didn’t know better), and I h… er, disliked it very much. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt her feelings to return it.
What I like about whistles is their simplicity and making the best of it within their relatively limited scope. Putting keys on them, adding holes and generally redesigning them into way too expensive quasi concert instruments (I was tempted to use, tongue in cheek, the ever so pompous ‘legit’ here but refrained, mostly), goes very much against the grain of all that is attractive about them. There’s beauty in finding solutions to their limits.
Note that, as usual, I am thinking from a context of Irish music. Anyone playing in a different context may want to look at this differently, although there’s probably some irony in making such ungodly modifications to play in, say, a church orchestra.
Also note, most of this post was heavily ironic/tongue in cheek although I’ll stand over the sentiments expressed.
Not in the sense of what I was talking about. It’s not a musical solution. It’s a modification, a change of the essential character of the simple six hole instrument.
I would have bought the whistle whether it had a thumb hole or not, but Mr G was right, it was not mentioned in the listing. It was bought specifically because it was in B, well made whistles in B are hard to find (any whistles in B are hard to find).
I wouldn’t be admitting to anything like that in public… especially around here. Hard enough to justify myself as it is. Good to hear everything turned out OK.
I did the same thing with a Burke I bought secondhand.
Another Burke I bought had a nice big piece of silver duct tape covering the thumbhole.
I played these Burkes with tape over the thumbholes for a time, then eventually took the tape off. It doesn’t take much adjustment to getting used to keeping your thumb there, and it doesn’t do any harm save for the greater potential for hand tension.
Can’t say I’ve ever used the thumbholes though.
There are three reasons I don’t care for C natural thumbholes on whistles
they’re unnecessary. I can play a quite satisfactory C natural by crossfingering, and can bend up to it in the piper’s manner, and cut, pat, and roll it. The C natural I get from the thumbhole doesn’t seem advantageous in any way, in fact more awkward in complex passages than the crossfingered C natural, and more difficult to ornament.
it flies in the face of the shared performance practices and style of Irish whistle, flute, and pipes. On all three of these a crossfingered C natural has long been done, and all three instruments finger it and ornament it in a fairly similar way.
it appears to represent an attempt by people coming from outwith ITM to make whistles play more like non-ITM instruments (such as the Boehm flute) which is a fool’s errand. Seems like whenever I meet somebody with thumbhole whistles they’re a Boehm flute player who has recently taken up the whistle, and feel a need to get that thumb involved.
I just joined the forum and did it to weigh in on the thumbhole question. I am recently back to whistling professionally. My first thumbhole whistle was an Abell in D. That whistle was smashed in a tragedy. I now play Burkes’. I have to say I like the thumbhole. It works well, and it is easier than cross-fingering. I have modified Clarke’s, Generation’s, Walton’s and etc. by simply carefully drilling a hole in the estimated proper place. Try it with a cheap whistle and see if it works for you. If you really don’t like it, tape over it. For those opposed on the question of confusion in fingering I say, you already have learned several alternate fingerings, consider this another. For those who oppose on “traditional grounds” I say, tradition is often interrupted by innovation. IMHO this is one such case. I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind with this. I hope that the less experienced whistlers considering whether to get a thumbhole will consider it. It makes that note easy more often and does not prevent the use of cross fingering.
I suspect that those as are opposed to the idea won’t even bother with the experiment and thus will have nothing to tape over!
I’ve no problem with whistles with extra holes. They are entirely “traditional”, after all! Makers of instruments and makers of music have been altering “traditional” instruments for hundreds of years. This is why, in the 21st century, we now have entirely “traditional” full Boehm system flutes and clarinets alongside equally “traditional” simple system instruments. Anyway, if the C hole makes your playing life easier or gives you additional options, that’s great. I think you’re well within the “tradition” of centuries of musicians who were not content to leave their instruments be.
As for the whole (false) notion of “traditional” and the general attitude that “traditional” is somehow superior or better or more appropriate, well that’s just nonsense.
I mean, what ìs “tradition”? Who gets to determine? Whose tradition are we talking about anyway? And in what time period? Is 2017 Chicago where someone is playing Dan Spratley’s Jig in the key of B on a Selmer clarinet accompanied by steel pan drums somehow less “traditional” than 1940 Dublin where someone played the same tune on a penny whistle? And how “traditional” was Dan Spratley’s Jig the day after it was first played anyway?
And what’s so dog gone “traditional” about the penny whistle and jigs and reels anyway? The penny whistle evolved in England in the mid-19th century and those dances probably date two or three centuries before that! If you want “traditional Irish music”, you need to break out your bog-horns and your Wicklow pipes and maybe jingle your crotals.
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Sorry to hear about your Abell! That was a tragedy indeed, and on multiple levels! I’ve often considered trying such a whistle — perhaps you’d care to share some pictures or your experiences in making the modifications? I think that would be most illuminating!
that I had not been covering, hence the problem. Tried it again with thumb on thumb hole and it worked perfectly, with me feeling like an idiot for not realising it had a thumb hole.
