I was just thinking about how I have played atleast 15 brands or makers whistles minimum and within that diffrent models and keys and such.. and well it got me thinking about how great it is when you can have a vast array of whistles to try and play… I now days have fewer whistles than ever but about 5 years ago had a heep of them laying around…
It was pricless for me to get to try so many whistles and really find what stood out to me and what I could play the best…
It amazes me that I have had whistles I could play amazingly, yet others that sounded like a new tuba player at band camp… just a bunch of toots.
The beauty of people getting whoa is you learn what works for you, after I had my period of buying anything and everything I could get my hands on … Burkes, Abells, Copelands, sindts, O’riordans, weasels, humphreys, and hovers, and ohhh so much more… I found what I liked to play and what I could make sound good.
It is amazing if you take two eqaul players and give them the same whistle how diffrent they sound… so go ahead try as many as you can and when you find what works for you you can start to aquire what ever matches you…
Just a little ranting and clearing of my thoughts…
Killain…
I share your enthusiasm re the Whistle Acquisition Malady (WAM).
Addendum; And it’s fun, how the trying out and playing of a variety of whistles can come full circle. As a result of reading a recent thread on player-perceived sound and listener-perceived sound…I dragged out an old Susato Low D (rougher looking than Keith Richards, by the way…), and gave it a go. Gee. As a long-time user of high-end Lows, I was surprised at how much tonal mileage I got out of it! And how much my usual need for “full, rich tones” was offset by the in-tune-ness and “thinner” sounds of the old Susato. Great fun!
Yep. The array of available whistles, and their varying characteristics, is one of the pleasures of this instrument.
Yeah thats another great thing about having a collection is revisting old whistles that maybe just lost their play time… often as our skill increase whistles magically become better But so true I hated my cillian O’briain low d for about three months then got another low d and loved it but revisted the cillian later on to find that my skills were better and I could control it where before it was always a hastle for me…
As per the last post that is another thing when you find a key you love well you just fall in love with it… and though you may play a d in sessions and such when you are alone that key is yours…
For me I like the A not to high pitched but not a low whistle I find the weasel I just got in a is becoming my new favourite, and I am a low whistle guy but it is converting me…
I’ve been collecting and trading for 7 years now, and love it when I revisit a whistle I didn’t think much of when I got it, but love now.
Currently I’m madly in love with a tweaked Susato E (you may search the archive and find info on it) and a ‘one off’ Sweetheart Pro that suits me perfectly.
Three months ago it way an original Syn and my Abell’s.
WhOA means there’s always something new to appreciate in your old stash.
I only play a couple of different whistles but I have probably 20 of them (almost all are cheapies) lying around. For me, it’s like my marble collection and my rock collection and my insect collection and my model airplane collection and my…well, all my collections when I was a kid. If WhOA is my second childhood, I’m getting off pretty cheap. After all, I could be collecting red sports cars and long-legged women. Hmmm, I wonder if my wife will buy that line of reasoning next time I buy a whistle? I’m guessing not.
But so true I hated my cillian O’briain low d for about three months then got another low d and loved it but revisted the cillian later on to find that my skills were better and I could control it where before it was always a hastle for me…