Need Help! Tin Whistle Recommendation

[BigDavy]

Hi Freckle Girl

Thinking about what you were saying about mellow, a Bleazey high D whistle is mellower than a metal whistle but they are not what I would call quiet (I have 2 - 1 in yew and and 1 in olive).

Of the wooden high D whistles that I have, the one with the easiest and sweetest upper second octave is a Fred Rose high D.

[Freckle Girl]

Really? As Mr. Gumby pointed out, this might well be due to a lack of breath control. Yes there are instances where one note or the other may be a bit out of tune (where the according hole has to be taped or something), but your statement seems a bit OTT to me.

Then I'd like to ask you, why there is a plurality of whistle makers around the world, if a 5€ new Generation would do and the only problem is, that people aren't skilled enough for really proper breath control. I guess there are different whistle makers because everyone of them has tried to make an improvement or has a special imagination of sound, which he tries to generate. I don't believe that the owners of an expensive whistle have bought them to compensate their poor skills.

But again, a full-bodied timbre with a sweet, pleasant upper end is kind of the holy grail of whistle making.

Then please let me look for the holy grail. Best under 250€.

On the subject of speed,jigs and reels are dances and should be played at a tempo which allows this.
These speed merchants with their finger gymnastics and lunguistics should stay in the circus..............LOL

Thanks! After all, this is music and no competition. To me it's about beauty, rhythm, happiness, dignity and...fun.

[Mr.Gumby]

Then I'd like to ask you, why there is a plurality of whistle makers around the world, if a 5€ new Generation would do and the only problem is, that people aren't skilled enough for really proper breath control.

There's an answer to this question although possibly not a popular one on these forums.

On the subject of speed,jigs and reels are dances and should be played at a tempo which allows this.
These speed merchants with their finger gymnastics and lunguistics should stay in the circus..............LOL

Allows what exactly? Ever played for a battering set in full flight? Most performance players play at a slower pace than that required by dancers, FWIW. The ones I get to hear anyway.

[Freckle Girl]

There's an answer to this question although possibly not a popular one on these forums.

Now it gets exciting

[Nanohedron]

On the subject of speed,jigs and reels are dances and should be played at a tempo which allows this.
These speed merchants with their finger gymnastics and lunguistics should stay in the circus..............LOL

Lunguistics, he said.

Just to continue and extend the OT, if you don't mind: I too prefer to play dance tunes danceably (and as Mr.Gumby implies, there can be a range to that). It just seems right somehow. But I have my own personal exceptions, say ripping hot thru one jig and slowing another reel down to meditative levels. Absent dancers, this is where we get to pure performance. Now performance as such was never spoken of (that I heard) as being part of the Tradition, but rather as an extraneous thing. Whether it's a blanketly held view or not, that was my view too. I'm starting to shift my views on that these days. Thriving traditions being what they are and technology being where it is, I'm starting to see listener performance and all the undanceable stuff it opens the door for as more of a category to be included within, now. Kinda like the guitar, you could say.

[Feadoggie]

Whether it's a blanketly held view or not, that was my view too.

So, you agree with Linus then?

[Nanohedron]

Whether it's a blanketly held view or not, that was my view too.

So, you agree with Linus then?

I confess that I take refuge in The Blanket.

[ytliek]

There are some tunes and performances that are not speedsters and I kinda like them. Suits the music and the whistle. Is it Trad?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAPwb9g ... caQ0IFeDrI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lMBQPr8Y9w

But I draw the line...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnlrYCxFE0A

To return OT, the world certainly would be most boring with a single whistle choice. And what about craftsmanship? the striving for absolute perfection? Just the difference in whistle material alone is worth the pursuit of exploration in design and complexity.

On another thought... mention was made of a desire for that traditional sound in a whistle. I'm not confident that people today playing Trad even know what that traditional sound of a whistle is. That thought of traditional sound gets slung around like eye candy. Hmm...

[Nanohedron]

But I draw the line...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnlrYCxFE0A

Oh dear.

[Mr.Gumby]

I was, as usual, more thinking of a set, like this, that's how people dance around here.

[ytliek]

But I draw the line...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnlrYCxFE0A

Oh dear.

The French Connection... the Earth is after all spinning on its' axis and floating around a bit.

[Freckle Girl]

I was, as usual, more thinking of a set, like this, that's how people dance around here.

Hey, that's Greengates isn't it? I'm practicing that tune actually since a year now but haven't managed the speed yet like the band here.

@Ytliek: nice videos. Well, I'm surely not authorized to judge about what to call traditional and what not. If I'm right, I tried to avoid this adjective referring to whistles and how they sound. I said I like the Burkes but I miss that certain sound of yearning there - sorry, can't describe it in other words. It must be something different than chiff, because I don't like whistles that have really a lot of chiff. But when there's none, there is something missing to me.

Here's something I like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm_oaqW_qRM

But I deliver it to you to say if this is traditional or not.

Still searching for the holy grail...

[BigDavy]

Hi Freckle Girl

Lilting is definitely traditional

How about this one Lilting and bodhran.

Or taking it back to whistles, here is my instrumentalist of choice Rory Stark on an Ormiston blackwood whistle.



David

[Peter Duggan]

Still searching for the holy grail...

There isn't one!

[Freckle Girl]

That's a futuristic bodhran, never seen that before. The video shows that music helps when getting older. That's comfortable.

I liked the performance of Rory Stark very much. Well, then I visited the Ormiston Homepage just for fun and....erm forget it.
Unfortunately a prohibitive holy grail, at least for me.

Psychologists and Traditionals would probably suppose that I want to have the Ormiston because I think, I can play like Rory Stark then. But I know I won't and never will. But I want to have fun with a good sounding instrument.