help with types of whistles...

The Ultimate On-Line Whistle Community. If you find one more ultimater, let us know.
emptypockets
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:14 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: i love the sound of the whistle in certain songs i like and want to learn more about what type it is so i can get one like it

help with types of whistles...

Post by emptypockets »

Hello there everyone! I need a little help. I am brand new here and know nothing of tin whistles except I love their sound and want to get my friend one for Christmas. We have been listening to Robin Williamson a lot lately and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what type(?)(key?) of whistle he plays on such songs as "Whistle Tune" and "Empty Pocket Blues" on the eponymous album 'The Incredible String Band'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcn2LmXQSHg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m83Wba_24Ew
(Do links work here? I have no idea...)
This would be the kind of whistle I want to get. Also, if you could perhaps recommend a decent lower-end whistle good for a beginner that would be awesome!
fatmac
Posts: 1149
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 5:47 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Kickbiker - at over 70!
:lol:
....................................................................
....................................................................

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by fatmac »

Generation, Clarkes, Faedog, Waltons, Tony Dixon are some of the makers whistles that I have in high D, which is the most often recommended key for folk tunes, including ITM.
Keith.
Trying to do justice to my various musical instruments.
User avatar
RoberTunes
Posts: 326
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:33 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I am a flute, guitar, keyboard + whistle player learning about quality whistles, musical possibilities and playing techniques. I've recorded a CD of my own music and am creating music for kids.
Location: North America

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by RoberTunes »

Without a photo, there's little to go on. The whistle in a recording will have been put through EQ and compression. It sounds like a basic model, a somewhat familiar tone to it, but I'm guessing. That narrows it down to a list of about 35 possibilities.

Beginner level, or lower priced whistles I would be OK with, being a musician already, would include:
Oak, Tony Dixon DX001 (or similar), Walton's Mellow D model or the Little Black D, Becker, Timothy J Potter, Goldfinch, Feadog Pro. The Clarke Celtic model (the green one), may be acceptable to some, but it's too quiet for my liking.

You might get a million different answers for your questions. Read all you can, this site is a gold mine of info.

Marnie Kringles and a Half a New Ear. :thumbsup:
User avatar
MichaelLoos
Posts: 675
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:53 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I'm here because I just wanted to change my location... but it turns out much more complicated than I thought. Do I already have the 100 required characters?
Location: Klietz, Germany

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by MichaelLoos »

At the time when these recordings were made (1970ies), virtually the only whistles available were Generation and Clarke.
Since Clarkes were only produced in C and these recordings were played on a Bb whistle, I'm 99.9% sure it was a Generation.
brianholton
Posts: 329
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 2:31 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
Location: Melrose

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by brianholton »

That particular album was made in the mid-late 60s, so yes, it's most likely a GenBb. But I saw them a couple of years later, and Robin was also playing Indian bamboo whistles.
emptypockets
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:14 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: i love the sound of the whistle in certain songs i like and want to learn more about what type it is so i can get one like it

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by emptypockets »

Oh my! Thanks for all the help! I just wung it, went ahead and bought a couple so they would get here in time for Christmas. Going off of a bit of info I could glean from YouTube. I ordered a Clarke Sweetone D and a Faedog Nickel in C. I hope they are good ones! We are COMPLETE beginners but very excited to be entering this world of worlds!

Just wondering, what is ITM?

I would have LOVED to have seen them back in the day! Jealous.

Thanks for all the help! I am glad to have found this lovely community and can't wait to dive in! I'm sure I'll be spending hours on here. It's a bit overwhelming :thumbsup:
User avatar
Steve Bliven
Posts: 2973
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2004 2:06 pm
antispam: No
Location: Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by Steve Bliven »

emptypockets wrote:Just wondering, what is ITM?
ITM is a sad, life-long affliction. It's an abbreviation for Irish Traditional Music.

There is another affliction—WhOAD—that, while you haven't experienced it yet, you will. [And I note that the formal definition of WhOAD is missing from the Forum as "The Book" seems to have gone missing from the web site. Perhaps a sticky is needed..]

Best wishes.

Steve
Live your life so that, if it was a book, Florida would ban it.
User avatar
Peter Duggan
Posts: 3223
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:39 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I'm not registering, I'm trying to edit my profile! The field “Tell us something.” is too short, a minimum of 100 characters is required.
Location: Kinlochleven
Contact:

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by Peter Duggan »

emptypockets wrote:Just wondering, what is ITM?
1. An irritating abbreviation for Irish Traditional Music.
2. An eBay item as part of an ebay URL.

(Cross-post with Steve!)
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.

Master of nine?
User avatar
MichaelLoos
Posts: 675
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:53 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I'm here because I just wanted to change my location... but it turns out much more complicated than I thought. Do I already have the 100 required characters?
Location: Klietz, Germany

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by MichaelLoos »

Here's a live performance on German TV which wasn't broadcasted - for good reason IMO...
To be fair, most of their other performances were a lot better :wink:
User avatar
Nanohedron
Moderatorer
Posts: 38212
Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:00 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Been a fluter, citternist, and uilleann piper; committed now to the way of the harp.

Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps.
Location: Lefse country

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by Nanohedron »

MichaelLoos wrote:Here's a live performance on German TV which wasn't broadcasted - for good reason IMO...
To be fair, most of their other performances were a lot better :wink:
Is its not being broadcast the reason there's no link? :wink:
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Tribal musician
User avatar
RoberTunes
Posts: 326
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:33 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I am a flute, guitar, keyboard + whistle player learning about quality whistles, musical possibilities and playing techniques. I've recorded a CD of my own music and am creating music for kids.
Location: North America

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by RoberTunes »

Steve Bliven wrote:
emptypockets wrote:Just wondering, what is ITM?
ITM is a sad, life-long affliction. It's an abbreviation for Irish Traditional Music.
There is another affliction—WhOAD—that, while you haven't experienced it yet, you will. [And I note that the formal definition of WhOAD is missing from the Forum as "The Book" seems to have gone missing from the web site. Perhaps a sticky is needed..]
Best wishes.
Steve
I've been presuming WhoaD means something like "Whistle Owner Acquisition Disorder", a debilitating obsession with owning every type of whistle made, buying all whistles that you can physically reach with your fingers, special ordering those you can't, and probably spending so much time searching for whistles that you don't play them very well, and never play 95% of the whistles you own. It might mean something else. Is there a whistle player psychiatric hospital that can give us a definitive answer?
nicx66
Posts: 132
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2016 9:02 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Hi, I have been playing whistle for 3 years. I made my first whistle 2 years ago and my first tin whistle last year in a tinsmithing class.

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by nicx66 »

Jerry Freeman Bb whistles are available on eBay. I think that they are very good whistles. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Freeman-Whistl ... SwR0JUPHYb
User avatar
Nanohedron
Moderatorer
Posts: 38212
Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:00 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Been a fluter, citternist, and uilleann piper; committed now to the way of the harp.

Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps.
Location: Lefse country

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by Nanohedron »

RoberTunes wrote:
Steve Bliven wrote:[And I note that the formal definition of WhOAD is missing from the Forum as "The Book" seems to have gone missing from the web site. Perhaps a sticky is needed..]
I've been presuming WhoaD means something like "Whistle Owner Acquisition Disorder" ...
Ever since the loss of the original Main Page, WhOAD's standard definition is presumed lost along with it. So, just like any other cultural artifact that goes unmoored, there's going to be some room for interpretation. I think the original meaning was Whistle Obsessive Acquisition Disorder, but yours is as good as any.

The fluters have their pathology, too: FARDS. Sometimes it means Flute Acquisition Resistance Deficit Syndrome, but like WhOAD, it's been rendered in other ways that work just as well. That's the questionable beauty of it all. What could be more Poststructural?
RoberTunes wrote:Is there a whistle player psychiatric hospital ... ?
And if not, why not?
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Tribal musician
User avatar
pancelticpiper
Posts: 5298
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:25 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years.
These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
Location: WV to the OC

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by pancelticpiper »

Wiki says the Incredible String Band was "active" 1966-1974 so as Michael says the only whistles readily available then were

Clarke: key of C only.

Generation: keys (from lowest to highest) Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G

If it's a Bb then yes it was a Generation, or one of those cheap Indian bamboo whistles. I have a B (natural) Indian bamboo whistle that I bought around 1980 that plays great.

Yes if that's what you're after then a Jerry Freeman modified Generation Bb would be your most reliable option, to re-create that Incredible String Band sound.

Not sure why somebody would want to, actually, because there are far better recordings of whistle available, for example the fantastic album Feadoga Stain by Mary Bergin.
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
User avatar
Unseen122
Posts: 3542
Joined: Tue May 04, 2004 7:21 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Of course I'm not a bot; I've been here for years... Apparently that isn't enough to pass muster though!
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Contact:

Re: help with types of whistles...

Post by Unseen122 »

Big ISB fan myself and have listened to that album many many times. I would bet money that it's a bamboo whistle he uses, those recordings sound nothing like a Generation. Plus, a bamboo whistle just seems more like Robin's style in that era.
Post Reply