Chiff and Fipple Forums

I feel like the pronunciation should be the sound that a crow makes but does anyone else "always carry a whistle"? Besides stashing whistles in various places around the house and in cars; I just sewed this piece of elastic to the inside pocket of my favorite jacket. Inspired by Dan A's positive post about having a good old day on his whistle and not wanting to hi-jack his thread, I thought that I would share my day. As mentioned, my pal Paddy gave me my first whistle and inspired me to play. Today I went to see him with a small quiver of tunes at my disposal and we actually managed to play Spancil Hill and the Wild Rover with him playing guitar and his gal banging a drum to keep us in time. It was beyond awesome and of course I fell to pieces many times but managed to jump back in pretty quick and had better rhythm than I thought I could manage. This is pretty big for me in the learning curve and I'm pretty excited to bump up our play list. Next up is Body of an American but it's a pretty long song. Pretty sure that I need to buy a new whistle to commemorate the occasion. Haha

Only in my car. No need for me to carry one most of the time - it's not like spontaneous sessions pop up here. I'll just go to my car on my breaks if I fancy a few tunes. No need to risk damaging a good whistle in my circumstances.

awildman wrote:Only in my car. No need for me to carry one most of the time - it's not like spontaneous sessions pop up here. I'll just go to my car on my breaks if I fancy a few tunes. No need to risk damaging a good whistle in my circumstances.

Not for everyone I suppose. Someone here quoted at one time that "a novice whistler can play a good instrument poorly like a good player can play a cheap one well" That's not exactly the quote but you don't need to keep your Susato in your back pocket at all times but maybe stash a few Generations around. Again, maybe this idea isn't for everybody but I'm having fun with it.

I don't always carry a whistle, but your idea is a good one...just make sure the mouthpiece doesn't work its way past the elastic loop. And congratulations on your milestone! I might just have to find a YouTube video of "The Sally Gardens" and see if I can play along.

These fellas know what I'm talking about.
https://youtu.be/akCZBb7_BU4

I often show up at the odd session with a whistle down one of my socks. They have to be tight at the top to work properly. It's a delight to see the look on peoples' faces when I pull the ole whistle out of the sock. Usually when I leave the low whistles home. ( I'm finding the newly aquired low E, needed for a recording project, comes in handy when playing in A). I get a chuckle at the end of the night when pipes, fiddles, boxes, guitars, etc are being packed up and lugged around, I just put the ole leg up on the table and pop the whistle in the sock. Good name for a tune that. "Pop The Whistle In The Sock". Happy New Year to all!

whistle1000 wrote:I often show up at the odd session with a whistle down one of my socks. They have to be tight at the top to work properly. It's a delight to see the look on peoples' faces when I pull the ole whistle out of the sock. Usually when I leave the low whistles home. ( I'm finding the newly aquired low E, needed for a recording project, comes in handy when playing in A). I get a chuckle at the end of the night when pipes, fiddles, boxes, guitars, etc are being packed up and lugged around, I just put the ole leg up on the table and pop the whistle in the sock. Good name for a tune that. "Pop The Whistle In The Sock". Happy New Year to all!

Haha, that's what I'm talking about!! HNY!!

It's not the greatest whistle, but I have an old whistle I got back in the 1980s that comes apart in the middle. When you take it apart it's very compact and perfect for carrying in a pocket.

I think the tubing is standard so I ought to find that thing and pop a good-playing top on it (vintage Feadog or Generation) and see what happens.

There are times I carry a whistle (high D) on me, like when I go to ComicCons, due to the inconvenience and time involved in going out to my car.

Which brings up the culture thing. Here in Southern California we're a car culture, and we live in our cars in a way, so I (and many) have car whistles. Since we drive everywhere, our cars are usually close by, and many's the time I've ran out to my car and fetched a whistle for an impromptu whatever.

My car whistle is generally whatever is my favourite whistle at the moment, nowadays a Colin Goldie Low D.

One thing- the car whistle has to be able to withstand high temperatures. Things can melt. All-metal whistles are best.