Considering a Burke Whistle and need some help!

[Matthewlawson3]

Hi, I am looking into buying my first professional Penny Whistle. I have some Susatos and a modified Generation whistle, a Walton, and a Clarke.

I am considering purchasing either the Burke Brass Narrow Bore Whistle in D or the Burke Brass Session Whistle in D. I am leaning toward the Narrow Bore. I have some questions.

First, these Burke whistles are the standard D most commonly used in Celtic music, correct? This would be called the high D?


Second, does these Burke D whistles allow for tuning via a tuning slide or some other method? I occasionally like to play with other instruments.

I have included the link below to one of the whistles I am referring to. Thank you for your help!

- Matthew Lawson

Link:
http://www.burkewhistles.com/D-Brass-Na ... _p_75.html

[Steve Bliven]

First, these Burke whistles are the standard D most commonly used in Celtic music, correct? This would be called the high D?
Second, does these Burke D whistles allow for tuning via a tuning slide or some other method? I occasionally like to play with other instruments.

Yes and yes.

Happy holidays.

Steve

[Matthewlawson3]

Thank you, Steve.
So these are tuneable? Thank goodness. How do you tune them? I assume pulling the mouthpiece joint up or pushing it down?

And these models are the traditional D whistles used in the past for Celtic music. Glad to hear. I get worried sometimes with the Low D in existence I might accidently pick the wrong one lol. Plus D can be anything sometimes.

[Nanohedron]

D [soprano whistles are] most commonly used in Celtic music, correct?

Bearing in mind that this is largely due to session playing, and the D whistle's general prominence is an outgrowth of that. In a stage performance setting there's nothing to prevent you from taking advantage of other keys as well; at one point I had an A, Bb, B, C, high D, high Eb and high F in my kit, and used 'em all. But we were very much into arranging, and we used non-"standard" keys as part of that, including key shifts. The only reason I had so many whistles (by my reckoning ) was because I could better afford the lower-priced makes such as Generation and the like. They worked just fine for my purposes, but I certainly understand the allure of a Burke. .

[Matthewlawson3]

So this Burke whistle below at the link is technically a soprano D whistle then? And it is tuneable? This is the one I'm leaning toward rather than the session whistle.

http://www.burkewhistles.com/D-Brass-Na ... _p_75.html

[Nanohedron]

So this Burke whistle below at the link is technically a soprano D whistle then?

I would be very confident that it is; since the site's low Ds are specified as such, a simple D designation should then indicate a soprano whistle. Their price differences, too, are significant and IMO enough to reinforce that confidence.

And it is tuneable? This is the one I'm leaning toward rather than the session whistle.

http://www.burkewhistles.com/D-Brass-Na ... _p_75.html

It doesn't say, does it. I've never owned any Burkes, so I wouldn't even guess. I can't find any mention on the website of tuneable or nontuneable options, so it's tempting to assume they're tuneable, but at those prices I'd contact Burke Whistles first.

[Matthewlawson3]

I have emailed and called the Burke company about the tuning and soprano D question but haven't heard anything back yet. I thought I'd ask here.

[kkrell]

Yes, the Burkes are all tuneable. That's a soprano D, as commonly used in sessions. Good, consistent whistles.

Care document (.PDF, but viewable here):
https://app.box.com/s/4l7cb9k0rn

[swizzlestick]

You are on the right track.

By the way, the narrow bore Burke D is not really narrow in comparison to most whistles. Mine is almost exactly the same diameter as a standard Generation D.

One of the advantages of a Burke is the nice tuning slide that rests on rubber O rings. It can be adjusted much sharper than most whistles. You do need to lubricate these every few months to keep it moving freely.

[Matthewlawson3]

Thank you for the information. That helps. Can I use clarinet cork grease to grease the tuning slide?

[Matthewlawson3]

I have ordered the Burke D Brass Narrow Bore. Hope I'll like it and it will serve me well.

[pancelticpiper]

Burkes are excellent whistles, you won't be sorry.

I've owned Burkes in several keys: Low D, Low Eb, Low F, Mezzo/middle G, Mezzo/middle A, Soprano/High/ordinary C, and Soprano/High/ordinary D (both "session" bore and "narrow" bore, in both brass and aluminum).

My Burkes



Yes they're tunable. Michael Burke has come up with a unique and rather complex tuning slide mechanism.

Most makes of whistles are tunable by the simple expedient of the head having a socket into which the metal tube body is inserted.

Michael's have a barrel joint, a marvel of engineering in itself, into which the head tubing and body tubing fit. The metal barrel has a cylindrical nylon device inside, this nylon thing having grooves into which a number of rubber O-rings fit.

The issue with this sophisticated arrangement is that you need to keep the O-rings lubricated, or the whistle gets stiff to tune.

I think you're going with the best high D, the narrow bore in brass. As pointed out it's only a narrow bore in comparison to the extra-wide "session" bore- in reality it's an ordinary-bore D whistle. It plays more like "classic" D whistles (Generations) than the Session Bore Burke D's do.

There are many great aspects to Burke whistles in general. They have excellent tuning including spot-on octaves. The voicing is butter-smooth throughout the range. The low octave is full with an exceptionally strong bell-note.

The tone is on the pure side. Opinions vary as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Trad players often find the Burke tone bland, non-trad ("classical" or "legit" players) usually love the pure Burke sound. Personally I like it.

The one issue I have with Burkes are the slightly stiff high notes (especially High B) which require careful breath control to support properly. If you spend months playing only this Burke, then switching to a Killarney will be a suprise!

Burke has done a couple things to cater to customers who don't come from an Irish trad background:

1) offer a thumb hole for C natural

2) the big whistles have a split body, the section with Hole 6 can be rotated to make an offset hole.

As a trad player I find both things pointless, but a goodly proportion of Michael's customers are non-trad ("classical" or "legit") musicians. (People coming from Boehm flute often want to add various Boehm features to whistles.)

[Matthewlawson3]

Thank you for the information Richard. I played Clarinet from 6th grade through the end of college and still play when I have time, but my tone, because of lack of time to practice has suffered haha. I have played a penny whistle off and on since 6th grade, started with a Clarke original and have others now ( I list them on my first post above). Clarinets have a thumb hole basically for the F note.

However, I did not order the Burke with a thumbhole. I seek to dig into Penny Whistle playing and learning what I guess you would call the Irish technique with cuts and rolls and ornaments not found commonly in Clarinet technique. I therefore wanted the whistle to be more traditional, without the thumb hole, to help me learn to play without it.

I have the Grey Larsen Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle book, but are there any online classes that you all would recommend to learn how to improve my playing and learn the more traditional technique? Perhaps online video-wise so I can hear and see. What about the Blayne Chastain online lessons? Or the Online Academy of Irish Music?

I live in East Tennessee. Not too many whistle players around here haha.

[ytliek]

I have the Grey Larsen Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle book, but are there any online classes that you all would recommend to learn how to improve my playing and learn the more traditional technique? Perhaps online video-wise so I can hear and see. What about the Blayne Chastain online lessons? Or the Online Academy of Irish Music?

I live in East Tennessee. Not too many whistle players around here haha.

You're off to a good journey with the whistle. You already have good info and a good whistle on the way. Here are a few websites that may help with learning:

whistle tutorials
https://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/
https://www.youtube.com/user/tradlesson ... radlessons
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 38B53CC6D4
https://www.youtube.com/user/tradschool/videos
http://www.mattandshannonheaton.com/TOT ... ve&cat=all
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbqD7l ... YWtyhRx8vg

And yes there are whistlers/trad players in East Tennessee so seek them out locally. Enjoy!

[Matthewlawson3]

Thank you. I have posted to the teacher forum to see what options are available near me. I am seriously considering a year subscription to the Online Academy of Irish Music. The beginning free lessons are kinda a rehash of what I already know for the most part.