Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have been away from this site for about 6 years or so but occasionally lurking so maybe a quick reintroducing is in order. I am in my 70s and began music playing trumpet 4th grade. First paying gigs were church solos then nightclubs. I majored in music ed at BU in the 60s and began 29 year teaching career while continuing to play night clubs through the late 70s picking up alto sax and flute along the way. Somewhere in there I followed a call to ministry and have been involved with worship teams at several churches and actually leading worship ministry at my last church for 10 years.
Around 2005 I was introduced to whistles when I heard Robin Mark from Belfast in concert. He is a Christian song writer and recording artist. There was a woman playing these things that I know weren't flutes or recorders. I had a chance to talk with her after the concert and she directed me to search out info on penny whistles. This opened up a whole new music world to me and I was hooked. I actually got to Play with Robin in a few tour concerts when he didn't have his regular band with him - one song actually used my trumpet skills. How cool that was.
About 5 years ago I quit playing altogether for a number of reasons that came together all at once. I had some surgeries thatI had been putting off for a long time that would affect my playing including esophogeal hernia that was getting worse. In addition we had a new pastoral come to our church who were well able to take responsibility for worship and at the same time a band I was part of broke up. It really wasn't a terrible time for me though. I had plenty to do while getting the R&R I needed.
So to the present. I recently transitioned to another church and I have started playing again - even trumpet which I thought would the hardest. The church is bi-lingual with most folks from Guatemala. The music style is Contemporary Christian which means loud and passionate. Amazingly I have found that whistles fit in beautifully on many songs. I have an awesome Boisvert D in blackwood that just floats on top of some of the loudest things we do. I am starting to evaluate all my gear to see what things I need to get and what I no longer need. I going to be selling my Forbes flute so I can try a low whistle - I thinking Sweet Onyx might do the trick. I'm lso going to research C whistles. I regret selling both Boisvert and Bleazey I had at one time. I currently have Rayburn which I enjoy but chiffiness (is that a word?) doesn't seem to blend as much as i would like. I am looking into Carbony or Gene Milligan. Mostly I want loud and pure. Any thoughts?

Welcome back to the forum! (I, too, recently returned after a period away.)

I'm not qualified to recommend a low D whistle, but you should get recommendations a-plenty. However, I have heard many good things about Colin Goldie's low D whistles, and if Tony Dixon's low D whistles are as good as his Trad D, they'll be winners.

Good luck, and hope the quest for the perfect whistle brings much enjoyment!

How low a whistle are you considering - & is the 'C' to be a low 'C' or a high 'C'(?).

MK is a good low whistle, as is the Thunderbird - not sure how loud you consider them to be - & my Howard is quite sedate in comparison.

Perhaps consider a piccolo - they tend to cut through quite well.

Carbony is not loud.

For loud and pure, you might look at Susato or similar.

I will be looking for a hi c whistle

yeah Keith a piccolo LOL - just what I need - another embouchure to work on
like your quote " trying to justice to my various instruments"
I do a decent imitation on some

preacher wrote: I followed a call to ministry and have been involved with worship teams at several churches and actually leading worship ministry at my last church for 10 years.

Congratulations and thank you for following your calling and helping facilitate worship.

preacher wrote: I was introduced to whistles when I heard Robin Mark from Belfast in concert... I got to play with Robin in a few tour concerts... How cool that was.

Congrats again!

I've only had the opportunity to do that once, I did a tour with Keith and Kristyn Getty playing whistles and uilleann pipes. It was an amazing experience.

preacher wrote: The music style is Contemporary Christian which means loud and passionate. Amazingly I have found that whistles fit in beautifully on many songs... I currently have Reyburn which I enjoy but chiffiness (is that a word?) doesn't seem to blend as much as I would like. Mostly I want loud and pure. Any thoughts?

In my opinion your best bet might be Michael Burke whistles, both for the high and the low. Over the years in doing session work and church gigs and orchestra gigs I've found time and again that "legit" players (sightreaders from the orchestral/church/jazz/pop worlds) love Burkes due to their big sound, clean pure tone, great tuning, and butter-smooth voicing.

About Reyburn whistles, every one I've played has had that unique Reyburn sound, which to me is reminiscent of Native American flutes. Reyburns and MKs are probably the opposite of what you're looking for, being dirty/foggy rather than pure/clean.

BTW I've performed several of the Robin Mark songs from his Revival In Belfast album on whistle and uilleann pipes.

To me the uilleann pipes sound great in those songs! It was the closest I'll get to being a jazz sax player, screaming on the highest notes of the chanter while the band was blasting out Shout To The North and Lion Of Judah. It's probably the best times I've had playing the pipes.

Those worship songs are great with pipes. i would love to try pipes also but I think that might push my wife over the edge. There was a fiddle player at one of the concerts I did with Robin and I did have 2 semesters of violin in college. Hmmmm

I do have a Burke in D. I do like it but Boisvert/Greenwood Pipes is my all time favorite whistle. It is like butter on toast. Sorry I sold my c. I like the sound of wood I guess. Also have a few of Mack Hoover's creations in lower keys and some of them blend well. I am still getting used to in ear monitor at my new church. I just got some basic ones but might need to go more expensive on these.

Yes everybody on the Getty tour had custom-made in-the-ear monitors which I think they said were around $700.

They said they do a cast of your ear. They're amazing because on stage you don't see them.

I didn't have any such thing! And had to have a primitive monitor (speaker) at my feet.

All of us were given these really cool Aviom mini-mixers, I could hear exactly what I needed to hear and get rid of the other stuff.

Yeah personal monitor mixer is best. I still need to ask sound guy to adjust settings for. Third time last Sunday and it is improving. I recall the old days when the main sound mix person was called the conductor!
BTW anyone know what that black dot next to my post means? Did I mess something up here already?

preacher wrote:BTW anyone know what that black dot next to my post means? Did I mess something up here already?

On the front page for a forum, a black dot indicates a topic you have posted in.

preacher wrote: anyone know what that black dot next to my post means?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03InGeAKDw4

LOL Richard
maybe I should try to get all my things in order before sundown!

I heard by pm that I had posted a question to someone's post in Used Instrument Exchange which is not permitted. So I don't know how to fix this. Don't want to end like Billy Bones!