Best beginner whistle for ensemble?

[CelticHarpie]

Not sure if this has been covered, but I am looking to purchase 10 beginner whistles for a small ensemble. The students playing them are all young teens with Down syndrome (I’m a music therapist). Of the various inexpensive whistles, does anyone know which ones would sound best in tune? Is it worth going for the Feadóg Pro? Is a Mellow D a better option? Or do I just stick with a basic Feadóg, Waltons, or Generation?

I’ll probably do a pre-check and loosen the heads so they can be tuned. Really looking for something that will be easy enough to play (children with Ds tend to have lower muscle tone and also it can take them more energy to blow wind instruments due to smaller respiratory airways).

So I’m ideally looking for the best option in regards to ease of play and ability to play (sort of) in tune together. I know that is asking a lot of a €10 instrument.

Would love the opinions of those that have taught very basic beginners (young children). Also, any suggestions for incredibly simple tunes? I got a huge list from a Comhaltas friend, but again would love suggestions from anyone who has taught very young children.

[Moof]

There's probably not a lot to pick between the basic models. Some in the box are likely to be better in tune than others, but you can improve things if you can get the heads off. They're probably as air efficient as anything you can buy other than a professional model.

Others might know this – does the Mellow D still have a larger barrel width than the standard whistles? Mine does, but it's ancient. I wondered if it might be easier for young people who often have quite short fingers as well as lower muscle tone to hold. I have reduced hand mobility and grip (arthritis), and find slightly fatter whistles less fiddly.

As for tunes: simple ones they already know are often a good start, because they don't have to learn how it goes as well as how to play it. Traditional ones might include The Rattlin' Bog, Do You Love an Apple?, that sort of thing. Also Báidín Fheilimí – that's often taught to little tots as a song, and you can squeeze in a breath gap about every five syllables if you need to.

Edited to add: if anyone has trouble holding the whistle without dropping it, blobs of Blu Tack under the thumbs help. I use it on a shiny low whistle I have.

[Mr.Gumby]

I think you will have yo bear in mind the whistle is not a push button instrument. In other eords, you can not expect to blown into a whistle and expect an in tune scale to pop out without effort. A lot is up to the player. So a group of (relative) beginners will always be challenging to bring together. But that's how it is, radiating joy at what they're doing and getting that across to the audience is possibly more rewarding at that point than perfect tuning.

It would be a good idea to hand pick your whistles, if need be, take an experienced player to pick them, at a shop that allows you to test before buying. If you do that, any of the Generation/Feadóg/Oak type will do the job.

Teaching tunes your students already know will make life easier to begin with, anything from Twinkle twinkle up. And try to get them to play a song as they would sing it, it will be more musical, less of the string of notes/mechanical.


There arey our standard 'beginner' tunes but I'm all in favour of avoiding those and find some equally suitable ones that haven't already been murdered thousands of times. I mean, anyone ever been at a fleadh or festival will know the impulse to scream, hearing another child struggling through The breeches full of stitches or the Rattling bog.

[Kedster]

I have Thomann High Ds, quite cheap (around €3.5 bought in bulk of ten), they're in tune, without any raspiness, might be even safer due to being all plastic and having no sharp edges. I would highly recommend. Might be a tad bit loud but they have very good first octaves sound & tone.

The basic Dixon 001 gets a lot of praise for its price, they're slightly more expensive, i hear they have excellent intonation and a gentle, quieter sound.

I'm not sure I'd recommend traditional generation/feadog whistles to complete beginners, unless of course you can test them before hand and pick them personally/tweak a little. If you're ordering online it's pretty much a gamble not in your favour. Again, depending on severity of the childrens' conditions, there might be good reasons to prefer all plastic whistles (maybe? i don't know)

But Clarke Sweetone are in my experience are generally without any raspiness, they are easy to blow, cheap, generally in tune. Not really tweakable but still. Perhaps your children would like them colourful as well!

[Cyberknight]

I have Thomann High Ds, quite cheap (around €3.5 bought in bulk of ten), they're in tune, without any raspiness, might be even safer due to being all plastic and having no sharp edges. I would highly recommend. Might be a tad bit loud but they have very good first octaves sound & tone.

The basic Dixon 001 gets a lot of praise for its price, they're slightly more expensive, i hear they have excellent intonation and a gentle, quieter sound.

I'm not sure I'd recommend traditional generation/feadog whistles to complete beginners, unless of course you can test them before hand and pick them personally/tweak a little. If you're ordering online it's pretty much a gamble not in your favour. Again, depending on severity of the childrens' conditions, there might be good reasons to prefer all plastic whistles (maybe? i don't know)

But Clarke Sweetone are in my experience are generally without any raspiness, they are easy to blow, cheap, generally in tune. Not really tweakable but still. Perhaps your children would like them colourful as well!

I agree with Sweetones being amazing for beginners. They're also quiet (much quieter than a recorder, for example), so children won't annoy people while practicing. I do find mine have some pitch oddities here and there, but that shouldn't be a problem for children. Overall, Sweetones would be my recommendation.

But I must say, Kedster, you must have been lucky with your Thomann. I bought whistles from that company before (mostly to test modifications on them), and I found them to be severely lacking. One of them barely plays certain notes, and the other is extremely raspy and out of tune. Only if I take the mouthpiece from my C and put it on my D does it make a halfway-decent whistle, and even then, it's fairly out of tune, way too loud in the second octave, and very difficult to play (octave switching is a pain). Definitely not something I'd recommend. But hey, they must be one of those hit-or-miss whistles, because you apparently got a good one (and to be fair, some people who have made online reviews also say they're pretty good).

[Jayhawk]

I bought a box of feadogs directly from the manufacturers and they're consistently good. I use them when teaching beginning whistle to groups.

Just another idea...buying in bulk they ended up being really cheap...still have another two or three classes worth of them in the basement.

Eric