Hi,

anybody out there with experience in Tony Dixon Alto-Whistles? I bought an Alto G (low G) whistle with aluminium body and plastic mouth piece (DX 107). Im playing the whistle since 5 days and have difficulties with the hight notes, the f and f# in the second octave and the g in the third octave. (This would correspond with the fingering to c, c# and d on a d whistle.) Has anybody mastered this. Is it just a question of time or is there some alternate fingering available? All in all the whistle isn't that easy to play on. But the high notes are my main concern.

I'm not that experienced with whistles. But in the past I've got the highest tones on a generation high D. So I think it should somehow also be possible on this much more expensive whistle. Because of my ears I'm no longer able to play the high whistles. It is to shrill and makes my ears ring. Besides that, in the moment I have only two tunes with high c in my repertory. But I would also like to play those with the whistle.

Thank you and best regards
Klaus

Mine isn't like that. It has a brass body but that shouldn't make a difference. I have no trouble with the 2nd octave f and f#, though I've never had a call to play the 3rd octave g. Maybe you got a dud?

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“Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.”

I have an 'A' aluminium tunable, I found it needed a slightly different technique from my other whistles, on mine, I seemed to need to twist it in my mouth very slightly to get clean notes in the second register. Could just be me. Mine now is fitted with the flute head, & works well.

I also have 'D' & 'C' duo whistles, & they play normally for me, so it is either the mouthpiece or my technique on it. I have several of his Trad brass whistles too, no problems with them either, only my 'A' tunable aluminium, so I'm guessing it has to be something with this type of head.

Hope you work it out.

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Keith.
Trying to do justice to my various musical instruments.

I have the G in brass and aluminium and the A in aluminium. No problems so far but they need very little air and a controlled blowing technique or they might squeak. I didn't like the G in brass at first but got used to it after a while. It is a nice practice whistle as it is so mellow.

I'm very much a novice player so a more-competent player might have different observations.

I recently bought a Dixon A brass as I wanted a lower whistle.

I really like the tone. There's quite a bit of air to it. The thing I like about whistles is a mournful tone more so than a bright tone which is why I want to start learning lower whistles. I find this whistle as the most interesting tone of all my handful of whistles. But in some ways I find it the hardest to play. Maybe because I just got it and have barely started learning to play it. But it seems very sensitive to the amount of air needed to hit each harmonic.

When playing the lower octave, especially with the lower notes, it can be very chiffy. If I use the same tongueing I used on my higher whistle, I get quite a chirp, almost like the first part of the note is the higher octave. I find if I tongue much more gently, tongue further back roof of the mouth instead of gum ridge, I can get less chiff. But it's something I can play with to get the tone I want.

I find I really have to hit the right amount of air to get the upper octave. If I go for an upper octave note without quite enough air, I get a horrid squeak out of it as it can't decide which octave to play. But as the same time, if I overblow, I hit the 3rd harmonic instead of the 2nd, so lets say I'm trying to play a high B xxxxx0 I can get the note a 5th up, high F# as if I was fingering xooooo.

Now those observations may be the result of me being a rank beginner. I do find this whistle the hardest of play but also have the most interesting tone. I do enjoy the challenge of controlling it to get the tone and note I want.

Interresting. This are my observations too. Yes I like the sound, but it is hard to play. I'm not a novice but also not a beginner. But I don't have that difficulties with the Dixon Trad (high D) and play alto and tenor recorder. But this whistle is beast! I sent it back today. They want to check it. I then decide if I go for another whistle. I will not play the whistle that much because I need also time for my other instruments. So I need an instrument which is easy to play.

regards
Klaus

Oh one last thought. I really like the fipple shape. The curve on the bottom feels very natural and I like that it's a simple cylinder without any extra material.

I just came across this thread and have a similar experience to KlausG.

This summer I bought both the Tony Dixon Alloy G and Alloy A. The G came with a flute head and the A with a whistle head. They are interchangeable. From the beginning, I had trouble with the A similar to what KlausG describes. The notes around the break, G#, a, and b broke up and squawked a lot. I, too, chalked it up to poor technique. If I did not cover the holes cleanly and completely, the tone on other notes broke apart, also. Very careful fingering seemed to help that, somewhat. But I could not find the right combination of fingering and breath to move cleanly from one octave to the other. I found the cleanest way to make the shift was with tonguing. But I am not totally satisfied with that approach.

I had the same issues with the G when using it as a whistle, though not quite as bad. What surprised me was that, using the flute head, the sound on both was bright and clear, almost clarion--and no squawking. Using the whistle head introduced the tone issues going across the break.

Sorry if the terminology is a bit confusing. I trained as a singer, so I tend to think of the shift in octaves as when a singer crosses the point where the vocal cords change to facilitate the higher register and the head voice becomes more predominant. I guess you could say I'm trying to avoid the "yodeling effect."

More to the point, I wanted to echo the feelings that the Dixon alloy alto whistles have a bold sound; but they require work, or experience beyond where I am at the moment.

I have a Dixon 107A that I found difficult to get a clean bell note from, and, as you say, some stiffness in the upper octave. I mentioned it to Dixon’s in an email on another subject, just asking if they had ever considered “closing the cavity under the windway to see if it helped. My own experiments with the filling the cavity with poster putty seemed promising. They offered to make me a head with the windway cavity closed...which in good time they did...and sent it along. It cured the instability in the bell note, but the last few notes of the second octave still require a good push.

I have a Dixon A and I like it. It doesn't seem *that much bigger than a high d but I do find it easier to play with the piper grip. The holes are just big enough that it is hard to cover them all the way using a regular finger tip/flute grip. Maybe that would help? I also found that the tone was nicer with less harmonic shifts with more gentle air, and and it's easy to blow too hard.

As a musician, I am not a beginner, but Irish Whistler is a newer-ish instrument for me. FWIW.

Michelle