Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hi Bravo. Sometimes on Ebay old 19th century falgeolettes come up for sale. It looks kind of like a wooden piccolo body with a whistle windway and a bagpipe practise chanter mouthpiece. They look to be fingered same as a modern whistle. Otherwise a clarke traditional whistle should fit right in. The...

Hi Lizzie. Definately try other whistles. The best of the inexpensive whistles are the Clarke sweetones, IMHO. The C whistle is the best of the two, but the D ain't bad either. Take a punt on a generation whistle as well - you might get lucky and get a good one. Waltons little black D's are highly r...

"Dara's Jig - affectionately known as 'The open Komono and the view thereafter'"

I've never heard the tune, but I'm going to learn it. The tunes with the funny names are the first ones I go for. Keep them coming, ciaran

I'm a large hole guy myself. Large holes sound a lot better when you play ornaments like cuts, rolls and cranns. They come out clearer and more percussive.

Hi Jim. I cran on both octaves, except that I do two beat, three beat or four beat ones, depending on the type and speed of the tune I am playing two beat : xxxxxx xxxxox xxxxxx xxxxoxx xxxxxx three beat: xxxxxx xxxxox xxxxxx xxxxoxx xxxxxx xxoxxx xxxxxx four beat: xxoxxx xxxxxx xxxxox xxxxxx xxxoxx...

On old flutes those two holes would have had keys, to enable the playing of low C and lowC#. When Irish flute players took to the flute, they often removed the keys because they never used them, since they just played the flute like a low D whistle. For some reason modern keyless flute makers like t...

The tune 'Garryowen' was popular in the British army during the same period. Some tunes went all round the world.

Hi antiflu. The whistle only has two octaves, like the recorder, and six finger holes. You can add a thumb hole to play an extra note if you want to - say the C# on a D whistle.

If you want to hear good whistle music try the CD 'Feadog Stain' by Mary Bergin

Be careful who you ask about such things, GM. Last time I asked someone about the pronunciation of a Gaelic tune title (I think I wanted to know how Laois was pronounced - as in 'The March of the kings of Laois') I finished up getting a two hour long lecture about Irish language and history. And I s...

Hi, Jack. Try adjusting yur embouchure technique. Blow a wide,flat stream of air across the blow hole for the lower octave, and a narrow, round stream for the upper octave. Another good thing to try at the same time - push your chin forward for the high octave, and draw it back for the lower octave.

I've heard of a ceramic called partially stabilized zirconia, which is supposed to be totally shatter proof. It can even be used to make knives and scissors, and is extremely hard. Has anyone else heard of this stuff?

I've never found a way of stopping saliva. I just swallow hard and avoid drinking lemonade before I play.
Acidic drinks really make my mouth water.

Hi Rab. Keep on tongueing. Many irish whistle players do tongue on every note, and if that is a skill you've mastered, then hang on to it! Mary Bergin and Sean Smyth (when he plays the whistle) tongue quite a lot whem they play, but they do it so well it's not very obvious. It makes their playing wo...

There's a water weasel D up for sale on ebay.
It has a 'buy it now' thingy on it, so if you're interested it might pay to be quick
The url is:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dl ... 1469635103

Hi Jessie. Did you make yourself a flute while you were there?