I suppose I play most days, but not for a regular time or anything. Sometimes it’ll be an hour and a half all at once, other times only a tune here and there. I’ve got most of my whistles in the kitchen, so I’ll often play a little while waiting for water to boil or whatever.
I usually play my Silkstone alloy D+, especially if I’m running straight through a new music book to see which tunes I might like to work on. It feels the most natural and reliable – I can concentrate on the music, not on making the whistle do what I want it to. I often play the plastic low A or G if someone else is in the room. They’re mellower and rarely sound piercing. Lately I’ve found myself picking up my new Reyburn low D whenever I’ve got a few spare minutes.
Maybe about half the time I’ll use a different whistle part of the time. I try to cycle in my newer aquisitions so I can start to get to know them better. Lately this has been a series of high Ds (Reyburn, Bleazey, Hoover, Overton) and an Overton F and a Water Weasel A. I like a lot of my whistles, but I keep going back to the Silkstone. Everything else sounds just a little muddy or feathery next to it. Going back to it feels like coming home.
Well, I only began playing the whistle about two and a half weeks ago, but so far I have practised daily (average about half an hour, sometimes more, sometimes a little less) except for one day when I was feeling rather sick. (And probably won’t have time for it tomorrow since I probably won’t be home before eight p.m. and it wouldn’t be too nice towards my neighbours to practise then, the whistle is rather shrill in the second octave… :roll: )
As you can probably guess, my choice of whistles is rather limited, so far I own a Generation nickle D - but I am thinking about getting a “better” one, maybe a Burke, that hopefully isn’t as shrill in the second octave (since I already have tinnitus… :roll: ).
Anyway, I hope to keep my practice hours up that way so I can progress quickly (at my stage progress is happening pretty quickly anyway that’s what keeps up the motivation ).
Katta: A Burke would be a good choice for a non-shrill whistle, but if you want to stay cheap, get a Sweetone or a Meg. Although (to stay with the subject) these are my least played whistles, they don’t sound shrill. Not even a high B.
I only own cheap whistles so far, and my Feadog D gets the most play time, almost half an hour per day. I just like the sound of it.
a Laughing Whistle is pretty good for non-shrill…cheaper than a Burke, and has a neat telescoping property, but has the trade off of uncertain wait times and evidently sometimes there’s difficulty in getting ahold of the maker.
I play most days for 10 or 15 minutes. I used to play for about 30 mins each lunchtime, but at the moment that time is allocated for exercise… My whistle practice time has also been dented by the fact that I’m also practicing tenor banjo, mandolin and sometimes guitar. Not enough hours in a day…
Usually playing my Dixon ABS/aluminium D and C whistles or blu tac tweaked nickel Feadog D and C. If I’m out and about it’ll be the Doolin 2-piece D tube with tweaked black Feadog head.
Everyday, for at least an hour total, sometimes much more than that. Given my weird work lack-of-schedule, I try to fit in some playing whenever I have a few free moments.
Mostly the same handful of whistles - Syn D & C, Serpent Sweet Polly D, Humphrey D & C, Chieftain A, Howard Low D.
When I have more time at home, I break out my Serpent F - it takes a while to warm up, but once it’s well-warmed-up I hate to put it down.
The main problem of an erratic scedule is that it’s harder to work on new tunes (for me, anyway), so I’m mostly polishing pieces I know already. I like to have an undisturbed hour or two when I’m learning a new piece, preferably somewhere that I can play without the repetition and mistakes drivng other people to homicidal madness.
I have my 18 GB of Irish music on my Linux jukebox and I use that computer for TV, radio and music. When I am not watching something (which is seldom, I like audio better than video as I am not tied down to being where I can see it) or listening to radio, I am playing the jukebox. When I hear a tune I want to play/learn or think I know, I pick up a suitable whistle and follow along.
My favorites are the Clarke original design for tunes that fit the C and D whistles, my Whitecap B and C# for certain bagpipes (boy, is the B hard to put down!), my Generation tube with a Blacktop fipple for Bb.
I also have low E, F and G Whitecaps that are hard to put down as well.
I have the Burke D black tipped Brass Session Pro, but it is a little too loud and “sweet” for my taste, so I only use that in sessions where it is hard to hear or where the players aren’t tuned to my Clarke.
Right now I play at least an hour daily (I’m a teacher and it’s summer), although I usually play more. During the school year I still manage to get in an hour most days. I’ve recently purchased a Busman wooden whistle so that’s getting a lot of play time. I still play my water weasels quite often. I have a Feadog and a Dixon tunable that I like to use when my family’s trying to sleep. Actually, I love all my whistles and they all get some attention. I like to keep the spiders out of them and playing them seems to do the trick.
I play everyday for as long as I feel like it. I don’t know that I do any real prolonged practing, just playing stuff. I’ll usually practice a couple of techniques for a few minutes Until I get bored, then play some songs for a while, improvise by myself a bit, then jam along to CD’s (Usually rock, not trad). I’ll learn a song about once or twice a week, if I hear something I like that is within my reach (always figuring it out on the guitar, and then moving it to whistle).
and then I quit when I don’t feel like playing anymore, somehow I keep getting better anyway, but when your close to zero, you can only go up.
As for which whistles, I only own four, and they rotate in terms of popularity (with me).
First it was the Susato Low D.
Then it was the sop D mystery whistle (It was my dad’s back in the day. The label is gone, but it sounds pretty good. Nickle plated something, black plastic fipple).
Now it’s the Generation Bb (A good one, I guess, no bum notes, in tune, fun to play. Nickle plated).
But today it back to the mystery whistle.
The time is coming soon for my clarke sweetone C I think… I haven’t liked it because I thought it had bad tuning and weak sound, but I discovered recently that it’s just really sensitive to the way you breath. My technique just needs some work, and then I’ll probably have fun with this one for a while. I do get pissed that it’s not as easy to bend on. I bend a lot.
Actually the 15 minutes is all whistle, the other instruments get separate time of their own. If I can just get them to take the ball and chain off I’d like to learn to dance too…
I’m new to the music and the forum. Been a Jazz sax/flute player all my life and now being seduced by the Celtic Muse.
I am used to practicing my sax and flute for at least 2 hours every day - an hour each afternoon (before my wife gets home) and an hour or so in the evening. I am now spending half of that time and more, adding in my whistles and Flute. I just have the a Generation, a Clarke and a Dixon at this point as I have decided to learn on them. I also have a Tipple flute which I will love as soon as my R3 finger learns where to go all the time.
ever since i get this great whistle stand from mack for 30 bucks, so they are all right there in front of me, i kind of play everything at least once a week. but my regulars:
hoover brass A- quiestest most expressive
burke B- my best and sweetest overall.
i play just a few minutes a day, to rest from pipe playing.
“the pipes are a very physical instrument”
-david power, 2004
).
:roll: