has anyone adapted a recorder or whistle to French half-closed fingering? Looking for something a little more quiet and portable since I am traveling a lot for work.
Jeff
I’m not sure if it would work - it would definitely require more than just drilling a second thumb hole. It would certainly be easier to modify a practice chanter - you’ll have to drill the bottom hand thumb hole and enlarge the high G and high A holes. Never tried it myself, though.
Jürgen Ross offers practice chanters for half-closed fingering (Schäferpfeife), these are tuned to C rather than G, and are not capable of overblowing (due to the cylindrical bore): http://dudelsackbau.de/index.php/practice-chanter
Alexander Tille offers Hümmelchen Smallpipes with half-closed fingering, tuned to D:
http://tille.de/ (> Instrumentenverkauf > Hümmelchen in D einbordunig (halbgeschlossene Griffweise)
I am quite sure he would also sell a chanter only.
If you have access to a lathe and the necessary tools (as well as having the technical know-how), here’s a plan of a half-closed fingered chanter in D: http://dudy-gajdy.net/DOWNLOADS/Hummel_MP.pdf
It very probably would not work, indeed.
The problem is, with flues, if you close off too much of the lower fingerholes, the whistle (of whatever name) will simply overblow. (If you are lucky, that is. Normally it will squeak really terribly.)
If you’re looking to alter an existing instrument so it plays in tune with half-closed fingering, I’d say your chances are pretty slim. If you’re looking to adapt a whistle design to build an instrument that plays in tune with half-closed fingering, well that’s a different matter. I could take a run at the design once the computer I use for whistle designs comes back from the shop. (Don’t count on me to build it, though. You’d be waiting a looong time for that.)
just looking for something quiet and portable. I may actually go for that practice chanter - fairly reasonably priced. I wonder how quiet it is.
Similar to a GHB practice chanter - definitely quieter than a whistle or recorder.
Ok, of course it’s not the real thing, but it’s surely worth a try:
http://www.bagpipe.de/wbc.php?sid=37944f1c2b5&tpl=produktdetail.html&pid=372&rid=97&recno=1
I do own one myself, and for practice, when no real pipoe is around, it works out nicely.
Cheers
Claus
kinda pricey…