Alright gently now… I know this post will probably brand me as some sort of non-purist heretic for life. But, I’ve had a question spinning around in my whistle addled pate for some time now. Why aren’t there more keyed whistles in the marketplace? Specifically, I have been working on the low D whistle for about a year and have gotten to the place where I am at least not shockingly bad but must admit that, for me at least, the pipers grip is difficult to play at reasonable speed. I have also tried a keyed flute and found that the posture exhausting. What I really would like to try is something that combines the virtues of an end blown whistle with the added flexibility of a keyed flute.
You may now commence to tell me what an idiot idea this is.
Thanks for the reply. I looked at all the references particularly at the Ralph Sweet’s keyed whistles. These still don’t fill the bill for me. I’m happy to play my regular high D whistles without keys and agree keys might actually get in the way of playing some traditional stuff. My problem is that I really have fallen in love with the sound of the low whistles but just can’t play them comfortably. Maybe I’m doomed and should quit or, as someone suggested, try to adapt a flute body to a whistle head.
OK, so there are tenor recorders that play in the same range as a low D whistles. With all due respect to recorder players (I don’t want to start a bad karma thing here), I already have several recorders at my house gathering dust. I just prefer the sound of the low whistle to the recorder. I just see my self as a whistle rather than recorder player (again, can’t we just all get along before recorder players start sending unplesant posts). Can’t we cajole, con, nag, encourage at least one of the talented whistlesmiths out there into making a low D with at least three keys?
Well…how much are you willing to pay for a keyed low whistle? Good quality (New) keyed wooden flutes sell for $2000-$3000, and there’s significant demand for those. Would you be willing to pay that much or more?
PS - Besides, the thing that is most likely (though not very) would be adding just enough keys to the existing layout in order to play chromatically, like a flute. This wouldn’t help you, since you’d still have to make the stretch for the 6 uncovered holes.
Now if you think somone is going to do Boehm style keys (to cover all the holes) on a whistle, you really are dreaming!
Perhaps you’d be best off buying a Boehm concert flute and a vertical headjoint, it’s the only thing, other than more practice, that I can think of that will solve your problem.
I would sell my soul (no, wait a sec), maybe not my soul or even $2000-$3000 to try a good keyed low whistle. However, since in my real life, I am a web site designer and am sorta used to technology changing every five minutes or so, I just can’t believe that there aren’t whistlesmiths out there that are familiar with modern materials and methods that would not be able design and build a keyed whistle at a reasonable cost. While reasonable is in the eye of the beholder, a quality instrument in the range of $300 - $500 would certainly catch my attention.
On 2002-10-19 19:04, Loren wrote:
Well…how much are you willing to pay for a keyed low whistle? Good quality (New) keyed wooden flutes sell for $2000-$3000, and there’s significant demand for those.
Keyed flutes are not all that pricey, particularly if you only get one or two keys.
Several folks have mentioned tenor recorders. Those only have a key on the bottom hole (or pair of holes for chromatic).
A low-D whistle that had a bottom hole key would make it a lot easier to play & allow for better tuning by having a lower, larger bottom hole.
While it would certainly cost more than an unkeyed whistle, I doubt it would cost $2-3k. Ralph’s keyed whistle isn’t anywhere near that range.
-Check with Colin Goldie-His whistle building philosophy respects a wide spectrum of needs, and he might be willing to do a keyed Overton for you. His competence is well established, and he does one-off whistles by order.
Brian O.
[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-10-19 20:09 ]
I have a couple of solutions. I play an old german wooden treble recoder which is unkeyed and I play a 6 keyed marching fife. I also attempt an F small flute, too sozzled on Chardonany to count the keys at the mo. I also have a very old Recorder or Flagelot depending on where you come from which has keys and an Ivory Beek. You could off course try a piccolo and then there are those who say half holeing needs a certain amount of skill. Especially with a blasted ferret sitting on it. Or a dog breaking wind when the Bombarde comes out.Sorry need a bit of light relief whilst being left to fend for myself for a month.
Now I need to be really careful in this post. It’s a cool late fall evening here in Minnesota and I have had two brandys. Daniel is a very nice man and has a great idea and good intentions. However, I had one of his keyed low D whistle/flutes here within the last two weeks. I will only say that I returned the instrument and that it is a great idea that is not ready for prime time.
Sorry but between my brandy and your Chardonany, I’m not sure I understand. If I have one more brandy to stave off the fall Minnesota chill I may not understand anything—but that’s another story.
As I said before, a GOOD keyed Low Whistle is going to be expensive.
Mando Paul, do you have any silver smithing experience? I do, and I can tell you that designing, forging and fitting keys is a VERY time consuming, and therefor expensive, process.
You can use Ralph Sweet’s soprano whistle as an example all you want, but the fact is: His whistles receive very mixed reviews, and neither he, nor anyone else offers a keyed low whistle, which is what we’re talking about.
One key or eight keys, it isn’t going to be cheap, because of the R&D involved, plus the serious lack of demand, there are economic forces at play here…
Loren:
OK, wow it’s getting harder to hit the keys as the evening wears on and the brandy takes hold. Seriously, I understand that "economic forces at play here… ". My question to you (you seem to have some experience in this area) is, what would you estimate the cost of a decent instrument to be if you or someone else did the R&D and actually built and marketed it?
Even though it might very well be an expensive proposition, a keyed low D, it would be interesting if someone would make a really good one and offer them for sale at some price for those who would pay. I am sure that he or she would sell at least a few each year. all they would have to do is price it where it would be worth their time.
Thanks for your reply. You make my point clearly and exactly. There have got to be more folks out there who would value such an instrument. Now, are there any whistlesmiths who are ready to give it a serious try?
