Want to learn to play a whistle, what should I buy?

devondancer · Post by **devondancer** » Thu May 08, 2008 12:14 pm

parkswhistles.com

They're great - I agree; get one of those!

Steamwalker · Post by **Steamwalker** » Thu May 08, 2008 12:17 pm

Also check out Erik's tweaked whistles at http://vargaswhistles.com. Tony Hinnigan has said very positive things about them.

kennychaffin · Post by **kennychaffin** » Thu May 08, 2008 12:30 pm

Redwolf wrote:I've never seen an "Everywhistle." Is there a website?

Redwolf

I just looked it up:

http://www.parkswhistles.com/

KAC

wvshooky · Post by **wvshooky** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:38 pm

I bought my Dixon Trad 15 months ago when I first started playing the whistle and have never looked back. It's tunable...tone is great over a range of 2+ octaves...and hasn't let me down yet when performing at church. It is the only high D whistle I need!

My second whistle was a Gen B-flat. It was never that stable until I got the confidence to tweek it myself. Had it been my first whistle, I don't know if I would have stuck it out through that initial learning period without a lot of frustration. Then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of learning to play a passable Alba low D, or my Elf C, or...and so on and so on

Jim

MTGuru · Post by **MTGuru** » Thu May 08, 2008 4:57 pm

After a year of mixed feelings, I've grown fond of the Dixon Trad, and don't hesitate to recommend it as a very friendly whistle for the beginning player, and a good value to boot.

riverman · Post by **riverman** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:20 pm

As a beginner, I think a whistle tutorial kit is the way for you to go. There is one you can buy with a Clarke Original or Meg enclosed, a book and a CD. I begain with a Walton's whistle--book--CD kit. I ended up not favoring the whistle, but the kit was a REALLY good start.

walrii · Post by **walrii** » Thu May 08, 2008 7:41 pm

Along with whatever else you purchase, get a Feadog. Try it once, decide you don't like it and put it away for a year. Pull it out and discover that whistles, like wine, improve with age.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Fri May 09, 2008 6:40 pm

kennychaffin wrote:
Redwolf wrote:I've never seen an "Everywhistle." Is there a website?

Redwolf
I just looked it up:

http://www.parkswhistles.com/

KAC

Ooooo...I gotta have one!

Which would be better...equal temperment or just intonation? (I failed music theory)

Redwolf

kennychaffin · Post by **kennychaffin** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:30 pm

Equal Temperament is used for (western) instruments/music.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament

Just Intonation: the practice of choosing pitches
according to whole-number ratios between frequencies,
almost necessarily resulting in scales with unequal scale steps.

Equal Temperament: the practice of dividing the octave
into an equal number of parts, or of making up a scale
from equal-sized steps.

KAC

Carey · Post by **Carey** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:33 pm

If you get equal temperment (the normal thing you get when you buy a whistle) you will be able to play along with people who tune to the typical electronic tuner or a piano etc. Which includes most sessions. So I'd suggest you get equal temperment. But, for playing solo, espeically airs, I think the just intonation it quite good. That because if you don't have a reference for tuning and you tune so the notes sound good together you end up with nice round fractions for the intervals. But we live in an equal temperment world.

If it helps, my ET tube is always on the whistle, and the JI tube I play with from time to time. For 8 bucks, get both. Heck, 8 more and you have a C whistle too. But if it's just one, go with the equal temperment (the default).

Cheers,

Carey

devondancer · Post by **devondancer** » Sat May 10, 2008 11:26 am

They are great, Redwolf, especially for practising at night or when you want to play the same - old - thing - over - and - over until everyone else knows it and is begging you to stop! Why did no one design a mute before?

I am anticipating a hospital stay shortly (aagh) and think I could take, and play, my Every whistle without causing havoc!

Deathtrap · Post by **Deathtrap** » Sun May 11, 2008 11:41 pm

I started on a Little Black but i dont really like it. Then I got an Oak, it rocks. Gens are good but I think it depends on luck to get a good one. A new player won't know its the whistle's problem or his, a slightly better whistle will do him better.

What comes to mind is the Dixon new trad.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:22 am

Carey wrote:If you get equal temperment (the normal thing you get when you buy a whistle) you will be able to play along with people who tune to the typical electronic tuner or a piano etc. Which includes most sessions.

Cheers,

Carey

This is not really thought through very well: 'people who tune to a tuner' , including sessions do not (re-)tune their whole scale before playing, they tune one (or two) reference notes to ensure their instruments are all at A=440 (or another but at least all at the same pitch), this has nothing to do with what temperament the scale of their instruments is tuned to.

Also assuming all instruments come in equal temperament disregards the variety of mean tone tunings concertinas may have, the intonations of the piper, the fiddler and the fluteplayer etc etc. The sessions I attend are, thankfully, not equal tempered ones.

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:02 am

Dixon Trad is great.

My own personal favourite is another cheapie: the Feadog.

Trouble with a question like the OP's is that we all have different experiences and different favourites.

Overall, I'd recommend getting half a dozen cheapish ones and see which works for you.

Perhaps try:

Generation
Feadog
Clarke Original
Oak
Dixon Trad
and maybe a Clarke Sweetone or Meg

deathfalls · Post by **deathfalls** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:23 pm

Okay, so I'm sure some people on here might be upset that I did this, but after thinking it all over, I decided I didn't want to wait for something to come in the mail. I went to a local little music shop, and all they had were Clarke Sweetones. So I bought one ($8, not too bad). I get home and start playing around. I look at some fingering charts online (yes, I'm a complete newbie!), and ran across Ryan Duns, SJ on youtube somehow. Let me just say, I am HOOKED now. The Sweetone isn't perfect, but it does the trick for now... I think I will be purchasing many more whistles in the future. Probably the very near future.

Thanks again for all the replies, I am sure I'll be using more than a few of the suggestions in this thread for my next whistle purchases.