Whistle key poll

[Thomaston]

I once had a made in India whistle (untuneable) in the rare key of C#-sharp.

C double sharp??? Wow.

i.e. a D whistle

[Feadoggie]

What's flawed about the poll?

Simple. I own all the keys you mention and generally have a need to play them for some reason with a 4-6 week span. The other keys get some play too but less often. YMMV but there is no "all of the above" choice. "Other" doesn't quite do it for me.

Feadoggie

[Lars Larry Mór Mott]

I once had a made in India whistle (untuneable) in the rare key of C#-sharp.

C double sharp??? Wow.

I didn't know what to call a whistle just shy of D and too sharp of C#

[ecohawk]

I too have a c# and a low C. I play them all. When actually playing for something other than my own solo enjoyment, the most commonly used keys I play are D, C, B, alto A, alto G, low F, low Eb and low D. By far the most commonly used are D, low D and C.

ecohawk

[Sirchronique]

I play all of my keys of whistle as well, except for the high F and very high G whistles. Those are a bit too high for my liking. It depends on my mood. I do play each week on every key of whistle except for Ab, and F#, neither of which I own.

The two keys I play most frequently are D, and A, though. Especially now that I have sindt and dixon trad whistles in A, which I think are both extremely fantastic. I think it's a great key for playing alone. Really smooth.

I never go through one week without picking up almost all of my whistles. When I am learning a tune or have learned a tune, I tend to go through almost all of my whistles and play the tune on them.

I also marked "other" , because I have some C#/Db whistles that I enjoy playing very much.

[hoopy mike]

Ok, it's not a perfect poll, but I think this is really interesting, particularly the lack of people owning and playing whistles in E and Eb. Given that Generation make a cheap Eb, I would've expected more people to play them.

[Mr.Gumby]

I think this is really interesting, particularly the lack of people owning and playing whistles in E and Eb. Given that Generation make a cheap Eb, I would've expected more people to play them.

It's bright, agile and responsive. What's not to like?

[sackbut]

For me, 'Other', ticked in the poll, includes low C, A flat, high F and high G. Of these four only the high F gets a serious amount of use, and I'm surprised nobody much else has mentioned this option. A lot of 16th, 17th, 18th century English & European tunes (ie Praetorius, Arbeau, Playford etc) are in one flat and suit the high F; although maybe most could be played on a C, I'd rather be in the comfortable range of an F than pushing hard near the top of the range of a C.

It's a pity the poll can't let you say roughly how much you use each whistle; for example, I ticked both E flat and E, but in the last year I would think I've used the E at least fifty times for every time I've used the E flat.

There's also the question of whether whistles are played on your own (when you can choose whatever key you fancy) or with others. This poll was prompted by a thread asking about keys needed for playing with others. I play with others in three broad contexts, grouping together similar styles of band/session/workshop and calling them one context. Only the D, C, A & G get used in all three contexts; B flat & E in two contexts, and high F, low F, low E, low D, and low C in one context.

[Ted]

I play mostly D and low D. Occasionally use Low C and Low E (mostly played in A). I also play a bass A with some songs a friend wrote and have played it in D in ITM sessions to hit the notes below D that aren't available on the low D. I occasionally play C#, B and Bb whistles with pipers whose pipes are in those keys. I have a whistle tuned between B and C to play with a piper with a 17" chanter that plays "between the keys". Low E is good with border pipes in A.

[sackbut]

I was struggling to understand the poll results so far, thinking that 327 had answered the questionnaire - but surely everybody has a D whistle. Then 'total votes' (not total voters') sank into my addled brain, and I realised that presumably the number owning & playing a D whistle (53 as I write) was the population, and therefore all the percentages were extremely misleading. At a glance, you could think 'oh, only 6% own and play a G whistle', but actually, it's... a lot more.

[pancelticpiper]

I think this is really interesting, particularly the lack of people owning and playing whistles in E and Eb.

Heck, I've had gigs where I've only used whistles in E and Eb.

If I had to rank the whistles by frequency of use, it would be different between "trad gigs" and "legit gigs"

Trad gigs: D, C, E, A (in that order)

Legit gigs: D, C, Bb, Eb, E (in that order... many gigs can be done with just those, though I've used every whistle at gigs including B, Db, Ab, Gb)

[pancelticpiper]

I didn't know what to call a whistle just shy of D and too sharp of C#

A D whistle that plays too flat?

Kinda cool though, a quartertone whistle.

Back around 1980 I got a new Susato whistle that was like that... a D whistle that was in tune to itself but very flat overall. It was a one-piece non-tunable thing.

So I chopped the bottom and carved out all the holes, resulting in the loudest D whistle on earth.

[Sirchronique]

Heck, I've had gigs where I've only used whistles in E and Eb.

If I had to rank the whistles by frequency of use, it would be different between "trad gigs" and "legit gigs"

Pardon the question, but I've read this term in your posts a few times, and I was wondering, what is meant by "legit gig" ? I've not heard this term before.

[MTGuru]

Pardon the question, but I've read this term in your posts a few times, and I was wondering, what is meant by "legit gig" ? I've not heard this term before.

Legit would be, for example, a union gig where you're a member of the musician's union and paid union scale. Or a studio gig (recording or film) where the music is dropped in front of you, and you're expected to read it right off and have whatever equipment and instruments you need to do the job. Or a symphonic or stage orchestra gig where you're hired for a part that calls for your special instrument. These would often involve playing your trad instrument in a non-trad, art music context.

[hoopy mike]

Pardon the question, but I've read this term in your posts a few times, and I was wondering, what is meant by "legit gig" ? I've not heard this term before.

Legit would be, for example, a union gig where you're a member of the musician's union and paid union scale. Or a studio gig (recording or film) where the music is dropped in front of you, and you're expected to read it right off and have whatever equipment and instruments you need to do the job. Or a symphonic or stage orchestra gig where you're hired for a part that calls for your special instrument. These would often involve playing your trad instrument in a non-trad, art music context.

And I thought it was one that the taxman knew about...