Practicing/playing with different makers

[armlann]

Good afternoon!

Recently back at it and I was wondering about something for those of you who have a variety of makers in your collection. Sometimes the choice is determined by key or by a specific characteristic of a given whistle but when you have a variety of whistles to choose from, which do you usually reach for when practicing in general? Do you have a favorite and play that one more? Do you rotate just to keep fresh with the variety? Just curious. TIA!

Jon

[Terry McGee]

Hi Jon

I might well be atypical. My whistles are all pretty old (like seventies!) bar two. One is a Feadog I bought when stuck up in Canberra back in early COVID days with nothing to do for a few hours, possibly days. It's awful, so I never play it. The other is a Killarney, which I bought on a whim after a recommendation from another player. I should have done my homework better. It's a very quiet whistle compared to what I like.

My favourite so far is an old Mellow D, made either by Soodlums or Waltons - I don't know how to tell. But while I liked it's strongish volume and tone, I was pretty appalled by its intonation - top B was coming in around Bb for example - so I ended up retuning it. Not only did that improve the intonation, but it significantly improved the liveliness of both the sound and the response. So it's become the whistle to beat.

I'll probably hang on to the Killarney for those occasions when I need a quieter whistle - everyone else has gone to bed, or I'm in the session and not sure I can remember this tune. But my hope is that, with the assistance of some of the other scientific types on this list, I can be guided to making a whistle that suits me better than the Tweaked Mellow D. Or find one, but that's tricky down here on the New South Wales South Coast - we don't see that many itinerant whistle sales-folk go by!

So, I'm in it for the adventure - to find out where I want to go, and to work out how to get there!

[Sirchronique]

For me it is a bit of both.

I have a main high D from Timothy Potter that gets played multiple times per day. That’s my go-to whistle, as it checks all of my boxes and I think it sounds and plays the best to my tastes. On Monday-Friday I play my car whistle during my lunch breaks, which is an exceptional Oak C head that I tweaked a bit and put on a brass C body tube.

I also have a large collection of other whistles, and they get played as the mood strikes me. I go through phases where I will play certain ones a lot for several months, before switching to something else for awhile. There’s about 7 brands/makers that I cycle through in this fashion throughout the year every year.

My main D whistle and my car whistle will likely never change, but I tend to rotate through the others as the mood strikes me, though some get played much more than others. Sindts in various keys, Copelands in low D and soprano C, Löfgren in A and G, Carbony G and low E/F, Reviol low D, older Dixon Trads in D and C, and old Gens in C, D, and Eb get played more often than other whistles I own, and are what comprise the aforementioned whistles that I cycle through. I just pick up whatever I feel like playing at that moment, though. I like too many whistles

[Katharine]

I admit to WHOAD. (Hi, Katharine!) This because I was looking for my "holy grail" whistle. What I discovered after acquiring a couple others was that I preferred the Walton that was my first whistle plucked up at a Highland games. (I had a Freeman Mellow Dog D/C set but didn't prefer the sound to my other Walton and ultimately ended up giving it to a friend I introduced to whistle; I have an Impempe that has a beautiful sound but difficult to get into the second octave, esp. on the higher end (anyone with tips feel free to chime in; the "blu-tack" trick worked for my Walton on an issue like this but obviously not an option with the Impempe as there's no void in the head).

Then I broke my trusty and beloved Walton (changing the blu-tack, I managed to break a tiny piece of plastic inside the head-- if anyone has the opposite problem, a whistle with a dead tone body but good head, get with me; I'd like to get this whistle playing again but not willing to sacrifice another perfectly-good whistle to do so), and the search started again. Despite acquiring more whistles (a Feadog which is discouragingly sensitive to whether my finger is perfectly exact on the hole, as in, I hit a note and it's fine, I hit another note and my finger must move just enough for an atom to get through and it squeaks; a Walton Little Black that is okay but too lightweight for my taste; another Walton actually found new-in-package at a thrift store that is okay and my second usual player despite not having the same sound as my original which is disappointing {swapping the heads didn't help; the head must have most of the sound in it}-- except right now I can't find it; an aluminum Dixon that is okay but not my favorite)... and it's that second Walton and my Impempe that are my usual instruments now (really, that Impempe has a gorgeous sound. If it wasn't for the second-octave difficulty it might well be my Goldilocks whistle. Even my mom threatened to steal it from me).

(What I really wish is to be alone in a soundproof room with a ton of whistles of different makers, and also several examples from the same maker, to choose which I like best, rather than this exercise of "I have to buy it, find it's not exactly what I am looking for, and keep repeating this process and meanwhile what do I do with all of these whistles I've now acquired and am not playing"? But that won't happen at the best of times-- nowhere to go to try several-- let alone post-covid where trying out a bunch of whistles is definitely not going to happen.)

Those are just my D whistles, lol. Don't get me started on the others...

[Average Whistler]

I am of both schools. I bought some nicer, expensive whistles after playing for a year or so, but I have found that I gravitated back to the whistles I started with: Gen, Clare and Dixon Brass Trad. They sound much better now than they did when I first started, maybe sitting in the box beside the Killarney made them try harder

I rotate through those three, depending on the sound I want and how in-tune they need to be.

And, whenever I feel a tinge of WhOAD, I go to the box and dig out a whistle I haven't played for a while and play that for a week or so. Then I find I go back to my main 3. Saves money and satisfies the novelty factor that drives WhOAD.

AW

[Narzog]

All of my whistles are picked to at least play 'kind of' similarly. They do not play the same. but going from one to the next isnt too extreme. When I had ones that were too far different it would make it harder to switch between them.

Which one I play is usually based on what tune or song I'm playing. but sometimes I just pick one and play it. I generally have 1 per key, so they dont compete wit each other for the same key.

[pancelticpiper]

I have a bit of the "tool kit" or Spartanist thing. I'm not a collector.

I only have one whistle of each pitch in my roll.

When I decided my fluteplaying days were done, and that the Low D Whistle was to be my primary instrument, I went through a process of several years of buying and trying a large number of different Low Ds, probably 30 or 40 of them.

I now have one. Which was my entire purpose from the get-go.

So for me there's no switching between Low Ds. I have the best one I've ever played, and I see no purpose in alternating my minimal practice time between that whistle and some inferior one.

Ditto for the other pitches of whistles I own, however I do at the moment have two Mezzo G whistles, because I've not made up my mind on which to keep and which to sell.

About the question of switching between different pitches when practicing yes it varies which whistle I'll use for a practice session. Usually it's the Low D but I also really like playing my Low E and my Low F. Now that I'm gradually evalutating my two Mezzo G's I will sometimes switch between them.

About the question of having instruments that play in a similar way yes though my various-pitched whistles are from a number of different makers they all share rather similar playing characteristics.

I will say that I have different approaches for different instruments:

Whistles: There Can Be Only One

Highland bagpipes: An Heir and a Spare

This is because the Highland pipes have such a multitude of things that can go wrong that I bring two ready-to-go bagpipes to each gig.

[armlann]

Thanks for the replies. Car whistle? I first heard that from a fellow I took a class from at Old Town School in Chicago, stop light, traffic, whatever, he kept it near at hand to fill the time. Great idea. Two bagpipes? Two is one, one is none! I've been lucky enough to acquire some good whistles so it's tough to choose. For now, I try to cycle between them. Not sure if that's best for the long term but that's my pattern for now. I'll show my newbie stripes now, how else to learn? WHOAD?

Jon

[bruce.b]

For high whistles I find it easy to switch from one make to another, even from one tune to the next. With low whistles I find it more difficult. I’ve decided to stick to MK Pros for low whistles. I’m going to sell my almost unplayed Goldie .97 low D for that very reason. I’ll post it here soon and possibly on some FB whistle sites.