Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years. These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
rykirk wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 4:39 pm
Yes highland/smallpipes chanter is what I play. You're overthinking my aims a bit. I'm not looking for an instrument to play along in a matched key with pipes or to exactly copy pipe fingering.
If I understand what your proposed layout is, it comes close but doesn't exactly copy GHB fingering.
The only thing I've seen that does that is the Whistle ecadre linked to above. It has the little-finger hole for Low G and presumably the thumb-hole for High A.
Yes my aim, as a whistle player, would be to have the best-sounding best-playing whistle for performing GHB tunes, which means placing the GHB's Low G to High A range in the wheelhouse of the whistle range, the range with the best sound and most accessible to ornamentation.
Richard Cook c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
rykirk wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 4:39 pm
Yes highland/smallpipes chanter is what I play. You're overthinking my aims a bit. I'm not looking for an instrument to play along in a matched key with pipes or to exactly copy pipe fingering.
If I understand what your proposed layout is, it comes close but doesn't exactly copy GHB fingering.
The only thing I've seen that does that is the Whistle ecadre linked to above. It has the little-finger hole for Low G and presumably the thumb-hole for High A.
Yes my aim, as a whistle player, would be to have the best-sounding best-playing whistle for performing GHB tunes, which means placing the GHB's Low G to High A range in the wheelhouse of the whistle range, the range with the best sound and most accessible to ornamentation.
Yes, as I said I also play pipes (highland fingering), so I'm aware it's not exactly the same. I'm not sure why you seem convinced that the lower hand of the lower octave isn't a good range on the whistle? I have no trouble playing down there on most of my whistles and on higher pitched whistles I'd dare say most would find it mellower and smoother and nicer in tone than the often shrill and more poorly intonated second octave.
I do play pipe tunes in A on my Low D whistle, no problem. But on a high D it can be a bit harsh.
Does a D+ whistle (D whistle with an extra hole for low C natural) played with a crossed fingered C natural give a D mixolidian scale with a bagpipe-like lower 7th? If so drilling an extra hole and adding a bit of tube to a cheap D whistle would do the job and still be playable as a normal whistle.
david_h wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2023 4:53 am
Maybe I am not following this.
Does a D+ whistle (D whistle with an extra hole for low C natural) played with a crossed fingered C natural give a D mixolidian scale with a bagpipe-like lower 7th? If so drilling an extra hole and adding a bit of tube to a cheap D whistle would do the job and still be playable as a normal whistle.
Yes extending the range of a whistle down by a whole tone would be another way of accomplishing the same thing.
