Clarke tone question

BanjoBoog · Post by **BanjoBoog** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:34 pm

I've got a few different whistles, all metal. The one that is the most pleasing to my ear is the Clarke. It has a sort of "breathy" sound. Is it unique. All the other whistles I have produce a very crisp note.

AlonE · Post by **AlonE** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:51 pm

thus it is, Clarke is one of the best whistles
facts in make, but its big defect is the air requirement.

but he is even exelent whistle, also I have taste of mine.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:01 pm

Not sure what your question is...
I will agree that Clarkes are breathy.
Shaws are similar.

Many people here refer to whistles as
sounding either "chiffy" or "pure".

BanjoBoog · Post by **BanjoBoog** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:04 pm

AlonE wrote:thus it is, Clarke is one of the best whistles
facts in make, but its big defect is the air requirement.

but he is even exelent whistle, also I have taste of mine.

Hi AlonE:

The Clarke has a funny shape as well, sort of conical with a squared off end. My other whistles are all straight bore tubes. The Clarke is very elegant.

BanjoBoog · Post by **BanjoBoog** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:09 pm

fearfaoin wrote:Not sure what your question is...
I will agree that Clarkes are breathy.
Shaws are similar.

Many people here refer to whistles as
sounding either "chiffy" or "pure".

Hey thanks fearfaoin, that's nice to know. I was wondering if there might be any wooden whistles that have a "chiffy"? sound like the Clarke.

Steamwalker · Post by **Steamwalker** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:02 pm

BanjoBoog wrote:
fearfaoin wrote:Not sure what your question is...
I will agree that Clarkes are breathy.
Shaws are similar.

Many people here refer to whistles as
sounding either "chiffy" or "pure".
Hey thanks fearfaoin, that's nice to know. I was wondering if there might be any wooden whistles that have a "chiffy"? sound like the Clarke.

Wooden whistles are generally warmer in tone so they probably have more in common to a Clarke than to other metal whistles in sound. Wooden whistles tend to be more expensive and require more care in exchange. There are plenty of makers of fine wooden whistles - at last count, I had a list of well over 20 of them.

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:15 pm

Any whistle can be made to sound chiffy. It has to do with the efficiency of the available energy being converted into the oscillation around the blade. The "chiff" component can be very useful when exploring harmonic overtones around a note - pure toned instruments don't have as many options (thinking r*c**d**r here

). Such subtleties tend to get lost when you add a few more instruments to the mix - Shakuhachi, Ney and Kaval rely heavily on it and are usually played with few support instruments, if any. Whistles seem to occupy a middle-ground in this regard.

(edited to add: The best chiffy wooden whistles I've heard are made by Greg (Wanderer) - Chris Abell's whistles also have a nice chiffy component)

cavefish · Post by **cavefish** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:16 pm

Clarkes are the best, my Copeland is like a pro Clarke

AlonE · Post by **AlonE** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:36 pm

Copeland= pro Clarke!!!!

you are my idolo!
good phrase!

cadancer · Post by **cadancer** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 2:08 am

BanjoBoog wrote:The Clarke has a funny shape as well, sort of conical with a squared off end. My other whistles are all straight bore tubes. The Clarke is very elegant.

Interestingly, the conical shape is the "original" shape and therefore all of the others are "funny shapes". LOL

...john

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:06 am

Mitch wrote:(edited to add: The best chiffy wooden whistles I've heard are made by Greg (Wanderer)...)

True, Wanderer's whistles are nice and chiffy, a very traditional
sound. He also makes whistles out of Corian, so they look like stone.
They're called "The Stonehenge™ Whistle". Neat stuff.

(P.S. Greg, if you see this, I tried to post a link here to your whistle
site, but it's hard to google of late. I just get redirected to your tunes
site, and there's no link there to the whistle store. Please tell me you
haven't stopped making whistles!)

BanjoBoog · Post by **BanjoBoog** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:30 am

Mitch wrote:Any whistle can be made to sound chiffy. It has to do with the efficiency of the available energy being converted into the oscillation around the blade. ... snip

Hi Mitch:
That's very interesting. I've got a few cheap whistles that I don't mind experimenting on. I'm assuming you'd carefully file the blade down?

BanjoBoog · Post by **BanjoBoog** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:32 am

Thanks for all the great information folks. Now all I have to do is learn how to play

... the easy part right

Steamwalker · Post by **Steamwalker** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:56 am

fearfaoin wrote:
Mitch wrote:(edited to add: The best chiffy wooden whistles I've heard are made by Greg (Wanderer)...)
True, Wanderer's whistles are nice and chiffy, a very traditional
sound. He also makes whistles out of Corian, so they look like stone.
They're called "The Stonehenge™ Whistle". Neat stuff.

(P.S. Greg, if you see this, I tried to post a link here to your whistle
site, but it's hard to google of late. I just get redirected to your tunes
site, and there's no link there to the whistle store. Please tell me you
haven't stopped making whistles!)

Greg's whistles are definitely "chiffy" in this regard and has a nice warm tone. This might be due in part that they are pretty fat with a large bore. I could easily slide a feadog tube into the Mahan one and have room to spare.

I noticed the same thing, Fearfaoin, my link to his whistle page redirects to his main review website.

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 3:14 pm

The Clarke original (ie, rolled tin w/ wooden fipple) is my favorite whistle sound, as well.

It's interesting that the conical bore Clarke whistle is most like the 'irish' sound of the conical-bore wooden flute; whereas all the tubular whistles are like the boehm flute.