quiet whistle

[bellowsface]

Sorry if this has been asked before but, is there such a thing as a quiet whistle? I have half an hour lunch at work and I would like to fill part of this with a bit more practise. The problem is I work in a office and although I can go into a separate office my normal whistle would be way too load for this environment. Add to that I am a new player and there will be lots of squeeks for a while and lots of repetition I thought if there was a quiet option this may help. Oh it is a h.r office so noise is not welcome most of the time.

[kkrell]

This will do it, for quiet.

Mack Hoover Narrow Bore D
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=86337

http://praisewhistlers.org/mackhooverwhistles/

Kevin Krell

[maki]

Mack Hoover makes some great quite whistles.
I own two of his 'White Heads' and a Narrow Bore Brass D.
I'd recommend any of them for your purpose.

Another possiblity is a Parks Whistle.
They have a Tone Ring which allows instant and easy volume control.
Also highly recommended.

Don't forget that you can make a mute for the whistle you already have.

[Feadoggie]

Yes there are "quiet whistles". If you do a search using that term on the forum you will get a lot of past threads.

Mack Hoover specializes in quiet whistles. They are very sweet too. Carey Parks makes whistles with a built in mute mechanism. There are others as well.

You may find that these whistles are still too loud for an office environment. I'll offer you two other options.

First, any whistle can be made to play quiet using a variety of muting strategies. If you limit the cross section of the windway or the voicing window you will reduce the volume. This can be done as simply as placing a bit of putty on the blade or doing the same with tape - how much is up to you and how quiet you want to be. Do a search for "whistle mute" and you'll see more ideas.

Second, you can use the "whisper method" to practice. This involves blowing over the top of the mouthpiece towards the voicing window not through the windway. You should hear a whisper of each note, nothing more. The downside of this method is that you can only get the first octave to sound in a whisper. Overblowing doesn't really work using this method. So you have to imagine the high notes which should be no problem after a few minutes. This will allow you to practice your fingering and learn tunes. If you want to hear a bit of "whisper" playing take a listen to Joanie Madden in the begining of the Otter's Holt. Keep in mind that they amplified the whisper to make the recording. You'll be much quieter. This method has saved a few marriages too.

Hope that helps.

Feadoggie

[bellowsface]

Thank you. I will have a look into all you have said. I appreciate the help

[megapop]

Kind of an upgrade of the "whisper method" would be taping the windway (where you blow into) and playing the whistle as a piccolo. This way you can overblow to the 2nd register, and in my experience you can get slightly more sound out of it compared to the original method (which might require some embouchure though).

[fearfeasog]

I go out and play in my car on my lunch breaks.

[Feadoggie]

I go out and play in my car on my lunch breaks.

Doh! I should have thought of that one too. Good call.

I started playing in my car at lunchtime the last few years at work before I finally retired. And quite unexpectedly, I ended up meeting a fiddler and then a piper also hanging out in the car park. I never would have met these players any other way.

It was interesting that the day I retired a few people said they would miss hearing the music when I was gone. I had never played in the office so I guess even in the car they could hear me as they went in and out of the building to their cars. So it may not be quiet but it didn't seem to bother anyone AFAIK.

But I guess that would have to be workable for the OP.

Feadoggie

[bellowsface]

Playing in the car isn't an option for me. I'm a biker and my wife has the car for work and take the kids to school. I will find an option somehow

[MTGuru]

is there such a thing as a quiet whistle?

Big Whistle offers the Shush Whistle and the SV. Carey Parks has the tone ring.

But you're not going to find many dedicated quiet whistles, because any whistle can be muted drastically by covering the window, or blocking the windway/blade.

My favorite is a plastic-covered paper clip dropped into the window. Based on this old video from our member breqwas, the result is at least as quiet as the Shush. And the paper clip has less effect on lowering the pitch than some of the other methods.

[brewerpaul]

Definitely give the whisper method a try. Even though you can't overblow into the upper octave, your brain can fool you into thinking that you did and two octave tunes come out surprisingly well.

[I.D.10-t]

Playing in the car isn't an option for me. I'm a biker and my wife has the car for work and take the kids to school. I will find an option somehow

Well, just play in someone else's car. Just don't leave the whistle behind, that is how bad jokes get started.

On a serious note, pretty much any whistle can be muted. I've used a toothpick method, but it messes up the back pressure. same with the blow over the top approach. Putty on the blade seems to be the best way to keep a whistle's playing characteristics and mute it.

[joshua7b]

I have one of the Big Whistle SV (Soft Voice) whistles. It handles very well. I would say that it is fairly quiet. Not play in the same room as your sleeping wife quiet, but more of a don't bother your neighbors quiet. It is my preferred practice whistle much of the time. I seem to play better if I think I'm not bothering anyone. I also temporarily have a Mack Hoover whistle. The two are about the same for loudness, but the SV seems to have a bit more solid, consistent tone throughout its range. Don't get me wrong, the Hoover is great. The reason I only have it temporarily is that it is on it's way to a new home next week as a birthday present.

As for practicing locations, I used to go up on the roof at work to practice during my breaks. Sadly, someone fell off the roof at one of our other locations. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured, but now pretty much everyone is banned from going up on the roof. Stairwells are always an option if you are somewhere with multiple floors. Where I am now only has freight elevators, so everyone takes the stairs, but in my experience, most people will go to great lengths to avoid the stairs so long as the elevator isn't broken. Not to mention you get some natural reverb out of the deal.

Josh

[megapop]

As for practicing locations, I used to go up on the roof at work to practice during my breaks. Sadly, someone fell off the roof at one of our other locations. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured, but now pretty much everyone is banned from going up on the roof.

So what about the basement? Just gotta avoid the caretaker...

[Cayden]

As for practicing locations, I used to go up on the roof at work to practice during my breaks. Sadly, someone fell off the roof at one of our other locations. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured, but now pretty much everyone is banned from going up on the roof.

Josh

So, James Taylor's song "Up On The Roof" is simply fantasy and an invitation to OSHA investigations? Please say it isn't so!