Are you unaffected by Whoa?

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:39 am

Well, are you? With all the talk in the news recently about SARS I have been thinking about Whoa transmission - how do you get it and is it inevitable? I have been playing for a year. I have several cheap Ds that I bought early on. The only one I still play is a brass Generation. I have a Susato SB D that went into the whistle drawer almost immediately and a Dixon brass slide which, along with the Gen, is the whistle I play 90% of the time. I am on the Sindt list for a high D which should arrive in November or so. I have a Gen C and Bb. I have no low whistles. I don't think I have Whoa.

Do you?

Mike

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:00 am

Well, are you?

I have been playing for 2 months and I have 13 cheap whistles and the Sweetheart, which I don't classify as an expensive whistle, I think it's in the middle range. Oh yeah, and one more coming in the mail. And I want a lot more. There are only two that I know for sure I don't want, Shaw (too Shawish) and plumbing-code Water Weasle (too ugly). I plan to have every one some day. I have more whistles than songs I know (that didn't come out right).

Gunnar · Post by **Gunnar** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:06 am

I've been playing for about 3 months and own a few cheap whistles, a semi-expensive (O'Briain) and my most prized posession (hopefully) which I will get tomorrow my Chieftain Low D Tuneable. As far as SARS, I haven't bought used whistles yet...

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:10 am

Oh my...I just remembered the whistles I got from Ontario...I didn't clean them in any way. I just started playing. I think if I was going to get SARS thought I already would have....I hope (well, no I don't hope). One more thing to be paranoid about.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:12 am

Specialists for WHO and the Center for Disease Control will no doubt be aware that the primary vector for Whoa is the Chiff & Fipple web site.
Already other vectors are appearing such as Gaelic Crossing. Until these primary sites are isolated and analysed WHOA will spread unabated.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:13 am

I've been playing for a couple of years, and have about 30 odd cheap whistles. I haven't bought any new whistles in the last couple of months (and that was only a couple because I was in a music shop for something else), until yesterday when I ordered 3 new Dixons, a C, a Bb and a G, all tuneable.

Oddly, Cran, I'm thinking of getting a C and a Bb Shaw, as they seem the best whistles for Kwela, and I just got one of the import albums I ordered off Amazon a few weeks back. The Bb is £25 though, more than double the C - I can't see why there's such a jump in the price for a small step up in the size.

After that I think it'll be a while again before I invest in more whistleware.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:14 am

No need to worry, Cranberry - SARS is primarily spread person-to-person, not by infected objects.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/904137.asp?0dm=C13OH

As for WhOA (and to keep this post on topic), I used to think I was under control. Then I received two whistles and a flute in a one-week span. Oops. However, I have started to get rid of whistles, so I think that;s the first step to recovery. Besides, I had to finance a concertina. Hopefully there is no acquisition disorder associated with that, or I'm in trouble...

RonKiley · Post by **RonKiley** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:39 am

I believe WhOA is spread by buying and actively playing a whistle. I bought a whistle 20 years ago but I didn't play it. Then back before Christmas I began playing it and I immediately wanted another one. So I think it is something about playing a whistle that does it. It may relate to wanting one that sounds better. Actually learning to play better is the answer to that problem. However, there is still a need to aquire whistles; whether cheap or expensive it does not matter. Then there is the desire to make a whistle which may be advanced stages of WhOA. I have it under control. I just need a few more.
Ron

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:51 am

Oddly, Cran, I'm thinking of getting a C and a Bb Shaw, as they seem the best whistles for Kwela, and I just got one of the import albums I ordered off Amazon a few weeks back. The Bb is £25 though, more than double the C - I can't see why there's such a jump in the price for a small step up in the size.

It's weird...I have a Hohner and have never heard Kwela music. I need to get around to that...

Cori · Post by **Cori** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:46 am

If whistles were more expensive, WhOA wouldn't be such an issue. But ... I can tell already ... they are so temptingly presented in the cheap'n'cheerful price section of shops everywhere.

And then 'tis but a small step to the mid-range ... and finally a thin, pointy, expensive birthday/Christmas/Yule present to oneself ... ARGH!

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:53 am

I believe what I have is a variant form of WHOA, perhaps not as severe in its financial consequences, but with other complications of its own.

Being seriously broke, I've had to rely on the kindness of C&Fers to provide hand-me-down whistles. Being a craftsman by profession, I thoroughly enjoy researching (with much generous help from those here) what makes a whistle work best, and applying that information to the poor orphan whistles entrusted to my care.

Now I have an excellent selection of tweaked Generation-type and Sweetone whistles, plus a Susato G Dublin someone gifted, along with C and D Clarke originals waiting for tweaking.

I feel I've accomplished all there is to achieve in that direction, short of going into the tweaked Generation-type whistle business. (But I'm still looking for hand-me-down whistles. I don't have any Shaws, of which I've recently become enamored, and I can create tweaked Gen-type frankenwhistles and use them for gifts and trades, perhaps for a Shaw or two.)

However, I keep getting these ideas ...

Lately, it's been really bad. I've lost several hours' sleep each of the last three nights because I can't turn off the whistle research, development and design mechanism in my brain. It runs by itself and there's nothing I can do about it, except let it design whatever it wants to.

I told my wife, I'm in the throes of a terminal brainstorm and she should make sure the life insurance is paid up. I'm exhausted.

Anyway, stay tuned. There's some 150 year-old rock maple in the barn that's calling me, and I think I've figured out what to do with it. (But be patient. This will take awhile.)

Best wishes,
Jerry

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 9:15 am

My WhOA was a quest for the "perfect" D whistle, one which has a certain combination of tone and playability. I knew exactly the characteristics which I wanted, and I knew that when I found them, my WhOA would be history. WhOA was dealt a serious (but not quite lethal) blow last September, when I got a whistle which almost satisfied my criteria. I knew I was on the right track, so this past January I got two more whistles from the same whistlesmith, and they were exactly what I had been looking for. (The main differences between them are volume and breath requirement, and each is "perfect" in its own way.) Since then I have not had the slightest desire to try any other whistles.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 9:19 am

My WhOA was a quest for the "perfect" D whistle, one which has a certain combination of tone and playability. I knew exactly the characteristics which I wanted, and I knew that when I found them, my WhOA would be history. WhOA was dealt a serious (but not quite lethal) blow last September, when I got a whistle which almost satisfied my criteria. I knew I was on the right track, so this past January I got two more whistles from the same whistlesmith, and they were exactly what I had been looking for. (The main differences between them are volume and breath requirement, and each is "perfect" in its own way.) Since then I have not had the slightest desire to try any other whistles.

And they are Burkes?

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 9:28 am

Jerry,
The first ones are always free. Pretty soon you'll find that you have become someone's whistle bitch.

Mike

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 9:28 am

As with Rides, I started out searching for the perfect whistle. After a Burke, various Weasels, etc., I found out that there's no such thing as THE perfect whistle. Just as there's no one song or album that I would want to listen to exclusively, or one book I would read exclusively, there's no one whistle I would want to play exclusively. There are many fine whistles out there, each suited to different types of tunes, moods, keys, etc.

I have really slowed down my acquisition, though. I have four whistles on order (not counting the two O'Riordans), and don't have any active interest in more. I'll probably get a whistle here and there when something interesting comes up on the board, but that's about it. Probably one or two more flutes, too.