No, my criticism of the C natural hole is that it's pointless because there's another EASY way to play C natural. This is nothing like arguing that other holes - like an F natural hole for example - are pointless. F natural holes allow you to play notes that are ordinarily extremely difficult to play quickly and in tune, so they're not pointless at all.Wanderer wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:44 pmHere you make the argument that I feel many people will make about a 10-hole whistle (though I'm certainly able to be wrong on these things). They won't see the point since a standard 6-hole whistle will get the job done for the majority of music they're liable to play.Cyberknight wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 1:24 pm As for C natural holes, I've never seen the point of those
Because a thumb hole necessitates keeping your thumb in the precise position required to cover the hole. Taping it doesn't.Cyberknight wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 1:24 pm But again, why would you need to tape the C natural hole? You can just keep it covered; taping it is pointless.
You may be feeling a little defensive. Which may be understandable. I gave no criticism about 10-hole whistles of any kind. My commentary was more about myself finding no use for one and about my guesses as to the community's feeling about them. And my prognostication that perhaps and especially at first, it would be considered a curiosity, and it would take some time before becoming commonly accepted--if ever. I didn't even give any discouragement about making the experiment, and specifically pointed out that having a limited market at the start was not necessarily a reason not to try.Cyberknight wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 1:24 pm And finally, nothing you're saying is a real criticism to 10-hole chromatic whistles like the Morneaux Mark 1.
On a broader note, you definitely were trying to criticize the idea of a chromatic whistle. Indeed, saying you have "no use" for one and then arguing that the community won't like them IS a criticism of them, by definition. And of course, there's nothing wrong with your criticizing them. Just as there's nothing wrong with my responding to your criticism. And I thank you for clarifying your position.
That said, I don't think your criticism is valid. The fact is that if you have a modicum of patience, it isn't a big deal to cover up an extra hole with your thumb. Yes, it constrains the position of your thumbs a tiny bit. But this isn't a big deal, because your thumbs normally don't move while you're playing at all. And you should be putting them in the same position on the whistle every time you play; if you're moving them around all the time, that's bad technique. All having an F natural hole does is require you to put it in a certain position every time - something you'll get used to very quickly if you try it out for a week. And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, because I have friends who play Burke whistles with C natural holes that they never use. They simply cover them with their left thumbs and forget the holes are even there.
This comment is quite silly. You're trying to insult people who have chromatic whistles (for some reason) while also throwing all the people with differently-keyed whistles under the bus. So you don't like chromatic whistles OR whistles that play in other keys? Someone really must like the keys of D and G lol. I personally like having a few different whistles for different purposes, so I usually carry around 5 or 6 whistles (the Morneaux included). None of them end up in the drawer, unless they're practically unplayable.Moof wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2024 7:27 amThat's what's made me giggle about the whole thing. People with chromatic whistles would still end up with half a drawerful of them, just like people with whistles in different keys, because none of them is exactly right for everything.
The Swiss Army knife with all the tools usually gets left at home, because the one with just a blade and a screwdriver is more useable and less bulky.
At any rate, if you bought one whistle and it was perfect for you so you never wanted another one, that's good for you. But most of us like trying different things out, and there's not a thing wrong with that. We also like playing in other keys without giving ourselves a headache, which is why we have a few whistles in some other keys (or, in my case, a chromatic model).
People who have only ever tried one whistle are typically the same people who play loudly and out of tune at sessions without even realizing it. But hey, I'm just making a broad generalization, just like yours.
You can use a chromatic whistle for many traditional music genres. For one thing, you can play ITM in basically any key, all on the same whistle. So you can play D major tunes, D minor tunes, tunes in F, etc. You can also play traditional Scottish music in E (a fairly common key) without too much difficulty.
Then you can play more modern ITM stuff that incorporates elements of chromaticism into it, notably melodic minor. [EDIT: the following example is actually a Galician tune] For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgPufcmYUlo
If you really want to branch out a bit more, you can also use it to play Renaissance, Medieval, or Classical stuff (stuff you might ordinarily play on a recorder or English flageolet). I like to play Classical-era English hornpipes on mine. And then you can also use it to play tunes from various Near Eastern cultures.