Cathal McConnell's double whistle feats...

[JessieK]

I think you're right, Peter. I remember, in Nova Scotia at Boxwood, he had a d whistle on him and asked for another. Then he played something in harmony on both of them, but there wasn't any tape. I was confusing two different party tricks.

[Jetboy]

I have tried his with 2 Clarke Originals taped together with the top 3 holes on the right hand whisle (I play right handed) blocked off. This give me a G drone. Unusual sound and only really works on G tunes played almost exclusively in the lower range.

You need lungs like a smithy's bellows though as you are blowing twice as much air through the whistles.

[Daniel_Bingamon]

I'm made something like that before.

[avanutria]

http://www.homespuntapes.com/prodpg/pro ... prodID=275

..."Starting with basic scales and simple tunes, Cathal introduces increasingly difficult moves, such as rolls, grace notes, piping techniques (the cran) and even playing two whistles at once..."

[Wombat]

http://www.homespuntapes.com/prodpg/pro ... prodID=275

..."Starting with basic scales and simple tunes, Cathal introduces increasingly difficult moves, such as rolls, grace notes, piping techniques (the cran) and even playing two whistles at once..."

I have the shortened CD version of this tutorial. The material on playing two whistles at once was omitted. I'm more than a little mystified why Homespun didn't just reissue the original tape versions of the tutors in this series on multiple CDs. This, the Richard Thompson (Celtic guitar), Paul Butterfield (blues harmonica) and others are wonderful learning resources, a great chance to eavesdrop on a master teaching in a relaxed way. This tutor was where I began on whistle and I'm a bit puzzled why so few others seem to regard it as suitable.

I don't think you would need this to figure out how to make two whistles work for you. All you need is a small amount of musical theory and a clear idea of what you want to do. Then it's just a matter of picking the optimal whistles and taping if and where required. Just where to tape, if at all, will differ from job to job.

Roland Kirk, who inspired this idea, could play two different saxophones and a clarinet or third saxophone simultaneously. He'd typically be strapped into all three but would play most of a tune on only one instrument. That instrument might change as the tune progressed. At certain points he would introduce the three at once trick. I strongly suspect that he rarely, if ever, used tape, or some functional equivalent, and that his approach differed to suit the particular instruments he chose at any given time. I might be wrong about the tape though since quite often he would simply play a melody on one horn while employing the two or three at once trick occasionally. The other horns might well have been doctored in some way. Watching him live, and being curious about the techniques, I can say that I could not see what he was doing if he was doing something like taping.

[avanutria]

<a href="http://www.rit.edu/~eeg6662/cf/Cathal_m ... 3">Blarney Pilgrim and Pinch of Snuff</a>, Miltown Malbay, July 2003.

[AaronMalcomb]

However you do it just avoid parallel 5ths

Cheers,
Aaron