Quiet whistle?

[Lawrence]

My Hoover Whitecap CPVC Soprano D is quiet compared to my other D whistles.

[vomitbunny]

I have an Oak D now. It's kind of a bear for me to play... much different air requirements than the Hammy.

When you say tape the windway, is that the window part or where you blow in?

Thanks,
Tony

Tape it across the square hole where the sound comes out. Start by taping off half the hole. The left or the right side.Some whistles work better than others. Experiment with how much to cover up. I can play my dixon at my workstation here and not disturb others. You can make it absolutly whisper, and still take a fairly normal amount of air.

[Loren]

All,

Could someone recommend a quite whistle? I mostly play flute but would like to have a whistle I can play at lunch time when I go outside. I'm a poor player so I'd kind of like a quite one so no one can hear me.

Thanks,
Tony

Interesting, I can play the flute at least as quietly as any of the whistles I own, that's one of the things I love about the flute. Have you ever considered getting an F flute, which may be a little easier for you to play well at low volume? Ralph Sweet makes a fairly inexpensive wooden F flute that I've heard is pretty good and much more consistent than his D flutes.

Loren

[Loren]

Is Noah Herbison still making Laughing whistles? They are the quietest whistles on the planet.

I like the sound and portability but man, every soprano Laughing whistle I've played has such clogging problems that I just put them down after 5 minutes and give up on them. The flat windway roof is what does it: Those little beads of condensation build up and just hang there

It's too bad, because I really like the sound (before clogging) of the Laughing whistles.


Loren

[jkrazy52]

Hi Grixxly!

One solution to make a whistle quieter that no one has mentioned here yet is a small ball of poster tack. If rolled oblong ( mini-cigar?), you can place it on the blade of the whistle and then roll it towards the mouthpiece. The sound goes from the normal volume to almost nothing - depending on how close the 'ball' is to the end of the blade. You may have to experiment a little to find the right size and shape of the ball, but it has worked for me.

Welcome to the club!

~Judy

[brewerpaul]

Another simple option is to play whatever whistle you like in the following fashion:
Put the whistle up to your mouth as usual, but instead of putting the mouthpiece INTO your lips, rest the end of the mouthpiece ONTO your lower lip, just below your mouth opening.
When you play, no air will go into the whistle, but will pass over the mouthpiece and window playing a VERY quiet but audible sound. I've played like this with my wife sleeping 10 feet away and was able to play perfectly recognizable tunes and still not wake her up. You won't have the same tone as the whistle normally produces, naturally, but for very quiet practice with no modification of the whistle, it's a great alternative.

[tomcat]

Another simple option is to play whatever whistle you like in the following fashion:
Put the whistle up to your mouth as usual, but instead of putting the mouthpiece INTO your lips, rest the end of the mouthpiece ONTO your lower lip, just below your mouth opening.

amazing - never thought of it - but it really worked - that is until i hit a c and the whistle jumped up producing a normal volume sound - oops. but with just a little work - a normal whistle becomes a whisper. Thanks Paul!

[Loren]

Can you guys actually get two octaves playing this way? I seem to recall only being able to get a single octave when I tried this a couple of years ago.....

Loren

[brewerpaul]

Can you guys actually get two octaves playing this way? I seem to recall only being able to get a single octave when I tried this a couple of years ago.....
Loren

It's a funny phenomenon-- you don't get a real solid second octave, but as the pitch jumps up and down within a tune, your brain "hears" the correct octave.

[Loren]

It's a funny phenomenon-- you don't get a real solid second octave, but as the pitch jumps up and down within a tune, your brain "hears" the correct octave.

Dang it, I think my brain is deaf (as well as dumb), doh!

I'll try it again, on my Abell, and see what happens - the only other time I tried this was on a different whistle that I no longer own.

Loren

[vomitbunny]

I'm guessing playing underwater probably works well too.

[IDAwHOa]

I'm guessing playing underwater probably works well too.

What planet did you say you were from, I can't seem to remember!

[pipingturtle]

I agree with those supporting Laughin Whistles. I've had one since about the turn of the millenium and without doubt it's my favourite. I realise it has very real problems with clogging (although recently I got an email from Noah saying that he's been trying a slightly different fipple plug design with grroves at the edge orsomething like that to carry away the condensation - I don't know for sure), but I love the sound more than any other whistle I've played (which admittedly isn't that many). There's also the telescoping feature going for it - it travels everywhere with me very easily, and when all three parts are inside each other it makes it a bit tougher against knocks (useful when your whistle up mountains and trees and cliffs and stuff). You just need to work out how to sort out the clogging (I tried the old washing up liquid in the windway trick an that worked for a while, you just need to keep at it).

TTFN.

[Grixxly]

Thanks everyone. I think instead I'm going to play it loud, play it proud, and save up a little for a nice intermediate-end whistle. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Tony

P.S. Anyone else have to hit refresh every page they go here because it keeps displaying a page that says critical error? I emailed Dale with a cut and paste of what I'm getting but haven't heard from him, and that was Friday...

[Stu H]

Thanks everyone. I think instead I'm going to play it loud, play it proud, and save up a little for a nice intermediate-end whistle. Any recommendations?

Now you have opened the can of worms!

My vote would go for Dixons