Which of your whistles is the Easiest to play?

lyrick · Post by **lyrick** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:25 am

For me the Humphrey narrow bore D is the easiest of my whistles to play, even easier than the Burke narrow bore D (my only high-end whistles). The Humphrey takes less air compared to the Burke and is more balanced in back pressure between the first and second octaves, especially second octave b,a,g. It's also easier to play faster, and ornaments are noticeably crisper and easier, especially in the second octave.

For longer, continuous playing, the Burke is easier for me, though. The Humphrey takes so little air that the need to exhale becomes a factor, and I haven't learned how to work that in yet.

Not that I find any whistle easy to play, some days especially they're all hard to play. But some are easier than others.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:33 am

I think those saying "Burke" are right - I don't own one (yet), but every one I've tried was a joy to play. I know I'll end up with a few Burkes sooner or later - just haven't taken the plunge yet.

Of the cheapies, I think the Sweetone is the most consistantly easy to play. It's not my favorite cheap whistle (I'll take a good Generation, or maybe a Walton's Mello D), but I think it's about the best widely-available beginner's whistle. I'd say the same thing about Megs (essentially the same whistle) but I don't think Meg QC is as good. And even for more advanced players, the Sweetone isn't a bad whistle at all.

I think the Serpent Sweet Polly has to fit in here somewhere, too. Although I have a fondness for all the Serpent Polly whistles, the earlier models (original, and Brassy) required a bit more attention to the embouchure. But the Sweet Polly competes with the Sweetone for ease of play. If you want an in-tune, well-balanced whistle with moderate backpressure and a husky/breathy sound these are a steal at $25. Just don't get one if you want a pure tone - if you don't like the sound of a Clarke original, you probably won't like a Polly.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:58 am

I agree that the Sweettone is an easy cheapie to play. (Mine is) horribly out of tune but it plays easy.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:12 pm

FJohnSharp wrote:I agree that the Sweettone is an easy cheapie to play. (Mine is) horribly out of tune but it plays easy.

Hmm. All of my D Sweetones are pretty much OK. But I've never found a Sweetone C that was properly in-tune. My Meg C was pretty bad, but that might just have been Meg (lack of) QC.

Pulling out the head a bit on my Meg C helped a lot - still not perfectly in-tune, but much better.

Father Emmet · Post by **Father Emmet** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:40 pm

Leel wrote:I second the Dixon D.

Mine's tunable, beautiful jet black with brass tuning ring, spot on in tune, and AB-FAB to play! Reasonably loud enough, and very responsive.

It's tough, too. I've dropped it often (wine and or Guinness are usually my 'sessioneers' )

Also, as a bonus, not quite as expensive as some ~$60.

I have a few other 'high-enders', which I love BTW, but I always feel like I'm 'coming home' when I pick up my Dixie.

IMHO,

LEE

I guess I'll 'third' the Dixon. Mine is non-tuneable, and was only about $15. With the weather growing colder I must point out that it is a great winter whistle. It's also the one I tend to use when figuring out a tune.

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:51 pm

DCrom wrote:I think the Serpent Sweet Polly has to fit in here somewhere, too. Although I have a fondness for all the Serpent Polly whistles, the earlier models (original, and Brassy) required a bit more attention to the embouchure. But the Sweet Polly competes with the Sweetone for ease of play. If you want an in-tune, well-balanced whistle with moderate backpressure and a husky/breathy sound these are a steal at $25. Just don't get one if you want a pure tone - if you don't like the sound of a Clarke original, you probably won't like a Polly.

I have, or had, all of these models of Serpent whistles and I found them all consistently unplayable. I worked with Bill without success for over six months trying to get one that I could play. They were all very hard to blow and when I blew hard enough to get musical sound out of them the musical tones were nearly completely masked by the constant hiss. I'd like to think that my experience was an anomaly. Then again, maybe I'm the anomaly. But I would not recommend these whistles for beginners.
Mike

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:28 pm

burnsbyrne wrote:
DCrom wrote:I think the Serpent Sweet Polly has to fit in here somewhere, too. Although I have a fondness for all the Serpent Polly whistles, the earlier models (original, and Brassy) required a bit more attention to the embouchure. But the Sweet Polly competes with the Sweetone for ease of play. If you want an in-tune, well-balanced whistle with moderate backpressure and a husky/breathy sound these are a steal at $25. Just don't get one if you want a pure tone - if you don't like the sound of a Clarke original, you probably won't like a Polly.
I have, or had, all of these models of Serpent whistles and I found them all consistently unplayable. I worked with Bill without success for over six months trying to get one that I could play. They were all very hard to blow and when I blew hard enough to get musical sound out of them the musical tones were nearly completely masked by the constant hiss. I'd like to think that my experience was an anomaly. Then again, maybe I'm the anomaly. But I would not recommend these whistles for beginners.
Mike

Hmmm. I may be the anomaly - don't know. I agree that the earlier model Pollys needed a somewhat-unusual embouchure (the Brassy Polly in particular), but I find my Sweet Polly is about as easy to play as a Sweetone. On the other hand, I like a moderate amount of backpressure.

I'll also add my support for Dixons - my Dixons are my regular travel whistles. And I've played them outdoors when the temperature was well below freezing, so I agree they're great "winter whistles". If I warmed them up before starting to play, I'd usually have to go inside to thaw my fingers before clogging became a major problem.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:37 pm

DCrom wrote: Sweet Polly is about as easy to play as a Sweetone.

I don't know about the serpents except from hear-say but Sweetone is by far the nastiest whistle I ever got my hands on so I am not sure what you say is a recommendation But at least the Sweetones are very cheap. :roll: :roll:

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:41 pm

O'Riordan D and C. Had a Burke which was very nice - but traded it for a new uilleann reed some years back now. Hoovers are also right up there though. Mack's got some skill there's no question.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:46 pm

Peter Laban wrote:
DCrom wrote: Sweet Polly is about as easy to play as a Sweetone.
I don't know about the serpents except from hear-say but Sweetone is by far the nastiest whistle I ever got my hands on so I am not sure what you say is a recommendation But at least the Sweetones are very cheap. :roll: :roll:

Cheap they are.

I do think they're easy to play (especially for beginners - they're pretty forgiving) but I don't really care for the sound. If we're talking cheap whistles, my own preference is a good Generation. But if you hand a beginner a randomly-selected Sweetone he's far more likely to be able to play it than a randomly-selected Generation, unfortunately.

I should probably think about getting a Humphrey just-intonation D.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:52 pm

For me, it's the Burke aluminum narrow-bore (#DAN), followed closely by the Whitecap Oak.

I don't find my Dixon tunable particularly hard to play--as long as I'm careful, but it's so far out of tune with itself that even I notice it. I see that lots of folks love theirs, so maybe I just got a bad one. At any rate, I never play it.

I'm afraid the Whitecap Oak may have transmitted a case of WhOA to a friend. I got a chance to go out and see him play fiddle with his Bluegrass band on Tuesday night. It had been over a year and a half since we'd seen each other, so while we were catching up after show, I mentioned whistles and ended up getting the Oak out of the car and playing a couple of slow airs. Then he was asking how much it cost and where he could get one. Maybe I'll pass the Dixon on to him to discourage him from getting into whistles. That would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it?

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:50 pm

Burke brass Narrow Bore or Session. Their response is the same, but the air requirements are different. The session takes a "normal" amount of air, about the same as a Generation. The Narrow Bore requires less air and is a little quieter.

There are some low end whistles which are easy to play, but if their tone causes listener fatique to kick in after a minute or two, then they might as well be unplayable. Sweetones and my old Feadog are in this category.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:53 pm

This thread is making me realize that I don't think about how easy a whistle is to play anymore. They're just different now. I think since I started out they all have become easier to play and harder to play.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:55 pm

Peter Laban wrote:but Sweetone is by far the nastiest whistle I ever got my hands on

You must have lived a protected life!

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 4:05 pm

Bloomfield wrote:This thread is making me realize that I don't think about how easy a whistle is to play anymore. They're just different now. I think since I started out they all have become easier to play and harder to play.

Interesting thoughts. "Which whistle do you play best?" would probably be a better question.

For me it's probably my old Gen Bb.