Playing two whistles at once....how do you do it?

boyd · Post by **boyd** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 12:41 pm

I like the idea of playing three

B

amar · Post by **amar** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:54 pm

boyd wrote:I like the idea of playing three

B

Rod Sprague · Post by **Rod Sprague** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:41 pm

I have seen pictures of instruments that consist of two six holed whistles connected together or made as a unit in one piece of clay or wood. I believe the trick was to use the pipers grip with one hand and the fingertips with the other hand on one whistle and do the reverse hand wise with the other whistle. By holding the hands and bending the fingers just right I believe you could play any two fingerings, even with half-holings, with the same dexterity it takes to play the guitar. I imagine playing notes in two different octaves was where things could get complex, but perhaps using the tongue to reduce the airflow to the lower note might do the trick. A novice probably had to do things rather slowly and work up in speed after getting the hang of the instrument. When I think about how hard it would be to play such an instrument, I imagine it took a lot of practice, but would not be much harder than playing different notes and rhythms at the same tempo with both hands as required in much of the keyboard repertoire.

Rod

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:02 pm

There was a guy from (I think) Sicily touring with Kathryn Tickell a year or two back. he played two `whistles' at once. I understood this double thingy to be a standard instrument in some out of the way place. The music was fantastic and I've often wondered if a recording is available somewhere.

Brian

michael_coleman · Post by **michael_coleman** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:06 pm

I suggest using the same brand of whistle as using different whistle makers means that each note pitch will have a greater chance of being different. I did it with 2 sweetones a few years back and it worked wonderfully. Playing things in G tends to work the best....

Impempe · Post by **Impempe** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:13 am

Has anyone seen "Big Voice Jack" play 2 whistles? I have a CD of his - absolutley awesome. He played with the Dave Matthews band a few years back with 2 whistles - different keys Low G and C I think - and brought the house down.

John S · Post by **John S** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:59 am

You can do this with 2 GHB chanters by blocking holes 2,3 and 4 on one and holes 5,6,7 and 8 on the other. Normal GHB pipe fingering gives a scale with an A drone.

John S