Low D Whistles: Is One Enough?

[Cynth]

BillChin----now that you mention it, I do recall hearing about there being a lot of upheaval in that field. I always seem to feel free to talk about things I know nothing about---gotta try to do something about that!

JessieK----I know you have fewer than you used to---I remember your selling a large number---that must have been hard. My impression, although I don't know you, has always been that you were practicing. I could tell that you take very good care of your instruments. I don't think being as good as the pros is a requirement for having a good instrument. I think there should be some collectors for the sake of the future, and you sound like a good person for it.

[JessieK]

JessieK----I know you have fewer than you used to---I remember your selling a large number---that must have been hard.

No, it wasn't hard. It felt good, actually.

My impression, although I don't know you, has always been that you were practicing. I could tell that you take very good care of your instruments.

Yes, and yes.

I don't think being as good as the pros is a requirement for having a good instrument.

I think the issue was about multiple good instruments.

I think there should be some collectors for the sake of the future, and you sound like a good person for it.

Thanks, but my collection is not so big now.

[StewySmoot]

A low D whistle is like a woman. One is never enough. You need one for every mood you are in.


And a low D needs to be played often....

[piperdoc]

peter, I have been watching this fast developing thread and I don't completely disagree with you. and i know nothing about concertinas. I have been enjoying chanter playing for the last year and a half or so. With pipes there is another factor that is not present with more common instruments. If I want to learn the fiddle, my local fiddle shop can give me an instrument for 150$ US, and for the first several months I will sound the same on it as I would on a better instrument. in fact, I am sort of ready for a better instrument when i can make it sound like a better instrument.
with pipes, there is no real standard chanter. there is certainly no standard reed. and i would be a real fool to trust in my own ability to make reeds any time soon. someone like me will sound good alot sooner on a better instrument.
should i start with some off-the shelf piece of crap, which I will not be able to play well at all? or should i seek the best chanter and reeds i can afford? I have been making not bad progress, in part, because my instrument makes a difference, i value it, and feel lucky to have it. And who decides who is deserving?
Friendly disagreement. I greatly value your posts, your wisdom, and your contributions to this board and the community.

meir

[piperdoc]

peter, I have been watching this fast developing thread and I don't completely disagree with you. and i know nothing about concertinas. I have been enjoying chanter playing for the last year and a half or so. With pipes there is another factor that is not present with more common instruments. If I want to learn the fiddle, my local fiddle shop can give me an instrument for 150$ US, and for the first several months I will sound the same on it as I would on a better instrument. in fact, I am sort of ready for a better instrument when i can make it sound like a better instrument.
with pipes, there is no real standard chanter. there is certainly no standard reed. and i would be a real fool to trust in my own ability to make reeds any time soon. someone like me will sound good alot sooner on a better instrument.
should i start with some off-the shelf piece of crap, which I will not be able to play well at all? or should i seek the best chanter and reeds i can afford? I have been making not bad progress, in part, because my instrument makes a difference, i value it, and feel lucky to have it. And who decides who is deserving?
Friendly disagreement. I greatly value your posts, your wisdom, and your contributions to this board and the community.

meir

[anniemcu]

A low D whistle is like a woman. One is never enough. You need one for every mood you are in.


And a low D needs to be played often....

Hmmm... I guess it's a good thing they aren't like men, then ... you could live your whole life without one, and if you did have one, it could take care of itself when you didn't use it.

And it's a good thing I don't think of my DH in as narrow a field as you seem to think of women.

[Cynth]

Stewy, Stewy, Stewy, what are we going to do with you? Someone might just take away all your high whistles and give you low ones since you suddenly seem so fond of them. And I might have to take back San Antonio Rose. She likes to be played often, but she don't care to share.

[Bloomfield]

Stewy, Stewy, Stewy, what are we going to do with you?

Personally, I don't care what you do with Stewy, as long as it's permanent and involves solitary confinement.

[Denny]

Stewy, Stewy, Stewy, what are we going to do with you?

Personally, I don't care what you do with Stewy, as long as it's permanent and involves solitary confinement.

ya left out the part about no internet access... wadda thinkin'?

[Wombat]

Anyway, the point I made is simple, people buying instruments they don't really need are putting pressure on an already overheated market thus depriving committed players from instruments they need and deserve.

Bill's money angle: it's not all down to money.....

I'm convinced that there is a problem here and that it would be hopeless to look to market forces to supply a general solution. I think it's a bit more complicated than just being a matter of collectors inflating prices and I don't have a solution.

Not so long ago I was hearing about a young Australian violinist from a working class family. She had the potential to be a classical soloist and her family took out a second mortgage to buy her an instrument worth something like $150,000. She then failed to do as well as expected in a major international competition. When being debriefed by the judges, she and her parents were told that her playing was fine but that she would get no further in top level competition without an instrument worth at least $500,000. There is something seriously wrong here. But what exactly is it and what is the solution?

Here the problem doesn't seem to be a matter of collectors driving up prices but the relative scarcity of vintage instruments played in. As the world's population grows so does the problem. This isn't something market forces could possibly fix; there already are plenty of high quality violin manufacturers making already expensive instruments which will be worth heaps more in the future. For every classical fiddler who makes it as a soloist, there must be 10 or 100 who almost did and can still offer plenty playing in an orchestra or doing high level teaching. But only the international star soloist will ever be able to afford the top instrument.

One possible solution for competitions would be to allow every competitor to play on a borrowed instrument of equal quality. But I simply have no idea how to solve the wider problem of which this is just another manifestation. Unless someone tells a story involving more fancy footwork than I can think of, market forces has almost nothing to do with the answer. In this case market forces ensure that students from poor families only go so far and that the gulf between the successful soloist and the fine player who'd like to challenge can never be bridged.

[jmccain]

One possible solution for competitions would be to allow every competitor to play on a borrowed instrument of equal quality.

That's how it works at the Van Cliburn piano competition. The contestants choose among four pianos.

Best, John

[tubafor]

tubafor I think you're safe. This is a pretty low key discussion really. And whistles aren't scarce. I wouldna thrown that one oar in the water though---won't that leave you one short?

I haven't had both oars in the water for years... It's like the odd sock theory - I always seem to have one oar left over.

[StewySmoot]

Stewy, Stewy, Stewy, what are we going to do with you?

Personally, I don't care what you do with Stewy, as long as it's permanent and involves solitary confinement.

Thanks, /Bloomfeld.


After I posted my "flutes are merely kazoos for snobs" post and got ABSOLUTELY no pop, I thought I lost my touch.
Whew!

[Cynth]