A Christmas Puzzle : five whistles

rhulsey · Post by **rhulsey** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:06 pm

I think your tunes are a great holiday treat! I'll not attempt to hazard a guess on the whistles, but I'll add these to my favorites.

Thanks, Peter.

Reg

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:30 pm

Nice tunes, nicely played. Thanks, Peter. I have no idea about the whistle brands. To me they could all be the same. I'll be eager to know which is which. Illustrates the old saw that a good player can make almost any instrument sound good.
Mike

MichaelR · Post by **MichaelR** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:45 pm

They all sounded really good but I couldn't tell if they were from different whistles. Maybe when I've been playing more my ear will be more discerning.

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:52 pm

Your playing is fab. Whatever whistles they are are getting the royal treatment from you.

I particularly liked the sound of the whistle that played St. Patrick's Night. If that was the cheapy what can I say? I like the sound of cheapies.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 4:16 am

Well, I don't know about my playing

and that's not really what's the issue here.

I see some good attempts though at listening closely and taking an informed stab at identifying the whistles in the clips. We need more of those.

This is THE opportunity to bring all this whistle talk into practice and show us what you're made of.

MTGuru · Post by **MTGuru** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 5:20 am

This is probably a fool's game. But since I'm a fool, I'll give it a shot.

1. Fox on the Town - Sindt
2. Man of Aran - Susato
3. Reel of Mullinavet - Generation
4. St. Patrick's Night - Clarke original or Shaw
5. Tom Billy's - Walton's or LBW

1. Sounds like a good Generation, but more robust.
2. Has Susato-type "hard" chiff and timbre. Might be a narrow bore.
3. Not much to go on here. Sounds like a Gen in 2nd octave.
4. Breathy, with Clarke-type "round" chiff.
5. Also breathy, but more open than Clarke. D is slightly sharp.

Tone is very difficult to judge from a recording. A difference of one inch in microphone placement can change the timbre. But chiff - the note onsets and transitions - is preserved regardless of recording setup. So that's part of what I tried to listen for.

Peter also cleverly chose 5 tunes with not a single C-natural in them, so it's impossible to listen for the half-hole that might be characteristic of a Sindt.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 7:20 am

Through my speakers, these buzz so badly they are hard to listen to.

However, through headphones, the buzz is gone...trying to figure out what's causing this as this happens also with some but not all CDs.

Aaarrrgggh!

Anyhow, here's my take on it, for bad or good:

Fox on the Town -- very clean sounding whistle, pure sound, thinking Burke or Sindt; if a cheapie maybe a Clare

Man of Aran -- that's got to be a Generation by the second octave.

Mullinavat -- thiking Clare or Oak here

St. Patrick's Night -- Oak or Feadog here

Tom Billy's -- sounds like the same whistle as Fox on the Town

--James

Jon-M · Post by **Jon-M** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:14 am

I make no pretense of being a whistle aficionado, but I know from past posts that Peter has a Humphrey, so it's likely that it is one of the Generation-like whistles you are hearing.

Ctrl Alt Del · Post by **Ctrl Alt Del** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 8:51 pm

Great thread Peter. I'm new to the forum and pretty new to whistling, so I have no idea of what whistle is what. I only have a couple of cheap whistles (but would like to get a good low whistle). Your exercise helps me to really listen to what is happening. Maybe a Clarke on St Patricks Night?

And I agree with the other comments, great playing!

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:41 pm

I'm afraid I'll have to disqualify nyself on this one as the sound each tooter makes as it's chucked back onto the table is a dead give away.

Nice playing though Peter.

Doc

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 1:38 am

Doc Jones wrote:I'm afraid I'll have to disqualify nyself on this one as the sound each tooter makes as it's chucked back onto the table is a dead give away.

Doc

Are you sure?

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:49 am

I've only been able to listen to three clips thus far, as on my slow-motion dial-up they each take about 10 minutes to download. I don't have a clue about the whistles, but I've certainly enjoyed the tunes, Peter! Nice listening exercise.

Susan

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:04 pm

Yes, sorry about that, I had allow for enough quality to distinguish between the tonal differences while balancing a file size that was still manageable for relatively quick download for everybody (and upload for myself for that matter). I think there's enough left to do both, with a bit of perseverance.

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:01 pm

Peter Laban wrote:
Doc Jones wrote:I'm afraid I'll have to disqualify nyself on this one as the sound each tooter makes as it's chucked back onto the table is a dead give away.

Doc
Are you sure?

I'd be lying to say that hadn't thought about that being done on purpose.

I'm going to say that every one of those is just a different Generation D whistle.

Nice set of tunes though Peter!

I put them on my iPod as the Christmas Eve-Morn Session

boomerang · Post by **boomerang** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 5:08 am

Hmmm
having noted a distinct theme regarding Peter's preferences, and thinking he still has a point to prove, may i suggest
all 5 whistles are generations,
some brass some nickle
maybe tweeked by various makers or players
all played extremely well, the different pitches and keys are deceptive to the ear,
maybe im wrong,
but
maybe?
David