Copeland high D

[emtor]

Finally my Copeland brass high D has arrived.
Holy Moses what a nice piece of workmanship . . . pure eye candy.

So what's my first impression?
Well, it looks good, a sight for sore eyes.
It's heavy and solid.
The sound is kind of round, fat, flutelike and mellow, not very bright, and pretty breathy.
The second octave needs a good push without being as air-requiring as the Clarke Original.
And yes, the high B can sterilize a hamster at thirty paces, but without sounding shrill or unpleasant in any way.
It's very easy to play and you don't notice the fingerholes.
The fingers seem to fall into place by themselves.

I hate whistles that need very little breath to play, but the Copeland lets you lean into it without complaining which is a very good thing.

sigh . . . . this is a nice whistle, and my first thought was: This one is FUN to play.

[Guinness]

Congrats. These are indeed very nice whistles. Like most, the Copelands do have a narrow range of breath pressure which produces the "ideal" tone. Often times, this pressure is less than what we are accustomed to or expect.

[emtor]

What amazes me is the loudness you get in return for the invested breathpressure.
You would expect a loud whistle like this to require much more air than it does.
Some whistles seem to waste air, in other words the energy isn't converted into sound as it could/should have been.
This whistle seems very "economical" in a sense, as it uses it to produce sound.

The Copeland requires the breathpressure to be just right, so I've noticed.

But the Copeland isn't the only good whistle in the world though,-I've got a few whistles that I like equally well, they just sound and handle differently.

[riverman]

And yes, the high B can sterilize a hamster at thirty paces, .

[MTGuru]

Here's a tip, emtor, for what it's worth ... The Copeland D seems pretty responsive to embouchure. If you play at the tip of the mouthpiece, you get quite a breathy tone. But if you take more of the beak in your mouth, maybe half-way to the window, you get a much purer tone. My theory is that the upper lip acts a bit as an air dam, similar to the "wall" found on the lower Copeland whistles. It's worth experimenting. Enlarging your mouth cavity (think of "ohhhh") also seems to affect the tone and air flow. The tonal nuance possible on this whistle is one of its charms.

To reduce the sterilizing force of those lethal high A and B notes, it helps to play at the tip, tighten the embouchure, and even angle the whistle a bit. Promiscuous hamsters everywhere will thank you!

[emtor]

Thanks for the tip MTguru. Yes, I've already noticed that the Copeland is responsive to the embouchure. Most whistles are like this to a certain degree, but the Copeland is noticable in this respect. This has sort of brewed in the back of my mind, but you did put words to it and thereby bringing it more to my attention . . . thanks.
The high A and B are loud notes, but not intrusive or unpleasant in any way.
I'm very satisfied with this whistle, but I must confess that other whistles also posess qualities that I like equally as much, despite their differences.
However, the Copeland stands out due to the beautiful craftmanship that just seems to shout at you when you look at it.
Regarding the hamsters . . . these creatures do not like it much when their "studliness" is taken away from them,-I'll make sure I'll be playing the Copeland gently

[Guinness]

Never pity the enemy.

[emtor]

Holy crap . . . my next purchase will be a silent whistle

[springrobin]

Emtor-

I have a Copeland D in silver. When I first had it, I had issues with changing octaves. Then I put it on the tuner, found it was sharp with the slide all of the way in so pulled the slide out a bit. That corrected both the tuning and the changing octave issues. Don't know if this is the way the whistle was designed but I'm a flute player who always has to pull out on the slide so it made sense to me.

[fearfaoin]

Thanks for the tip MTguru. Yes, I've already noticed that the Copeland is responsive to the embouchure.

Hm. Methinks I have a clue to a certain other mystery thread.
I shall have to play around with my embouchure this more...

[emtor]

springrobin:
Holy Moses ,-you're right. My slide was also all the way in, and I found the second octave notes to be slightly sharp. So, i followed your advice and the second octave just lined nicely up.

[emtor]

fearfaoin: soon we'll have fistfights in here over which embouchure is the most traditional

[CranberryDog]

Great to hear you like it and have found the slide setting that works for you. BTW, thank goodness it doesn't have a flat bell note. .

I thought mine did when I got it as it didn't sound right to my ear; then, I checked it out on my Korg Orchestral Tuner and it indicated that it was flat. Long story short; I must confess that there was operator error with the tuner (calibration is adjustable) I had pushed a wrong button and needed to adjust the slide on the Copeland Best, Cyril.

[emtor]

flat botttom notes are no problem as long as I've got gas for my chainsaw

[CranberryDog]

flat botttom notes are no problem as long as I've got gas for my chainsaw

I don't what I would do without my trusty Jonsered