... I do not work as an accountant if I cannot calculate, secretary if cannot type....
But the secretary doesn't make her typewriter (or computer), so not exactly a good comparison. The musician plays but does not need to be able to make their instrument.
I would agree however that it certainly helps to be able to play the instrument you are making.
I suppose if enough of my customers want to play a music sample and visualise themselves playing it, that's a good enough reason to provide it, if I was in the instrument biz. But as an instrument customer, I'd never trust a sound sample on someone's site: sound processing is simply too variable.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
Tell us something.: A long time chatty Chiffer but have been absent for almost two decades. Returned in 2022 and still recognize some names! I also play anglo concertina now.
Perhaps an unclear choice of words. To me, "general whistle community" means any gathering(s) of whistle-playing musicians whose opinions and experience I value. So it could be people here on chiff, or a local session group that I go to, or amateur players I met randomly, or professional musicians. More likely a cross section involving all of the above. If the whistle in question has reasonably favourable reviews from people whose musical backgrounds are roughly familiar to me (ie not any random bloke off the street) and the maker is offering a reasonable return policy if it's not to my liking, then it doesn't really matter to me if there are clips available or not - what with player differences, recording setup differences, room size differences etc it's unlikely that the whistle that I buy will sound exactly like the whistle in the clip anyway.
... I do not work as an accountant if I cannot calculate, secretary if cannot type....
But the secretary doesn't make her typewriter (or computer), so not exactly a good comparison. The musician plays but does not need to be able to make their instrument.
I would agree however that it certainly helps to be able to play the instrument you are making.
I was talking about the basic skill you normally need to do your job properly... I do not think you find a dislexic secretary who cannot type and most often you may find they can even repair their computers and certainly could repair their old fashioned typewriters to a certain degree 20 years ago... An instrument maker does not make his own drill press to make his instruments but he needs to know how to use and maintain it, they also do not make their tuning devices but when they use the tuner to tune the instruments they made theoretically with every instrument but certainly with wind instruments you have to have someone playing them and not only note by note up and down the scale.... but we are heading off from the subject of the necessity of providing sound samples... and I realise I am hungry as well, so better go and make something now...
Brigitte
Wenn die Klügeren nachgeben,
regieren die Dummköpfe die Welt.
(Jean Claude Riber)
I don't get suspicious if I see a lack of sound clips. I just figure that the maker probably has their hands full, between making whistles, handling order fulfillment... maybe a day job... Plus, a lot of these makers, I gather, have a waiting list. So, if MK has a year-long waiting list, what would you expect him to do? Put his spare time into producing sound clips, to attract more buyers, till he has a 2-year waiting list? I guess I can understand how the makers with a long waiting list might make sound clips a low priority.
But, yes, it DOES help me to buy a whistle if I can listen to a sound sample, sure. The sound clip helps me to overcome the uncertainty / hesitation.
Recommendations from others are probably more important to me than sound clips. A clip doesn't give me a sense of volume, or playability...
Peter Laban wrote:I think I could do without the band and the reverb but that's certainly an improvement, fair play
That's an excellent point.
I read and understand Renaldo's note about the clip coming from a cd, but generally speaking, if a person makes a clip specifically for a site selling whistles, it really shouldn't be doctored in any way. That would bother me more than the abilities of the player.
Hi
What I was trying to say in the other post was that the way a lot of guitars are made,in my case classical guitars, all of the work in terms of volume, tone, projection etc is done before the instrument is played for the first time you feel how stiff or flexable a sound board is and over time you get to know how to use that particular piece of wood to get the sound you want.
Once the guitar is french polished there's not a great deal that can be done.
When your customer comes along to buy, even if its a commisioned instrument I will give them a choice of maybe2 or 3 others to try and chose from.
If I go and buy a whistle from a shop I'l try a few, if I'm buying on line I take my chances listening to the sound clips gives me an idea but thats all, if I like it great, if I don't I'll sell it on.
now if I'm spending $3000 -$6000 on a guitar then I'm sure as hell going to try it first, but $18 or $250 for a whistle I'll take a chance.
I hope you see my point.
I think sound clips are to the ears what photos are to the eyes. It gives you something, but not everything. Plus there are three more senses that are still left out. Some people object to the taste of a mouthpiece or the feel or balance of the whistle. It is lots of things that contribute to the satifaction of playing a particular whistle, and these differ by the person and their needs and expectations.
A good many of the makers, if not all, will allow you to order a whistle on-line and then return it within 30 days if you are not pleased with it. And when you get the whistle, send a clip to the maker. They will enjoy hearing it and possibly put it on their web site. Getting clips is a lot harder than posting them. (Hint.)
When there's a huge spill of solar energy, it's just called a nice day.
narrowdog wrote:now if I'm spending $3000 -$6000 on a guitar then I'm sure as hell going to try it first, but $18 or $250 for a whistle I'll take a chance.
I hope you see my point.
Cheers
That's kind of what I was thinking. The cost of a whistle is rather insignificant (it may not be to some people) but I can't get all in a tiff about lack of professional quality sound clips. I am sure that most whistlemakers have a waiting list of people that want their whistles, although sound clips are great and all, it may not be their top priority.
I am all for good sound samples, and if I think of my favorite whistle makers, they play well. I do think that an instrument maker (and I don't think bodhrans are instruments, at least not musical instruments) should be able to play the instrument he or she makes.
Ronbo wrote:Can't hurt. The more good info the makers put out, the better for them. It might be tough for some of them to get a sufficiently good player in their locale,
Does it worry you if a maker isn't a good enough player to put them up himself and apparently doesn't know anyone who can?
Doesn't bother me. Makers seem spread out all over the world, and don't necessarily all have a good player right around the block. Most probably know more than a handful of players, so why would they NOT have a good player put a few clips on their website? If it costs a free whistle or two, money well spent. I have heard more than one or two clips on this site which would be very sufficient to show off a whistle at its best. You have to market your products, no matter who you are. If you are not good enough to get a good whistler to play your wares, then you may not be quite up to speed. Just my take on the thing.
The cost of a whistle is rather insignificant (it may not be to some people) but I can't get all in a tiff about lack of professional quality sound clips.
I have no intention on wasting any money to fill up the unused whistle jar. I don't particularly like the idea of randomly buying and sending instruments back to the maker if I don't happen to like them. It doesn't seem particularly fair on the maker (aside from the hassle of sending stuff up and down). I try to buy only things I know to be useful to me.
