Alba Q1 High D: A Review (Picture, witches, and all)

[Zubivka]

Great whistle--the one to carry around anywhere, and certainly not only for practice. Stacey's lore got at her best.

As for witchcraft... I agree with Bloom's doom (and applaud to his record of the events).

Now, don't try and buy this wistle from me unless, of course, the forest gets a-moving...

[Bloomfield]

Tell you what, Zub, if the Great Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane hill, we won't need to buy it off you. We'll rifle your remains for it.

And let me just get something straight: I have not claimed or even insinuated that Stacey is a witch. There is magic to the Q1 I've been playing, yes; but that's all I've said.

[peeplj]

Ya'll are talking about being a Witch like it's a bad thing...



--James

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

Ya'll are talking about being a Witch like it's a bad thing...



--James

Witchcraft is commonly defined as the use of supposed magical powers to influence people and events. In this sense, it is known as sorcery and has been part of the folklore of many societies for centuries. Since the mid-1900's, Witchcraft has also come to refer to a set of beliefs and practices that some people consider a religion. Its followers sometimes call it Wicca, the Craft, the Wisecraft, or the Old Religion. However, many people, particularly conservative Christians, do not consider Witchcraft a religion as they understand the term.

Belief in witchcraft as sorcery exists around the world and varies from culture to culture. Historically, people have associated witchcraft with evil and usually have regarded a witch as someone who uses magic to harm others, by causing accidents, illnesses, bad luck, and even death. However, some societies believe that witches also use magic for good, performing such actions as casting spells for love, health, and wealth. People around the world continue to practice witchcraft as sorcery, claiming to use magic for good or harm.

Unlike those who practice witchcraft as sorcery, the followers of Wicca believe in practicing magic only for beneficial purposes, not to harm. They worship a deity with male and female aspects, but they emphasize the female, or Goddess, side of the deity.

The term witch comes from the Old English word wicca, which is derived from the Germanic root wic, meaning to bend or to turn. By using magic, a witch is believed to change or bend events. Today, the word witch can be applied to a man or a woman. In the past, male witches were also called warlocks and wizards.
So thats the way it is Magic

[PhilO]

...disco Barbie and M&M wiccas?.....

PhilO

[tin tin]

Not to hijack the thread...
How crisp are ornaments on the Q1, compared to, say, a Generation or a Sindt?
Micah

[Zubivka]

Ya'll are talking about being a Witch like it's a bad thing...

Whosez? Not me! *

Or is it because the only whistle she-maker would be called witch rather than wiz?

And, now you mention it, how come a wizard (male) is generally considered positive,
when a witch (just the same thing, but female) as negative?

In other terms, why is Baba-Yaga bad and a yogi-baba good?

Why does she fly kitchen appliances from her cabin, when he travels Executive on posh den furniture from his castle?

Ultimately, when you look up in the sky and imagine these countless galaxies, is bloomfield a broomfiend?

Is a C&F thread finally going to stick to its topic? **

* Eventhough I'm not sure who, of Macbeth or his lady, or the witches themselves, is the real culprit... But this has nothing to do with Stacey's lore... has it?
** hardly if I'm around...

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

[amar]

I got the Q1 too, it's a charmer. Thanks again stacey-pie.

[GaryKelly]

Yes yes, that's it! There you can see the blunt blade that shouldn't play. Thanks for posting that, Stacey.

I also got from Stacey a Q1 Low F Tunable, and I am having lots of fun with it, too. I think it may be one of the very first ones Stacey has made. It is exactly like the Q1 high D, except that it is tunable, and of course it's bigger, and the blade isn't blunt but curved and sharp, and it sounds different and of course it looks different. But apart from that, it's exactly the same.

Interestingly enough, one can play the Q1 ala Piccolo thanks to its cunning design. Really, the 'blade' of a fipple doesn't have to be sharp as a razor...after all, the blow-holes of flutes aren't sharp (far from it on flutes fitted with 'chimneys' and lip-plates).

Without wishing to pooh-pooh any suggestion of magic at work in the Q1 (and mine sounds beautiful), I believe the secret is in the dimensions of the windway. Curved, and very narrow, which accelerates the airstream considerably, and which is why you can play the Q1 like a piccolo... from a fluid dynamics point of view, the mouthpiece's windway is effectively sealed when compared to the vast open path that the rest of the tube provides to the oscillating column of air within...

Just as the block on a Native American Flute guides an accelerated airstream over its "blowhole", so does the marvellous design of the Q1's unique fipple, much like a flute-player's embouchure guides his or her airstream.

Try blowing across the lip of an open bottle of Cragganmore, which is not sharp at all...the nice thing about this experiment is, as the volume of liquid within the bottle decreases, the pitch of the note produced decreases and becomes much mellower in tone...in fact, *everything* becomes much mellower, though rushing an octave scale on the "Cragganmore Flute" isn't something I'd recommend.

The magic of the Q1 is in the whole of its creation, in me not so humble opinion, and not the piece-parts thereof (bit like the Cragganmore really!).

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

I got the Q1 too, it's a charmer. Thanks again stacey-pie.

Your more than welcome Amariepoo

Love all the guessing as to why and how mostly wrong.
But right now I'm saying now't

[Nanohedron]

Great review, Bloo!

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

Just so.
Take a Bow
I know that BLOO said to get the Q1's from me but please order them from Phil at bigwhistle.com, as he is my main UK dealer Thanks