SO disappointed... any tips?

[s1m0n]

And I think we do them a disservice by telling them a Jerry Freeman whistle will solve everything when we haven't actually seen or heard what they're doing with what they've got.

Au contraire. Having a whistle of know quality will settle the 'is it me or the instrument?' question definitively. It won't make him a better player and no one has suggested that it would.

[jkrazy52]

My first whistles were a tweeked Clark original (not by Jerry Freeman), a Mellow D, an Oak and a Feadog. After ~ 3 months of frustration with squeaks & squawks, I ordered a Dixon polymer (tunable). The ease with which the Dixon played in comparison to the others (particularly the Feadog) was a treat to my ears, and to everyone else in the household. It was my choice to spend my money on a different whistle to see if it helped me. Being told the fault was 90% mine at that time would have only resulted in one less whistle player in the world and the whistles being tossed in the trash. So is the goal to encourage or discourage newbies? Why is it such a crime to move on to a different whistle? Yes, many of you can make a Feadog sound great .... congrats. Pat yourself on the back -- oh, wait, you already have. I picked up my first whistle when 48 years old, not 6. In my area, the music scene is Bluegrass not ITM. There are no whistle instructors within a 100 miles. Count this as one more vote with Jim Stone, R Small, Jerry Freeman and Whistling Pops. Surely there are better ways to say "practice will help eventually -- hang in there, my friend" instead of "it is not the whistle that stinks, it is you".

[hoopy mike]

My first whistles were a tweeked Clark original (not by Jerry Freeman), a Mellow D, an Oak and a Feadog. After ~ 3 months of frustration with squeaks & squawks, I ordered a Dixon polymer (tunable). The ease with which the Dixon played in comparison to the others (particularly the Feadog) was a treat to my ears, and to everyone else in the household. It was my choice to spend my money on a different whistle to see if it helped me. Being told the fault was 90% mine at that time would have only resulted in one less whistle player in the world and the whistles being tossed in the trash. So is the goal to encourage or discourage newbies? Why is it such a crime to move on to a different whistle? Yes, many of you can make a Feadog sound great .... congrats. Pat yourself on the back -- oh, wait, you already have. I picked up my first whistle when 48 years old, not 6. In my area, the music scene is Bluegrass not ITM. There are no whistle instructors within a 100 miles. Count this as one more vote with Jim Stone, R Small, Jerry Freeman and Whistling Pops. Surely there are better ways to say "practice will help eventually -- hang in there, my friend" instead of "it is not the whistle that stinks, it is you".

I'm curious why you bought so many whistles in such a short space of time if you couldn't make a pleasant sound out of any of them. Perhaps you wanted to blame the whistle? Did you ever go back to the four cheapies? What was the result?

And I'm curious why some people seem to think that if they can't play "The Irish Washerwoman" or similar after three weeks, then there must be something wrong with their instrument. Credit to you that you stuck at it for three months - playing for how long each day though?

To be clear, no one's patting themselves on the back and no one said "it is not the whistle that stinks, it is you". You're arguing with ghosts.

[jkrazy52]

hoopy mike, the 4 whistles were one purchase. I was new to the whistle, not new to music. Blame the whistle? I didn't assign blame at all. I said that I was not happy with the sound of my playing, the 'squeaks & sqawks'. The purchase of the Dixon improved things enough to give the desire to continue striving to learn.

And I'm curious why some people seem to think that if they can't play "The Irish Washerwoman" or similar after three weeks, then there must be something wrong with their instrument. Credit to you that you stuck at it for three months - playing for how long each day though?

Wow, quite the assumption there! Where in the world does 3 weeks & "The Irish Washerwoman" fall in this? I've "stuck it" for 11 years. FWIW, playing each day was generally an hour or more at first. Playing whistle does not mean playing only ITM to everyone.

Exactly how does '90% of the problem is the player, not the whistle' translate for you then? I actually see several pats on the back happening, but that is just the way I read it. Most likely an example of being separated by a common language. My point was that the major part of this thread is extremely discouraging to new players, particularly if they dislike the old school favorite whistles like Generations or Feadogs.

The Feadog was tweaked, then given away; the Oak went to someone who loves it; the Mellow D went missing inexplicably; the Clark remained in my collection & played fairly often until last year when another player expressed interest. The Dixon remains at hand along with many other whistles from many makers. I now mainly play a Casey Burns flute.

I am beginning to recall why I stopped reading & posting on C&F for a while.

[hoopy mike]

hoopy mike, the 4 whistles were one purchase. I was new to the whistle, not new to music. Blame the whistle? I didn't assign blame at all. I said that I was not happy with the sound of my playing, the 'squeaks & sqawks'. The purchase of the Dixon improved things enough to give the desire to continue striving to learn.

Ah ok, I understand why you started with four whistles now, but if you didn't "blame the whistle" for the squeaks and squawks then why did you choose to buy another whistle (the Dixon)?

Where in the world does 3 weeks & "The Irish Washerwoman" fall in this?

Here - in another recent thread.

I started playing the tin whistle 3 weeks ago .... I am learning from " The Tin Whistle Book " By Tom Maguire ... I perform most of the first tunes very well until the fast paced tunes like the irish washerwoman .. my tin whistle is Clarke Sweetone D ... I keep practicing it .. but just can't do it fast enough like the other players on the internet....

I've "stuck it" for 11 years. FWIW, playing each day was generally an hour or more at first. Playing whistle does not mean playing only ITM to everyone.

You're arguing with ghosts again - no one has said that here, certainly not me. FWIW I play lots of styles of music, mostly non-ITM.

Exactly how does '90% of the problem is the player, not the whistle' translate for you then? I actually see several pats on the back happening, but that is just the way I read it. Most likely an example of being separated by a common language. My point was that the major part of this thread is extremely discouraging to new players, particularly if they dislike the old school favorite whistles like Generations or Feadogs.

It translates "Stick at it. Practice, practice, practice. Don't blame the whistle - you shouldn't expect to play like the clips on the internet after three weeks - these things take time and effort - there's no magic solution."

I had a friend round a few weeks ago who's been whistling for three years or so. We each have a Dixon trad. He said that he thought my whistle sounded better, so we swapped. The he said that the effect had been reversed, so we returned to our own whistles. I didn't say "see - it's the whistler, not the whistle" or give myself a pat on the back. Afterwards I got a very positive email from my friend saying that the experience of playing togther had taught him a lot and that as a result he was playing better. Had we just traded whistles, I doubt that he would have improved.

I am beginning to recall why I stopped reading & posting on C&F for a while.

Sorry if you feel like that. I don't want to put anyone off whistling or posting, so many apologies if I'm upsetting you.

[Jerry Freeman]

If I may comment ...

The fact that new whistle that "sounds awful" is a Bb Generation, which tend not to be as problematic to play cleanly for some people as the D/Eb Generations, could be taken to suggest we might just accept the fact that she doesn't like the sound of it.

Telling her to keep playing and it will get better may not really be addressing what she's telling us.

There is some variation in how Bb Generations sound, especially in the upper register, which can sound unfocused in some and stronger/clearer in others. Remember, there are two, clearly different versions of the Generation Bb, depending on which mold cavity the whistlehead came from. The OP can tell us, but based on what she's said, I would say it's more likely she'll find one, rather than two diamond shaped marks on the end of the whistlehead socket. The "good" Generation Bb's almost universally have two marks on the end of the socket.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Peter Duggan]

The fact that new whistle that "sounds awful" is a Bb Generation

Sorry, Jerry... my mistake (must have been confusing this with another thread!) and I'd already deleted my post because it's a Generation D.

[Jerry Freeman]

Thanks for the clarification. No harm done.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[hoopy mike]

My new Generation whistle came today. It's brass. It sounds awful.

Note that it "sounds awful" on the first day of playing it.

One thing I have noticed is that both whistles sound a little better when the metal's been warmed up...

Note that the whistles "sound a little better" when they've warmed up and presumably when the whistler has warmed up too, unless she has someone else doing the warming.

(edited to remove references to Bb Gens)

[Peter Duggan]

It didn't state in the OP whether it was a Bb or a D Gen

Nope, but she clearly says D elsewhere, so my apologies again for confusing things (had hoped that my 'Bb' post had disappeared unnoticed, but not so lucky!).

[jkrazy52]

Ah ok, I understand why you started with four whistles now, but if you didn't "blame the whistle" for the squeaks and squawks then why did you choose to buy another whistle (the Dixon)?

Bought the Dixon because I didn't want to give up without giving a different whistle a shot -- and on the advice of an experienced whistle player.

Here - in another recent thread.

I started playing the tin whistle 3 weeks ago .... I am learning from " The Tin Whistle Book " By Tom Maguire ... I perform most of the first tunes very well until the fast paced tunes like the irish washerwoman .. my tin whistle is Clarke Sweetone D ... I keep practicing it .. but just can't do it fast enough like the other players on the internet....

Ah, I missed that thread. Thanks for the clarification.

I am beginning to recall why I stopped reading & posting on C&F for a while.

Sorry if you feel like that. I don't want to put anyone off whistling or posting, so many apologies if I'm upsetting you.

You can't put me off whistling, ever. It's too much fun. None of my post was directed to you personally, or that certainly wasn't my intention. I'm sorry if you thought that.

[maki]

And I think we do them a disservice by telling them a Jerry Freeman whistle will solve everything when we haven't actually seen or heard what they're doing with what they've got.

Au contraire. Having a whistle of know quality will settle the 'is it me or the instrument?' question definitively. It won't make him a better player and no one has suggested that it would.

Absolutely!
Not to say that there aren't other dependably good affordable whistles out there,
like the Dixon Trad for instance.

[hoopy mike]

And I think we do them a disservice by telling them a Jerry Freeman whistle will solve everything when we haven't actually seen or heard what they're doing with what they've got.

Au contraire. Having a whistle of know quality will settle the 'is it me or the instrument?' question definitively. It won't make him a better player and no one has suggested that it would.

Absolutely!
Not to say that there aren't other dependably good affordable whistles out there,
like the Dixon Trad for instance.

But that's the issue in a nutshell. One man's whistle of known quality is another man's "well, you get good and bad ones of those"...

[killthemessenger]

Why do you need a whistle that plays cold, instantly?

When you are doubling between several instruments - e.g. you want to start a new tune in F# minor using an E whistle without missing a beat.

The experience that persuaded me to junk my Overton low G (I swapped it for something that was worth almost nothing but a bit more useful) was playing in a theatre production. I had to come on stage to open the show with a solo whistle tune. In an ice-cold theatre. In character, and walking across the stage with a whistle stuffed down my shirt wouldn't cut it. Maybe ten steps from the wings to downstage centre after pulling the whistle out, but that was all it took for the Overton to turn into a gurgling still, thanks to that moronic idea of an aluminium block.

I can understand it must have been an embarrassing moment for you, but let's be honest here: you really should have found a way to keep the Overton warm. The aluminium block is not a moronic idea, the whistles are excellent instruments, but they have their limitations. As a performer it's your responsibility to make sure things work, not the whistle's. You could have heated it in hot water and held the head in your hand as you walked on stage, for instance.

Just to put it in perspective, I have made the mistake of playing an insufficiently warmed up wooden recorder in public and had it go fluffy and unclear within a few bars of the opening of an Allegro movement. It was my fault; I now use a differently voiced recorder in those circumstances, take care to warm it up properly, and have never (yet!) had the problem again.

I have to say that I have yet to find any recorder or whistle, in any material, that sounds as good when first I play it as it does after a few minutes of warming up. Since that point has to be reached anyway, it really only makes sense to prepare in advance.

[hoopy mike]

The aluminium block may take a long time to heat up, but on the plus side it takes a long time to cool down too...