What People Say for Spring and Summer '09

This section of What People Say! will be available for additions. If you have non commercial information you would like to share with other whistlers just send me an email.

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What People said November of '08

I received this note from Mark Hanson and thought you might like to hear about the work he is doing with his Low D whistle.

Hi thought you might want to hear your whistles in action . My album named The Lonely Traveler on I-tunes is live and features use of your low d whistle through out the album. Hope you like it. Mark Hanson [ aka Mark Perry ] God Bless

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What Folks are Saying in September '08

I have quite a few questions and some comments and feedback for the past couple of months that I find very interesting. First off is a very nice note from a gentleman that liked his new Low F whistle. This is the response every WhistleSmith likes to receive.

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What People Say and Play !

I recently had a question that I think is so tantalizing scientific that it must be shared.

"Why does my whistle get wet when I practice, but not when I play in church?"

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What People Say This Fall!

On a recent trip to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, Nadiene and I had a chance to try out the new Trans Canada highway and it is really terrific. The leaves had turned bright red and gold and the view down the St John River to Fredericton was just spectacular. We made a nice five day trip through New Brunswick and on down to Sydney for the Gaelic Festival. The Chieftains opened up the festivities on the first night and absolutely brought the house down! A rolling festival of performers was available for the entire week and performances were scheduled at different towns each day. If you are not familiar with Cape Breton, it is famous for its music and especially for fiddling. We drove the Cabot Trail for a full day and got to see the highlands and mountain bluffs that are just incredible as they drop off into the Atlantic.

Here is a picture of Nadiene in front of the giant 55 ton fiddle at the Sydney Concert hall in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

I love to play the whistle in interesting places, just to hear the natural variety of sounds that are around us everyplace we go. When I mention about playing in the wind and out in the cold, there is a good reason to be concerned that the whistle you play can be trusted to perform under adverse conditions. If you are in a parade and the wind comes up, is your whistle going to cut out and leave with the first strong breeze? If you are playing for a group and the room is air conditioned, is your whistle going to go flat? If you are asked to play Amazing Grace at a serious ceremony or a civil function and the wind comes up...is your performance going to be less than amazing?

Here is a very nice e-mail from S. Bartels that makes an excellent point on playing whistles in the cold that I had not considered.

"It's a pleasure when I play your Low-D whistle during services (with a microphone). I always get compliments and questions on what a wonderful instrument that it is. People like the sound and it's never too cold to play it. Metal whistles can't be played cleanly in an unheated church in winter."

When I checked with my friend Ken Roy and told him about this e-mail, he laughed and said he had forgotten the unheated churches in the winter when he was in the military and stationed in Europe.

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Comments and Questions from some Wicked Good Web Customers

The following comments are just some of the many made about the WhistleSmith Low D.

I was reluctant to purchase your whistles because they seemed too cheap to be comparable to other whistles on the web. However, I could not find anyone that stated their Low D was suitable or could even be played by someone with small sized hands. As you know, I purchased a Low D in maroon, about a two months ago, and I want you to know that the whistle has worked out wonderfully. I can play this whistle without straining my hands and it is comfortable even after playing it for a long time. My friends have listened to your whistle and have been surprised and complimentary on both the sound and volume that it produces. I am a better and happier player now that I am not left out of playing the low whistle.

Many thanks, Mary C. NY

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Wicked Good March Info & Italian One Man Band

Fife and Flute Tuning notes

I recently spent the entire afternoon trying to recreate how you could put a little D fife completely out of tune. A customer in Connecticut had called and said he had a problem with his fife with the tuning. The instrument had played perfectly when he had received it, but after cleaning, the fife was completely out of tune and was not cooperating on going back into tune at all! I consider these instruments to be bullet proof and they just never have problems. I thought it wasn't worth the cost of postage to and from the shop just to tune the fife, so I said I could figure out what was going on and I would call him back with an answer.

 

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Am I a Right or Left Handed Wicked Good Whistler?

I haven't changed the instruction sheet that comes with the Mystic Auto Flute since I put the first batch together Everyone apparently read the instructions, picked up the flute and played it without having any trouble understanding the tech sheets.

Then in late January, I got several phone calls and email from folks who could not understand how the mouthpiece worked. Apparently they threw the instructions away with their Christmas tree and had never read them. When I was discussing the problem with one of my lady test players, she began to laugh out loud and then she told me about her experience with the auto flute.

She took her flute along with her during the holidays and during the course of events, several relatives and friends asked if they could try the instrument. She was not carrying the technical sheet so she had to instruct the new player on how the instrument worked.

She explained to me that at first not one of them could play the mouthpiece because they insisted on puckering up and trying to blow into the wrong hole. Apparently a hole is not a hole unless you can see down into it, and the idea of how you blow a flute in ingrained deeply into our mind. You MUST pucker up and blow into a little hole or there can be no flute music! That is the Rule!

She also explained that once one person got the idea and could play the flute, it became a contest to see who could show the next player what they were doing wrong. She concluded her story by telling me to put a sign on the correct hole in the mouthpiece and just say Blow into this Hole!

Good advise is good advise. When you receive your flute or fife, it now comes with this wrap around sheet on the mouthpiece.

I don't think I have published the brand name of any other makers products on these pages before. I'm sure you will excuse Don Simcocks enthusiasm for his new whistle and I did promise him I would post his letter. I am humbled by his praise, what can I say...when a whistler is happy, well, they are happy!

This also proves that the good old US mail does deliver and pretty fast too if you use Global Priority Mail.

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Wicked Weather and Comments to Start Winter...

While the snow snows and the wind blows steadily from the North Pole. We Mainers like to touch up the landing strip for the four wheel drive.

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Whistle Kids test a Wicked Good Slide Flute

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Comments on White Whistles and Where the Whistlers are Whistling!

Here is an excerpt from John Hughes long letter on some of his observations on whistle color(especially white instruments) and other interesting whistle observations. I found this letter to have several interesting points and I will add them to the revue on the Low whistles as soon as I can.

“There are several advantages to owning a white instrument.
I find that students keep these instruments cleaner and ready to play, because dirt shows up more readily on a white instrument and it looks either clean and white or it looks dirty. Case closed.
A white instrument plays cooler in summer heat and stays in tune better when exposed to direct sunlight. I make it a point to instruct students to place their instruments out of the sunlight when not playing and to remove them from auto windows when traveling. Leaving any instrument in the direct sun, whether it is plastic or wood is not a good idea and can cause them to warp or even split. Here in the south, you can get a burn from a metal mouthpiece left in the sun and you won’t soon forget that!

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E-mail Excerpts

Condensed Comments via E-Mail:

A couple of excerpts from a nice letter from Roy Mayhugh were:

"You've clearly marked the key of the whistle right on the mouth-piece. That will make picking up the right whistle really easy when I want to play."

"The fingering charts are going to be really handy in helping me read music. What's more, they are almost exactly the size of an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of notebook paper when folded in half. That means I can put them in my three ring binder folded in half and fold them out on my music stand when I'm using them."

"Received my Low D whistle this week and I was amazed at the tone. I was really expecting a plastic sounding tone and this instrument sounds very woody just as you described it" - J. Winston

"I am playing the Hi D fife you furnished for our group to try out and it does exactly what you said. I have played it in all kinds of weather and it is bulletproof. This fife is perfect to get our kids to get playing in short order" Thank you, J. Hershel

"When you wrote that your mouthpiece was adjustable and you could "sweeten the top octave" to make the flute play better, I thought Yeh, I bet! I have played my G Auto flute for a week now and all I can say is "How sweet it is!" Thanks, Paul

"I was able to play it straight out of the box. At last I have a Low D which I can finger without my fingers and wrists getting very sore." - G. Terry

"I thought my Low D whistle had lost it's voice as it had a loss of volume after about 30 minutes of playing. I read the instructions and dried the bore and gave it a shot of silicon spray. What a difference, the more your play and clean it, the better the volume gets. Your directions on playing the Low D have been Spot On." - J. Deschesne

"I purchased a Bb fife and have played it for several weeks. I have taken it camping and played around the fire at night several times. No problem! it will play in any kind of weather and the night cold doesn't bother it at all..." excerpt from long letter from H.C. in Minnesota.

"The Hi-D fife I purchased came today and I have played all afternoon. It is hard to believe how easy it is to play. I thought it would be shrill, but it is not and I really like the sound." Thanks, Franco, Spain

Nice tip for Big Thumbs

Gary Robinson wrote a nice email with a fix for folks with big fingers. He cut the bottom out of his thumbring just below the halfway mark, filed it nice and smooth and found the open bottom ring was just fine and still gave a nice hold on his thumb. The original person that tested the thumbring wore a size 12 ring and had big hands, so I figured that would be sufficient. Nice solution, Gary

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A Poem from My Neighbor

My neighbor Lloyd Archer is a poet and writes about the things that happen in everyday life. His poems tell you the stories of common things in an uncommon manner, sometimes seriously, sometimes with unbridled humor. When things happen, he has the ability to translate the event into verse, sometimes ten or twelve poems in a single day. When he showed me the amount of work in his collection of poems, I could not resist sharing the first published piece on this website. You will see more of Lloyd Archer and his writing soon, so remember you saw it here first!

The Blue Jay

A Blue Jay struck our window today
I looked out the window, and there it lay
All sprawled out, beak down in the grass
I couldn't believe it didn't break the glass

I went out to see if it might still be alive
And as I picked the bird up, she began to revive
I held both legs loosely between my fingers
And cupping my palm forced her to linger

I told my wife Rose, to get the camera quick
Because the bird certainly wasn't acting sick
The bird was struggling and I couldn't hold her
She pulled free and flew up onto my shoulder

And then, the Jay stayed there, calm as could be
While Rose thook three pictures of it sitting on me
Then the Jay flew away off over the garage
Leaving us feeling like we were living quite large

A GREAT TIP!... from my wife Nadiene

While putting together parts for some whistles the other week, I managed to get a body completely stuck in a tuning slide. I tried as hard as I could to twist the two pieces apart, but could not budge them at all. After contemplating the problem, I was about to put the pieces in the vise when my wife, Nadiene walked through the door and wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I showed her the stuck parts and vowed there was no way they were going to come apart. "Wait just a minute and I'll be right back" she said and promptly left.

In a minute she was back and passed me a rubber disc jar opener. "You should know this works on about everything in the kitchen, even stuck canning jar covers."

Well, behind every good Whistlesmith is a good woman!

A rubber disc jar opener is the best thing in the entire world to take a stuck whistle apart with. I am now sporting three in various colors so they are easy to find in the shop. A whistle is just plain hard to grab and a vise will ruin the barrel on your whistle in an instant. These jar openers are really a sweet deal to have in your whistle bag and you won't hurt your hands when you use one.

Got an old whistle and want to take the head off the tone body? A rubber jar opener after a good soak in boiling water will definitely do the job.

A Quote from Jack Houseman

Jack Houseman bought a couple of whistles from me in January last winter and after conversing with him at length, he voluntered to be an advisor on my whistles, flutes and fingering charts. Jack has extensive knowledge in advertising and collects whistles and all kinds of ocarinas, flutes and fifes. If you are a whistlesmith, I'll bet Jack has either talked to you or paid you a visit at some point in time.

The list of improvements I made this year to the product line, have almost all been because of Jack. He has scutinized every aspect of the whistle line, asked me a lot of questions, and been absolutely fair in his assessments of what he has liked and what he felt should be modified. The information in the fingering charts and diagrams for the individual instruments and their care are correct only because he has studied and proofread them after using the information to make sure it is clear and easily understood.

So when I recently received this e-mail I felt like I had graduated a grade in school.

Hi Rod! I had a chance to play the new two-piece, Low G Mystic Auto Flute with the Automatic Sideshooter Mouthpiece that you sent me last week. And, after playing it over the weekend, I can tell you that the tone is quite even over the first and second octaves, and it is very easy to play. Moreover, the sound is mellow, and it has a nice heft. I also really like the fact that the new copper tuning slide lets you position the head for ease of fingering and playing. The playing instructions are great, and the new, revised fingering chart is colorful, and quite easy to follow. And, the improved thumb rest that snaps onto the flute body enables you to hold it comfortably while playing music. Bottom line: I really like it. Regards, Jack Houseman.

The Canterburys-Visitors from Awayl

Folks that drop by from out of state are called "Visitors from Away" here in Maine. When Claude and Judy Canterbury dropped in the other afternoon on their way to a tour of New Brunswick, Canada, they set a new World and Olympic distance travel record for visiting the Whistlesmith. Their 40 foot RV had decided it needed a little wiring fixed, so they came up and visited with "The Amazing Daisy". Daisy is just a great dog and trained beyond belief. She speaks four languages, and she and Hai Yu, our pug conversed at length. We spent a couple of hours in the whistle shop and I gave Claude a tour of the premises and how a whistle is put together. We tried out several different keys of whistles and flutes and Claude decided he liked a prototype in-line flute in Low D the best. This instrument is now in Texas awaiting Claude' s arrival after the trip to Canada.

Questions on fingering, warranty, construction, keys & more!

I had a first time whistle buyer drop in the other day and it was obvious that he had spent a lot of time reading about whistles on line. Here is some of what we talked about.

"If they don't cost a penny and their not made of tin...Why are whistles called that any more? My reply was that they should just be called whistles, plain and simple. The whistle is so common to so many kinds of music world wide today that the old terminology just doesn't fit. There are probably more people playing whistle in Africa than there are people in all of Ireland and Scotland combined. The music is not the same, but that only shows the wonderful versatility of the whistle and the variety of music it can be used for. That is why I call my whistles "Wicked Good Whistles".

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Places to Play Your Whistle

When I mentioned that whistles need good acoustics to be their very best, I began to make a list of places to play. My brother Alan and I used to team up on guitar and the banjo and do the entertaining around the campfire in the evening at St. Froid lake. Folks around the lake would hear the music and drop by the big fire and listen for a while and cook hot dogs and marshmallows. Some nights we would draw a large crowd and on the Fourth of July, we would have an all night party with fireworks over the lake.

There is no place better to play than a big lake at night with a strong echo and the woods for a background. I remembered that sound and when I vacation, I travel with a whistle tucked in my luggage. Overpasses and bridges make awesome ampitheatres for playing the whistle.

My brother in law in Connecticut possesses a railroad bridge made of solid concrete just down the street from his house. I discovered it on a walk to town and it is the greatest sounding place to play a whistle you could ask for. Passersby often stop and listen for a bit and remark that they would have never thought about playing music there.

Empty buildings of about every sort are sound stages just waiting to be tried. This is a picture of the largest barn in northern Maine and was the site of many gatherings and barn dances. Although it is now gone, many folks remember the wonderful acoustics it possessed.

I have played whistle for folks cleaning fish in Marathon, Florida in the Keys, ladies selling at yard sales along the road, people waiting for a bus, an Amish family in a furniture store in Lancaster, the Captain of a fishing boat looking for schools of fish, folks under my porch, visitors in the Acoustically Perfect Barn out back, and a lot of places in between.

There is a spot in the middle of my field that is bounded on one side by my neighbors house and on the other by my barn. If you stand exactly right, you get a double echo off both buildings and in the evening it is a great place to play some important music. I'm sure you can find places like that everywhere you go if you are just aware of what you are looking for.

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What makes an Auto Flute and Fife Different?

I have recently had inquiries about the new Mystic Auto Flutes and Fifes. Why are they Mystic? and what is the difference between the two instruments?

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How I Handmake a Whistle

I recently received an email inquiring about how I make whistles and do I make them one at a time? I suppose a movie of the process would be best, but here is how I make my handmade whistles.

First I make a prototype whistle that plays correctly and is in good tune. I take this prototype and all my notes made during the creation of the prototype to the art department where I measure all the pieces and draft a finished blueprint and write my notes into instructions before they get misplaced or worse still, I forget what they meant in the first place.

I set up machinery and jigs to precisely cut each piece to make a particular part of the whistle. For instance, I will set up and make a hundred mouthpiece blanks. Every third or fourth blank, I will carefully check that the blank is to size and measure diameters with the digital calipers. After the blanks are machined, they are hand washed, deburred, and put in a bin with a note and description of what whistle they go to. Each part in the whistle is made in the same manner and made as closely as possible to the blueprint.

When all the parts are complete, I assemble the whistles according to their key. The assembled whistle is completely cleaned and tuned for the first time at this point. All that remains is for the tone body to be painted when an order for that type and key whistle comes in.

When the whistle has been painted, striped and labeled for an order, I play the whistle, check the tuning and completely clean it inside and out. The bore is polished and the whistle gets a final wash. Fingering charts, thumb rings and instruction sheets are placed in the shipping box and the whistle is shipped to the customer.

That is what a handmade whistle is all about, lots of handwork and attention to details.

Playing in the Mirror

I have had several groups of children in to visit and discuss the possibility of starting a group to play the whistle. One of these children later came back to visit and told me that her playing had improved a lot by playing in front of her mirror at home. She puts her sheet music up beside the mirror for reference when she practices and can now see her fingers on the whistle in the same direction as the music chart that came with her whistle. She enlarges all her sheet music up to 11x17 inches on a photo copier so it is a very readable size to play from. This extra bit of effort has really improved her playing in a few weeks time. When you play in front of a mirror you gain confidence about your appearance when playing your instrument. You can practice the way you react to the music and show your moves with the whistle just like big time entertainers do. Tom Jones would be pretty dull if he sang and never moved! When learning a piece of music with someone else, it is really neat to stand side by side and be able to observe what the other player is doing from the same position. If you stand face to face everything is backward...no wonder I had so much trouble learning banjo chords from my Granddad. You will pick out your fingering mistakes much faster and learning some alternate fingering is improved. I find that everyone that tries playing in front of a mirror is able to learn the repetitious phrases in music and relate to them faster . Well, anyway give the mirror a try and you will be amazed at what a good looking performer you are and how interesting your whistle playing performance is!