I've never seen a whistle where the fipple slides into the barrel of the whistle before (not that I've seen a lot of whistles)

That's the Sweetone in C.

Which one is the silver one?

Maybe this shows them off better.

Clarkes1.JPG  •  57KB

Maybe this one shows it better.

Clarkes3.JPG  •  55KB

OK then I'll try adding photos here.......seemed to work.... one of all 3, the other of the flush fipple whistle, with the rough seam & head removed. (Black is not the easiest of colours to photograph, unfortunately, but the fipple head has 3 ridges to hold it in the tube.)

P1000612.JPG  •  163KB

P1000610.JPG  •  132KB

Keith, if the photo file isn't too giant, you should be able to embed or attach it to your post in this discussion, too.

See one of the top discussions, on adding images to a post here:

https://pennywhistleclub.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i

Ran into problems trying to upload photos - wrong sizes - then only 6 allowed in one day - so I'll try & remember tomorrow.

Hi Keith

Could you post a photo of the Clarke? I'm intrigued

It wasn't too great a deal, price & postage roughly the equivalent of a brand new one, depending on where you buy, but I was intrigued as to what the 'other' one was, & as I had yet to buy any Clarkes, I thought it worth the price..........three for the price of one.

That's fun, Keith!  Did you get a good deal on them?

That one tastes much better now.

These two Clarkes, Sweetone & Meg, sound pretty good.

So, yes, basically as described.

The two Cs look to be brand new, whilst the 'other' is labelled as a Clarkes, is made in the same style, albeit a bit rough down the seam on the back, but has an inline fipple head, rather than the over the tube type of fitting, & could be a 'tunable' D whistle.

Actually, I just took another look at it, & it fits inside the tube; this one has a bit of a strange taste, even though I sanitized/cleaned it my usual way; so I will need to go back & be more thorough, I need to clean the tube & fipple head separately.

Yep, I won - now have to wait on the post to see if they are as described - Clarkes, 1x Sweetone in C, 1x Meg in C, & 1x 'other'.

Good luck Keith

....I was just looking online at so called Black Friday Deals, as one does, & then drifted off to Ebay where I noticed some whistles coming to the end of their time without a single bid.........

...I'll let you know.

  Well done Larry.

Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen

It's the perfect weather to play something dark and mournful then.  

Well, it's been a really miserable cold, dark & wet day here!

Not conducive to playing at all.

Well said.

David Byrne from Talking Heads wrote a book called "How Music Works" In it he talks about how before music was recorded, it was not owned by anybody. The only way to listen to music was to make it yourself or pay travelling minstrel groups to play it for you. And songs often went for a lot longer until musicians were forced to cut them short to fit on an Edison cylinder.

People now expect music to come out of a machine, Which is pretty sad, it robs them of the chance to do something wonderfull and make it themselves. Whether you read sheet music, use tab, play by ear, or memorize your music you are doing something creative and artistic by putting a bit of your soul into your music. Something which I think is sadly missing in a lot of todays music.

Well, I admit I don't spend enough time on my banjos, dulcimers, and pennywhistles as I should.  I have too many interests, and am also not yet retired.  BUT... playing on my lovely instruments at home in my spare time is such a great joy in my life whenever I do find time to sit down with it.  I'll never become 'pro' level at any instrument, but I loooove playing music nonetheless.

I'd say I use @chris 's method for the most part... with a combination of simple melody sheet music and working the tune out by ear.  Occasionally I do make use whistle tab if there's a particular tune with tab that will help me.  But as soon as I hear the tune in my head I try to put aside both sheet music and tab and keep them only to jog my memory when I forget some part.

I have come to view the tedious process of 'trying' (and often failing) to play a tune as a part of the whole music making journey that I should just embrace rather than beating myself up over my failings.  For me, the journey is the thing, not so much any destination or end goal I might have in my head. I've come to allow myself to accept this, and doing so has increased my playing enjoyment.
I strongly believe that music should not be something that only 'talented' people should do- it should be something every person can make part of their daily life no matter how humble their ability. It's almost a basic human need in my view. My hope is that all of us here can feel good about sharing our love for making music without feeling we'll be judged or critiqued if we can only play a few notes.  Even when I make lots of mistakes, I find great joy in just tootling around on a simple folk tune and creating a few phrases of pretty notes strung together. So soothing for the soul!

I can't tell you, I'm afraid - even after having played some tunes over the past three years, (on ukulele, harmonicas, & now whistles) - I can only just about play a couple from memory, & then I usually make mistakes, or forget what comes next, so I will use notation or tab when playing - it could just be my old brain, but it certainly is frustrating at times.

What method do you use to memorize a new tune?

My tried and true method for learning tunes on the harmonica and the whistle is as follows

1 listen to the tune till it's firmly in my head (I have the memory of a goldfish)

2 Find the sheet music and slowly read it while playing along on the whistle.

3 Shake stir and repeat until I can play the first part of the tune and then go on to the second part and do the same.

It can take me weeks and weeks to memorize a tune which is very frustrating.

Is there a better way?

...ended up with 139 videos!

Now it's time to get back to my harmonicas, whistles, & flutey things.

So far, I've had 109 videos to comment on........& there's still another full day to go!

Thanks, glad you managed to get a glimpse of what I've managed over the past 3 years, from being almost musically illiterate.

(I probably wouldn't have got this far, if it hadn't been for the support from people on the various forums.)

Keith I really enjoyed your Amazing Grace on various instruments, on your YT channel.  

Larry that's pretty!

@strumelia

Not sure if you can access the playlist from outside of the forum, as it is 'unlisted' - but if you try these, one might work.

Playlist URL - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqjI5gC-IUKjl1OZ9uiCwqR8kXtKRWUKv

& the thread URL -https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?136190-Season-351-Life-Cycle/page10

& my YT channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs5PXY4P-E5n6uJmWEPZiBQ

& if that doesn't get you there, try going from this one -

Wandering Star

I must warn you, I'm not very good.

@keith - are any of these clips on youtube or a place where we can have a peek without joining a uke forum?  

Me too, but I've decided to see that as insurance against getting bored in my old age.  ;)

Today, on my uke forum where I am hosting this week, I had an entry of over 6mins 30secs to listen to, & not only that, but it had a second part of 5min 20secs!

Normally entries are between 1 & 2 mins.....

Fair enough.......just thought maybe I could point you in the right direction.

@keith well...its just I'm not very good at it and its probably not a very good instrument (cost me £5) Plus its more for playing blues and country, and getting clean notes, especially playing chromatically, is hard. Recorder is just easier.

Any reason not?

....& today, I found out one of my harmonica forums is shutting up shop - good job I've still got another two.

A slightly busy week ahead for me this week, I'm hosting 'Seasons of the Ukulele', likely my last one, as I have so many other things I want to try out yet, & I seem not to have enough time these days - how on earth did I manage to fit in a full week of working before I retired!

Most banjos do have either mylar or plastic heads these days.  I myself often play 1800s style reproduction banjos in historic settings, so those three banjos of mine represent banjos as they were made at that time- with real skin heads, wooden tuning pegs, and no frets. The only concession I make is using Nylgut strings... which function and sound very close to gut strings but are not so badly effected by humidity. I've tried having both a real calf head and gut strings- there are many situations where this combo can make it impossible to play the banjo, so most banjo 're-enactors' do use nylon strings for outdoor venues or camping. It's easier to dry out your head than your strings!

Interesting, I thought most banjos came with mylar heads these days.

Well, in Summer the humidity causes my calf and goat skin banjo heads to get saggy, which makes them really hard to play.

There's always a challenge with the weather in some way with instruments it seems!

I play chromatic harmonicas....

Don't get that hassle with my other instruments, so they will likely get more play time in the coming months. ;)

This thread has no theme and it has no end. Just drop by and express yourself with your random thoughts or various goings-on in your life. The subjects will drift from one thing to another, from one member to another. This is the thread where you never have to stay 'on topic'.