Low whistle : Ireland musical instrument

The low whistle is a variation of the traditional tin whistle that is distinguished by the lower pitch and the size. The musical instrument is most closely linked with the performance of the modern Irish musicians and ensembles like Riverdance and Davy Spillane and progressively accepted as a characteristic of the traditional musical of Ireland. In the both types of music, the low whistle is normally used for the playing of airs and slow songs because of its haunting sound. Meanwhile, it is also becoming used for the playing of the Irish jigs, reels and horn pipes, it is not hard to manufacture some decorations on the musical instrument, because of the size of the finger holes found on the instrument.

source of picture: irishwhistleshop.com

The most common low whistle is the low D that is pitched an octave below the traditional D whistle. A whistle is commonly classed a low whistle if the lowest note is the G above middle C or lower. The versions of whistles that are higher than this are called the soprano. Low whistles operate on the same principle and can be fingered in the same manner as the traditional version of the musical instrument and so belong to the same woodwind musical instrument family of end-blown fipple flutes.

Though the tone of the low whistle differs among the producers of the instrument, the musical instruments are commonly characterized by a more breathy, flute-like sound than the traditional tin version of the musical instrument.

While the precise history of the musical instrument is not clear, it is known that different kinds of vertical fipple flute have been in existence. The fipple flute that was fabricated in the 16^th century were the ancestors of the modern day low whistle, carrying through from early transverse flute the 6-holed version and the conical bore shape. Traditionally, they were of wooden construction, but in the later part of the 17^th century, more extensive use of metal like brass and nickel was witnessed. Normally, the metal was rolled and soldered and further development on the musical instrument included the use of tuning slide on the musical instrument. The metal vertical flutes were seen all through the following countries Ireland, Britain, Canada and the United States.

Bernard Overton, an English flute producer is credited with manufacturing the first modern version of the musical instrument in the later part of 1971 that he did for Finbar Furey after Furey’s high-quality Indian bamboo whistle was demolished on tour. Bernard was unable to repair the instrument, so he tried to manufacture a metal replica and Furey and Bernard spent several hours in the shed at the back of Bernard’s house trying to design, test and perfect the musical instrument. The first few set of the instrument were named the Furey/Overton flute, though later Bernard gave up his job to take up the production of the musical instrument as a fulltime activity, they decided to market the musical instrument as Overton flute. The first resulting musical instrument was essentially the tin whistle that is produced of copper pipe with a wooden plug, though it was quickly substituted by the aluminum version. Overton was not satisfied with the performance of the musical instrument; he further refined the design of the instrument with an all-aluminum construction, manufacturing a whistle in A.

While before long, many popular producers of the musical instrument were manufacturing low whistles, it is normally the Riverdance tour of the 1990s that is credited with giving the low whistle commercial publicity and acknowledgement outside the traditional music circle.

Unlike the normal penny whistle, the musical instrument is a relative new version of whistle to the traditional music of Ireland and some people criticize the musical instrument for trying to fill a musical function that has been performed by the tin whistle and the Irish flute. To some other people, the musical instrument is seen as a transition instrument for players that are seeking to learn the seemingly more significant flute.