The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #146465 Message #3391334
Posted By: Jack Campin
17-Aug-12 - 08:52 AM
Thread Name: Can a penny whistle go out of tune?
Subject: RE: Can a penny whistle go out of tune?
They're not usually tuned to any scale originating from outside the Generation factory.
I usually play recorders in sessions. They give me a bit of flexibility in tuning, from somewhere near ET to somewhere near meantone, by variations in fingering and breath pressure. I can play in an exact unison with a high-end whistle (Burke, Sindt, Alba, MK or Copeland) so we sound like one instrument. With a Generation it takes a player in Cathal McConnell's league to make that possible. Usually I just drop out when a Generation player starts up because I don't want the resultant bloodcurdling dissonances in the high register attributed to me. They can just fight it out with the fiddles and smallpipes on their own.
Some keyless flutes are just as bad at 50 times the price.