Whistle assessment

Hi,

for you, what could be the best tune to assess a whistle ? or whitles in general

Anything will do, though there might be some whistle equivalent to this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1KqbDdmuE

play video

It depends on what you want to assess.

For most things, I don’t use tunes.

To assess how easily the 2nd octave speaks, and also the tuning of the 2nd octave relative to the low octave, I just play octaves like G g G, A a A, B b B, and so forth.

For the power of Bottom D I just play that note, maybe in a made-up phrase or sequence of notes.

To test how well “cuts” speak I’ll just play cuts on various notes.

To test air consumption I’ve found it’s quickest to hold B in the 2nd octave, because that note nearly always takes more quantity of air than the lower notes.

I will play a tune to get an impression of a whistle’s average overall air consumption.

True enough that the only real test of an instrument is to play it in context. For example I had a Low D whistle that I really liked playing solo, but in a group its tone was thin and bright. In a group, for me, a bit rounder and fatter tone is better.

For me any slow tune.. e. g. Hector the hero.. Slow tunes test whistle air consuption (long notes) and clearnest of tones.

The B part of Fred Finn’s reel is great for assessing the top end of a whistle.
https://thesession.org/tunes/452

Maybe Dusty Windowsills.

The tune suits the whistle very well, and then in the third part you have a bunch of register transitions.