Practice whistle.

[stevemmiller]

While I was bouncing around in a couple of the topics I saw comments about how loud their whistle was and how it disturbed spouse or roommates. I do not know if this has been mentioned before, but this is a solution I utilize late at night on in other inappropriate places.
I have an old Oak D that did not sound great, so I used a file to remove the knife edge in the mouth piece. It produced an almost silent whistle, yet I can still hear the notes almost like a whisper on the wind.
It works for me in places that I do not want to disturb others but would otherwise be sitting on my hands.

[breqwas]

Blowing on the blade (instead of blowing into fipple) will give the same result. It is OK, but you don't have the 2nd octave...

[anniemcu]

Blowing on the blade (instead of blowing into fipple) will give the same result. It is OK, but you don't have the 2nd octave...

Works better on some than others. Funny enough, it seems to work best on my Parks Everywhistle, which is able to be muted easily anyway, but blown that way, it gives the full range. Dunno the why's, but I like that it's so.

Incidentally, You can hear Joanie Madden do it on one of the tracks on her Song of the Irish Whistle CD (the 2nd volume, I think... mine are leant out at the moment so can't check). She said many people actually thought there was something wrong with the CD, because they just didn't understand. It really sounds neat... you can hear the percussion of her fingers on the holes, and the whole effect is niftily different.

[Grexrell]

Blowing on the blade (instead of blowing into fipple) will give the same result. It is OK, but you don't have the 2nd octave...

I found that an issue using that technique as well.
I tried different things to try for a second octave, and found that removing my top finger for all second octave notes produces a unique higher pitched sound that my head easily associates with the second octave. (discovered it by accident when playing the second octave D)
I'm also fond of the rubber band and poster putty method for when I have more time and want to blow through the whistle.

[Dameon]

Walton's Little Black Whistle is the quietest whistle I've found, and should be quiet enough for practice without modifying it at all.

[Carey]

Funny enough, it seems to work best on my Parks Everywhistle, which is able to be muted easily anyway, but blown that way, it gives the full range. Dunno the why's, but I like that it's so.

Ha! Thanks for letting us know Annie, who woulda thunk it. I never gave that technique a try on an Every whistle. Untill now.

[WARD1066]

Works better on some than others. Funny enough, it seems to work best on my Parks Everywhistle, which is able to be muted easily anyway...

How quiet can you mute an Everyman whistle? Can it go to almost nothing , or is it just 'quieter' than a normal?

[Carey]

All the way to zero. You have two octaves and nearly normal backpressure the whole time. As you close the tone ring down, the back pressure goes up just a little.

The tone ring isn't an on/off thing, you can put more and more on, making the tone similar to a Clarke Original at one point. I frequently play with the tone ring at 50% or so.

Here's how Phil Brown of Big Whistle Music describes it - "Intrinsic to this mouthpiece design is what can be best described as a dial. A mechanism so simple that it can give you (when fully open) that session bullying power – or by contrast – that chiffy, almost inaudible whistle level perfect for intimate practice. The added bonus is it can also provide all those varied dynamic shades between absolute pianissimo and fortissimo! Perfect for ‘Every’ musical occasion."

I tried to record some comparisons, but the web cam audio I have is too good at increasing gain automatically because it thinks the other party wants to hear what I am saying.

I just did a comparison of blowing into the window with the mouthpiece in the chin position and a minimal opening of the tone ring, and they sound very close to the same, only you get both octaves with the tone ring approach.

I wish I had a good demo of several shades of quiet for you.

[MTGuru]

I wish I had a good demo of several shades of quiet for you.

Stay tuned.

[stevemmiller]

I was intregued by the tone ring concept. So I dug around for a picture of the Park whistle. The ring appears to be a split plastic loop that can be used to partially to fully cover the blade in the fipple. So this has me wondering if something like this could be made to fit existing whistles. I might be forced to do some experiments.
My existing modification does not give a second octave. I would love to be able to play near people and not blast above the group and play more than just the bottom end.
I will let you know what I can create. Meanwhile if you have any details about the Park I would love to see or hear them.

[Jason Paul]

I don't know about making a tone ring that would be basically universal. Cheapies don't really offer a place to put something that would work.

There are other options for cheapies, which have been discussed here on the forums. The most popular ones are a ball of sticky-tac, or a paperclip. Both of them work pretty well.

I actually put the tone ring on my Every Whistle on my O'Brien and it worked, but it was a bit of a tight fit and I didn't want to stretch out the O-ring.

Besides, I like the Every Whistle so much that I don't see the need to try to get other whistles to do what it does. The tone ring is great. It decreases the volume while increasing the breathy chiff, which I like. You can put it where you want it. Wide open it's fairly loud and has a clean tone. But closed a little it gets a nice chiffy tone and volume is nice for playing around the house. Closing to where it's about 1/4 of the way open is a nice quiet whistle, fairly breathy but the notes are there.

I also like that the Every Whistle is a larger bore, nice large finger holes, and is very light. It's nicely finished as well.

And no I don't work for Carey.

Jason

[anniemcu]

I was intregued by the tone ring concept. So I dug around for a picture of the Park whistle. The ring appears to be a split plastic loop that can be used to partially to fully cover the blade in the fipple. So this has me wondering if something like this could be made to fit existing whistles. I might be forced to do some experiments.
My existing modification does not give a second octave. I would love to be able to play near people and not blast above the group and play more than just the bottom end.
I will let you know what I can create. Meanwhile if you have any details about the Park I would love to see or hear them.

The Parks isn't precisely 'cheap', but it is very affordable. Carey (Parks), BTW, is the maker.

[MichaelR]

You can visit Carey's site.
http://www.parkswhistles.com/

Meanwhile if you have any details about the Park I would love to see or hear them.