To start off, I first learned about your whistles when I visited the website: www.theirishflutestore.com by Dr Patrick Jones DVM. So I Googled MK Whistles and found your site. Now as far as my musical past; I started out with drums from fifth to seventh grades, then went over to Eb Alto Sax (with a little Tenor and Baritone Sax thrown in) from eigth to eleventh grade. I stopped playing in the school band as a senior since my class workload was 7 out of 8 periods with the free period being lunch/ study hall. Right around that time I saw and heard a Recorder. I decided to learn how to play the Recorder since it had practically the same fingering as the Saxophone and was a lot easier to carry around. Then in college, I bumped into a student who played the Tin/Penny Whistle. I was hooked once again since it had a different sound and musical feel. At that same time I was spending more time in the outdoors with the campus GROTTO Club learning canoeing, kayaking, hiking, cross country skiing, rock climbing, and caving. On most of those weekend trips some with camping. I would bring a recorder until my mother’s poodle chewed it up one holiday visit. So entered the Tin Whistle. It went wherever I went. My college adventures took me not only around New Jersey, but also to Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas (twice), Colorado, and Baltimore Maryland. The last locale was for a American Recorder Society 5 day workshop in Baltimore and included a concert by the National Aquarium. I played Recorder outside, but inside the aquarium I took my whistle to play some sea shanties and John Denver tunes.
As far as the other state visits goes, it was mainly a lot of rock climbing, hiking, and most of all caving. Caving is an all season around the year activity that can be done day or night in any kind of weather. It doesn’t matter because caves are always – inside, dark, and stays at a temperature about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Now theres a lot of mud and humid wet conditions that tells you “Do not bring a wooden Recorder in here; it will not survive.” I was known as a Pied Piper by my comrades of outdoor exploring. I would find a nice spot to take a break and pull my Whistle out of my canvas Gas Mask Bag where my water, extra fuel for my Brass Carbide Lamp, food, and mini Maglite flashlight were kept. I’d turn off my lamp and start playing some tunes while the others in nearby passages would be lunching or just relaxing before we start moving on or exiting the cave. I’ve been in over 65 caves with the Whistle. One was within the city limits of San Antonio Texas about 2 miles away from the historic Alamo Mission. In West Virginia I was in a vertical pit cave that had us rappel down 300 feet and then continue on for about another 400 feet. Caves have great acoustical qualities to them. The sound also carries throughout a good part of nearby passageways and rooms; sometimes having an echo effect which comes in handy when playing rounds. If the weather was too nice In West Virginia to go caving, we might go climbing at Seneca Rocks. Or we would hike around Blackwater Falls…
Above ground my Whistle would go along while hiking at the Delaware Water Gap or Sunfish Pond or Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania. Climbing would have tunes being played in the Trapps part of the Shawangunks in New Paltz New York or Bear Mountain also in New York.
Now I’ve mainly played High C & D Whistles. I understand that you make Low D and Low F Whistles. Even though I’ve never played a Low Whistle, I’d be willing to learn and show it around the state and county parks in New Jersey or Sea Kayak it around Barnegat Bay, the Delaware River, or around the Barrier Islands where no gas engine boats or jet skis are permitted. I would like to learn more about your high quality whistles. Is it possible to have two sound samples of the Low D and Low F Whistles??? Hope you enjoyed my Whistle Story as much as the bats, pack rats, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, and birds enjoyed the tunes being played in or under the great outdoors…….
Sincerely,
Douglas M Davis