The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle

Tin whistle

The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...

/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch

Pitch (music)

Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...

 and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of modern Irish musicians and groups

Music of Ireland

Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...

 such as Riverdance

Riverdance

Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...

and Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane is a songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle.early yearsDavy was born in Dublin in 1959 . At the age of 12 he started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him and inspired him with his love of all music genres...

, and is increasingly accepted as a feature of Irish traditional music

Folk music of Ireland

The folk music of Ireland is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres in Ireland.-History:...

. In both kinds of music the low whistle is often used for the playing of airs and slow melodies due to its haunting sound.

The most common low whistle is the "Low D", pitched one octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

 below the traditional D whistle. A whistle is generally classed as a low whistle if its lowest note is the G above middle C or lower. Whistles higher than this are termed "soprano" or "high" whistles when a distinction is necessary. Low whistles operate on the same principles, and are fingered in the same way as traditional pennywhistles, and therefore also belong to the same woodwind instrument

Woodwind instrument

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...

 family of end-blown fipple flutes.

Though the tone of this instrument varies subtley among makers, low whistles are generally characterised by a more breathy, flute-like sound than traditional tin whistles.

Early history

While the precise history of the low whistle is often debated, it is known that various kinds of vertical fipple flutes have existed in antiquity. The fipple flutes developed during the 16th century were the ancestors of today's low whistle, carrying through from early transverse flutes the six-holed design tradition and conical bore shape. They were originally of wooden construction, but the late 17th century saw more extensive use of metals such as brass and nickel. The metal was usually rolled and soldered, and further developments included the use of a tuning slide. These metal vertical flutes were found throughout Ireland, Britain, Canada and the United States.

The modern low whistle

English flute maker and jazz musician Bernard Overton is credited with producing the first modern low whistle in late 1971, which he made for Finbar Furey after Furey's prized Indian bamboo whistle was destroyed while on tour. Unable to repair it, Overton attempted to produce a metal replica and Finbar and himself spent many hours in the shed at the back of Bernard's house in Rugby, designing, testing and ultimately perfecting the flute. The first few were named the Furey/Overton flute but when Bernard gave up his job to hand make them full time, they decided to market them as The Overton Flute. The first resulting instrument was essentially an oversized tin whistle made of copper pipe with a wooden plug but was quickly replaced by the aluminium one. While Overton was unsatisfied with its performance, he subsequently refined the design with an all-aluminium construction, producing a whistle in A. Impressed, Finbar requested a G version for his trademark Lonesome Boatman performances. Later, according to Overton,



While before long several notable instrument makersIncluding, among others, Brian Howard, Phil Hardy, Colin Goldie, Dave Shaw (who pursued a rolled conical design), and Jon Swayne (a tunable wooden design) were producing low whistles, it is usually the Riverdance tour of the 1990s that is credited with giving the low whistle commercial exposure and recognition outside traditional music circles. Of particular note is Davy Spillane, whose work in fusing the sound of traditional instruments such as the low whistle with modern jazz or RnB, for example, has done much for the instrument's visibility.

In Irish Traditional Music

Unlike the regular pennywhistle, the low whistle is a relative newcomer to Irish traditional music, and some criticise it for attempting to fill a musical role already well served by the tin whistle and Irish flute

Irish flute

The term Irish Flute refers to a conical-bore, simple-system wooden flute of the type favored by classical flautists of the early 19th century, or to a flute of modern manufacture derived from this design...

. To others it is viewed as a "transition instrument" for players seeking to eventually learn the seemingly more prestigious (and expensive) flute or uillean pipes. While it is true that many skills learnt on the low whistle carry over to these instruments, "some of the greatest players of traditional music have been associated with the low whistle" and have helped foster its reputation as a highly versatile and respected instrument in its own right, with a unique and evocative sound. Much like the Irish flat-backed bouzouki

Irish bouzouki

The Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...

, the low whistle can be seen as a product of a period when experiments in instrumentation were commonplace in traditional music, and musicians sought diverse and innovative means of expression.