The KerryWhistles Chieftain V5 Low D - my full review...

Welcome back to my blog!

Today I wanted to bring you a full review of one of my all-time favourite whistles - the KerryWhistles Chieftain V5 low D!

This whistle is a special one for me and it features in almost all of my recordings and music videos. It is from Kerrywhistles and is made by renowned whistle designer Phil Hardy.

A few years ago I bought a beautiful set of Kerrywhistles busker whistles which I absolutely love and which became the lead whistles for much of my music. I chose them because of their distinctive sound, and because the whistles played on some of my favourite movie soundtracks (such as Braveheart and Titanic) were also designed and made by Phil. If you want to know more about this, you can read my first blog post here.

After this, I was delighted to be gifted the Chieftain V5 low D from the designer, and as soon as I held and played this magnificent whistle I was blown away...

Listen to the Chieftain V5 low D whistle in my music video 'Wild Mountain Thyme'

Design -

The Chieftain V5 low D is a stunning looking whistle - I feel it is like a sculptural metal art piece and has a sleek and timeless look. I love the spear-like shape and the weighty feel that it has, you can instantly feel the quality and craftsmanship as soon as you pick this whistle up.

I'm a big fan of the shaped metal mouthpiece on this whistle as not only does it look great, it's also comfortable to play.

This whistle is tuneable, so the headpiece is separate to the body and can slide up and down to allow you to adjust the tuning which is very useful for playing with other musicians and for recording.

The Chieftain V5 Low D as featured in my music video 'The Riders of Rohan'.

Sound and playability -

The Chieftain V5 low D has a beautifully smooth and airy sound with a lot of depth and colour. The thing I love about this whistle is the amount of expression that you can achieve when playing - it really allows you to give your own voice to the sound and feel as though you are singing when playing. It's a really responsive whistle, so ornamentations really shine through and you can also play fast pieces distinctively.

The finger spacing on this whistle is very comfortable and probably the best of all my low D whistles - as for any low D whistle, you will need to master the 'piper's grip' to be able to play comfortably especially if you have small hands.

This is one of my go-to whistles for recording, especially if I want a really atmospheric sound...

The relaxing sounds of the Kerrywhistles Chieftain V5 low D whistle played amongst nature

You can find this whistle on the KerryWhistles website as well as other fantastic designs - https://www.kerrywhistles.com/product-page/chieftain-v5-low-d-tuneable

You can also find tin whistle tabs for my the music videos featured in this post by becoming a member of my Woodland Whistler tier on Patreon where you'll also get exclusive behind the scenes sneak peeks and be supporting my music! Become a member of my Patreon community here - https://www.patreon.com/c/leyna_robinson_stone/membership

Thanks for reading!