The Kakapo (native flightless parrot) is a handcrafted low-whistle in the key of C major, an octave lower than C whistles like the Clarke or Feadog. These whistles are tough, made from PVC. They feature a small bell/horn which helps improve the volume of the lower octave compared to the high octave. They also have a curved lip against which the air

The Kakapo (native flightless parrot) is a handcrafted low-whistle in the key of C major, an octave lower than C whistles like the Clarke or Feadog. These whistles are tough, made from PVC. They feature a small bell/horn which helps improve the volume of the lower octave compared to the high octave. They also have a curved lip against which the air is directed like a classical flute, rather than a straight one, giving a more distinctive tone. Each whistle is carefully hand tuned to concert pitch A=440Hz, within the limits of variable air temperature and how hard you blow.

The Kakapo features carefully offset tone holes to simplify fingering. With these offsets and use of the 'pipers grip' the Kakapo can be played even if you have relatively small hands. NB, the offsets are configured for the conventional hand position, left hand above right hand. If you play right hand above left, get in touch with me and I can arrange to manufacture a Kakapo with opposite offsets.

The range of the Kakapo is two octaves, C4 to B5, and maybe a couple of notes higher although they are rather loud! Besides the key of C, the whistle is easily played in Dorian mode (the scale starting on D), in F by half-holing the B and of course Am. My whistle has a very comfortable mouthpiece shape compared to most PVC or aluminium whistles and all feature the Takahe emblem of my Takahe Flutes brand. They are shipped in a triangular package which is very strong. A demo of the very similar Ruru whistle is on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/john-poletti/low-d-whistle-demo-after-the-goldrush