I’ve noticed a lot of talk about back pressure. Having been a long time sufferer (I have an account with the chiropractor) I thought there might have been an answer. Sadly all of the discussions were about whistles and flutes. So as a whistle player of little note but happy to tinker in the shed making them I thought I should find out about back pressure in a whistle context.
What is back pressure? Does it affect your heatlh if you over-indulge. What’s it related to. If you have more back pressure what do you have less of and conversely if you have less back pressure what do you have more of? How do you achieve back pressure apart from sitting in an uncomfortable chair?
The short answer: backpressure is how hard you have to blow an instrument, irregardless of the amount of air, for it to make a sound. As the force increases, so does the backpressure.
Resistance is how much air an instrument uses to make a sound, irregardless of how hard its blown. As the amount of air decreases, resistance increases.
On whistles, generally the more backpressure you have, also the more resistance.
Thanks Peeplj. The thread sort of confirms that it is hard to nail it down to a precise definition. But I somehow get the drift. You either like a whistle or you don’t for one reason or another. One of which is something to do with putting air into it to get noise out of it. Another is the colour
Backpressure is defined that it take a little push to get air through the whistle.
Some whistles, the air goes through almost as it you’re blowing air straight out of your mouth into the open room. Other whistles varyingly feel like it take a little pressure to get the air through. A little bit of backpressure is good have, it makes the whistle easier to control - especially when it comes to choosing the right octave.
