Recently I discovered Jerry Freeman’s whistles.
Somewhere, maybe on here, he was interviewed, discussing how the material used for the block in the mouthpiece really affects the instrument’s sound.
Can anyone direct me to that discussion, because I’m looking at an instrument and suspect the block may need adjusting. The whistle’s sound is a bit inconsistent.
Thanks
Thanks kkrell.
That does mention Jerry, and tweaking the mouthpiece, but it’s not the discussion I was looking for.
But thanks for replying
It would be interesting to see Jerry’s comments about the impact of materials.
Since blocks (and “corks”) on good-sounding flutes and whistles are seen made of silver, nickel, brass, aluminium, Delrin, cork, and various woods, and indeed many whistles don’t have a block at all but just a cavity, it’s hard for me to reckon that the material makes much difference.
I would think the position of the block, whether or not it’s angled, and whether the surface is smooth or rough would have more impact than the material.
As physicist John Backus put it
“For many years there has been discussion and argument on the question of the influence of materials on the tone quality of woodwind instruments.
These arguments probably started in Stone Age musical circles with assertions that a flute made of human thighbone had better tone than one made from the rib of a sabertooth tiger.”
I’ve got a whistle on order with Jerry, so I’ll see if he’d like to respond to this discussion.
However, apparently his user profile didn’t make it over to the C&F 2.0 due to some tech glitch. I’ll let him know about that too.
I think I’ll start selling extremely expensive 5G blocking tin whistles with blocks made from pure unobtanium. Buy 3 and get a free tin foil hat.
I can’t imagine how the block material would have any substantial effect on the sound. The quality of the smooth finish on the windway side certainly would.
If you’re thinking of offering one with a 5G magnet in the block, put me on the waiting list. Be nice to get a decent signal occasionally.
I would also chime in on the side of “it’s the surface not the material”. The belief in material as a prominent factor in woodwind sound and performance has remarkable tenacity, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. I came across another excellent quote on the subject from shakuhachi maker Nelson Zink. It’s not speaking directly to the subject of block material, obviously, but more to the nature of this long-standing myth about materials.
“There is a common belief that the material from which a flute is constructed defines the character of its sound. This misconception has been put to rest by countless studies and experiments. The quality of any particular flute sound is the result of the geometry of its air column–including the holes and blowing mechanism. The sound of a flute comes from the shape of its air, not the material from which the flute is constructed…there are those who will persist in the “material equals sound” belief as it’s the result of associative thinking. Mistaking the menu for the meal, the map for the territory. Bamboo flutes don’t have a ‘bamboo’ sound, they have ‘bamboo’ geometry. Change the geometry of a bamboo flute and you can make it sound like any ‘material’ you want…to me this is such a given, but I’d say almost all players have absorbed the belief that wood choice matters.”
In this instance, I’d say the block falls into the “geometry of the blowing mechanism” category. I expect the material of the block only matters to the degree that its surface creates (or eliminates) resistance/friction or the degree to which it causes condensation. In that respect it might make a difference. Same with absorbency of certain woods (like the juniper wood favored for recorder blocks).
Michael I laughed so much I started tearing up 
Now about flute materials I’ve mentioned these two diametrically opposed experiences a number of times, but here goes!
My first flute was a wood Irish flute, I’d never played Boehm flute (though I had a rough idea of the fingerings). One day I was in a music shop and played a bit on a silver flute they had.
The shop owner stated “you play wooden flute”.
“Yes I do! How did you know?”
“I can hear it. A musical instrument is only a mechanical device. The music is in the person.”
On the other hand at a National Flute Association convention I tried several wood headjoints by the same maker, switched on the same silver Boehm body.
The differences between African Blackwood, Brazilan Rosewood, and Boxwood were plain as day. Perhaps the differences wouldn’t be perceptible to a listener, but they were obvious to the player.
Yes, this is where the difference lies, I think. The experience “under the ear” versus as a listener. I’ve had a lot of players comment on how different the experience of playing one of my ebonite flutes is compared to wood–it has a resonance that they experience as “lively”. As near as I can tell, this experience is confined to the player (I can’t hear the difference if I’m listening, and a microphone definitely can’t tell the difference). They are “feeling” the material because they are in contact with it, and ebonite has a unique feel (especially if the walls are thinner). At one point I did an informal materials test with a friend (Ron Korb) because he and I were developing a line of head joints. We made recordings of a whole bunch of different head joints from various top makers (all of them metal) with the exception of a David Chu boxwood head joint. During playback, we could not consistently identify which was which, but Ron was able to recognize the boxwood. At first we thought, “Well, that’s because it is wood”. But I subjected it to some fairly careful measuring, and found that it had very different dimensions than the metal head joints. Almost all of the metal were identical–they had the classic “parabolic” taper, they had the embouchure hole at the same location relative to the taper, the embouchure cut had consistent dimensions from head joint to head joint, etc.. But the boxwood one was quite different, possibly due to having shrunk a bit. In any case, it was measurably different and it behaved differently. It’s also possible that David had made deliberate alterations to his reamer dimensions to achieve a different effect.
Personally, I think the reason players like wood is because the tactile experience of playing it is different, and they do feel different to the player.