My geometry teacher asked me to do a paper for my quarter project on what things effect the pitch and loudness of whistles. She was specifficly wondering about how the volume of air blown in, the boar of the pype, and the height. I’m using her non whistler words to describe these things. Some of these things I already think I know the answer to, but I wanted to ask the big community on here! So, what do y’all think? Thanks guys!
A big boar will certainly make a racket
A Racket
An even bigger kind of bore, eats men, so is much more voracious than the wild boar… 
Germainus Abhorous.
Ahem…seriously though,
Pitch can be sharpened and flattened by blowing harder or softer.
The volume of air passing through the windway of the whistle can do a few things: focus the embouchure and have a streamlined airflow and the whistle can sound purer in tone. This also allows for less air being wasted and longer passages of playing before taking a breath. If you start blowing harder there will be an increase in volume but the downside is that the whistle will start to go sharp in tone, and depending on the whistle it will start to screech and sound shrill.
Talking in general terms here, the wider the bore the more mellow the sound. I am not sure what you are refering to when you say ‘height’, so I can’t help you on that one. Maybe height is really meant to be length?
If so, then the longer the tube then the lower the bell note of the whistle will be.
I think the pictures would spice up his report nicely. Can’t say what they might do to the grade, though. However, a geometry teacher who asks an acoustical engineering question should be happy with whatever she gets. In my day, geometry was all about proving “Angle A is congruent to Angle D.”
<Old fart huffs and grunts about how much better the world was “back then.”>
Also…when a whistle is cold it will be flat in pitch, as it warms up with playing it will get sharper.
Be sure to spell check it. 
Twice.
why don’t you play something for her on your whistle, to demonstrate your points? Use a high, shrill one for maximum irritation and play it loud. That’ll teach her.
Whistlecrazy-
You might want to check out the make yer own whistle page. Mr. Guido not only tells us how to make one, but what some of the “tweaks” might accomplish. Look under the heading “How To Get Your Favourite Sound”.
Here’s a link : http://guido.gonzato.googlepages.com/whistle.html
TC
My suggestion would be to post an outline of what you think you know so far, and from there no doubt people will be unable to resist responding with corrections and further suggestions. You’re going to have to outline and work on writing it all out sooner or later, so you might as well test drive it on us.
I don’t know too much about it, but some factors I can think of are:
– Whistle length: a longer whistle is lower pitched (and you make it “shorter” by opening holes)
– Bore: a bigger bore makes the whistle louder
– Amount of air being blown: blowing too softly makes the whistle sound flat, blowing harder makes it sound sharper (and then it jumps up to the next harmonic…).
What else have you thought of so far?
The bore of the whistle (not to be confused with the boor who disturbs your session nor the boar who disturbs your walk in the woods) also has a relationship (strictly platonic) with the length of the whistle. I’m unclear exactly what happens if one gets off the “optimum length to bore ratio” but it has an effect. If I recall an earlier post correctly, the optimum LBR is 20-something.
Even more obviously, the boor has a relationship with the length of the session and the boar has a relationship with the length of the walk in the woods. Derivation of those relationships is left as a problem for the student.
Good luck with your homework, whistlecrazy. Hopefully, one of our resident whistlesmiths will log on shortly and explain all. Meanwhile, those of us with no homework will highjack your thread with really poor puns.
If the bore is too skinny the low notes are weak or will not not even sound - you get the harmonics (look up tabor pipe) if the bore is too fat the 2nd octave is hard to get.
If the boar is too fat he is easy to catch, if the boar is too skinny …
Thank you all for your help! It sounds like I was right in my knoledge. I did mean length when I said height. I know in the whistling world length is the term of choice, and I’m going to say so in my paper. I only used that because it’s how she worded things, and I wanted to give you a feel for what she indicated to me. The only question I now have is, if the whistle has a larger bore, I got it right this time!, does that mean that it takes more air to get it into the second octave? I have found this to be true with Susatos, but I don’t want to state that unless it is an actual fact and not just a tendancy of that brand. I simply intend to explain in my paper exactly what it sounds like; all the things that can affect the pitch of a whistle, and how easy or dificult these factors make it for the player to change it. Once again, thanks!
All right guys, here it is, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I got a 100% on it! Josh Andrews
Shyrock 4
5-7-08
Quarter 4 Geometry Project
The Irish tin whistle, a six holed cylindrical instrument with a rough, flute like sound, provides several options for the adjustment of pitch. Most often, players will take their fingers off holes to raise it, and cover holes to lower it. Along with this, the volume of air plays a crucial role in the pitch level. The size of the holes, the wind way, and the opening on the mouth piece from which the sound issues, can also play a role. For a whistler, these issues are taken in to consideration when ever he purchases a whistle.
The size of the wind way determines how much air is needed to play the whistle. If a whistler wants to ascend in to the second register of notes on a whistle, he must send a much more intense stream of air into the whistle. The larger the wind way, the more air is required. For some, this may mean some whistles are unplayable because they are unable to put forth enough air to deliver a decent tone. Not only can this make some whistles challenging to play, but large holes can provide their own learning experience.
To form notes, whistlers use their fingers to cover and uncover the six holes cut along the body of the instrument. The size of these holes varies from whistle to whistle. If the holes are extremely large as they are on some whistles, it can be very difficult to produce a solid note if the whistler has small fingers. In these cases, the resulting notes may be either flat and/or sharp depending on which part of each hole is left uncovered. This is usually not an issue except for very low whistles, which are much longer than higher whistles.
The factor which ultimately determines the key of a whistle is its length. The longer the whistle is, the lower the tone. It is crucial when making a whistle to perform exact measurements and tuning or the whistle will produce the wrong key.
A final variable is the bore, or thickness of the pipe used to make the whistle. Very wide bore pipes produce a very sweet, mellow tone, while very narrow bore pipe gives a very piercing tone. Additionally, wider bore whistles are much louder. Because of their size, wide bore whistles are harder for those with smaller fingers to play.
If all these things are taken into account, a whistle made by a good maker in the hands of an excellent musician can take one’s breath away. When making whistles, artisans must perform highly accurate measurements when carving the holes and wind way and selecting the right type of pipe. Along with the bore decision, they must choose whether to use a metal variant or plastic based on what tone they desire. Whistle making and playing are truly arts.
Thank you all so much for your help!