I am a teacher at an elementary school. At the beginning of the year I ordered two whistles, the kind which are round and have a little ball inside. My question is this:
Why are these whistles pitched a half tone away from each other? One is a half tone sharp above the other, while the other is a half tone flat to the first. They both appear identical in size and shape, are both made out of the same material, by the same company, but there is a definite difference in pitch. I think I might know the answer, but I’ll wait to hear the pros speak!
I don’t know why I’m stil scratching my head on this one as I know nothing about this sort of thing…BUT…would even a minute difference in the size of the ball have anything to do with it? Gm
I thought the ball gave the alarm whistle that trill. What about the size of the airway. When you get an instrument so small, the slightest perturbations would make a big difference, I would imagine.
Place one whistle 3.475 miles away from the other. Place both of them at an angle of 23 degrees off true north (not magnetic).
Lower yourself to the mouth piece of either of the two whistles. Do not touch the whistle with any part of your body and blow into the mouthpiece from 2.6 inces distance.
The other whistle will emit a sound similar to a left footed muskrat in Spring.
THAT is all you need to know about Quantum Mechanics.
I wonder if you could drill little holes into the body like an ocarina and play tunes in the yard. You could train the kids to melodies like the cavalry.
Tony
Grannymouse is the intuitive one here. Bravo Granny!
“If” both whistles are exactly the same size internaly and both voicing windows are the same size…then the size of the “pea” determins the internal cubic volume and thus the pitch. Bigger pea,smaller cubic area,sharper pitch and vise-versa.
Hello:
Don’t want to over-simplify, but have you tried pulling out/or pushing in one of the fipples? They might just be lined up (pushed in) differently from one another.
If they are glued, you might try the hot water method detaled elsewhere in Chiff & Fipple.
This might help the intonation.
Best of luck,
Mark Sackett
I appreciate your efforts on this one. I thought, at first, that it was the size of the ball inside, but they both appear to be the same size. So I tried something else, and that was, to blow with the same intensity into both whistles. Remember, they’re coaches whistles. Anyway, one played with little air, while the other reqired much air. So I’m thinking that the answer lies in the angle of the air when it hits the blade. One plays with little effort, so its pitch will be low, or flat, while the other plays only with a lot of air, caising its pitch to be higher. So, some of the posts gave me the idea of what’s wrong, but while cleaning my desk, today, I tried the air test, and one played easier than the other. Thanks for your comments! JP
You say that the higher pitch whistle takes more breath pressure and that would account for the increased pitch. A “block” or “flue” voicing with a labium ramp will rise in pitch with a rise in airstream velocity.
Visual test: Look through the windway mouthpiece at the leading edge of the labium ramp. The “easy blow” whistle will probably have a better alignment and smoother surfaces.
Fun modification… Drill a small hole in one of the flat sides or both and you will have a trilling ocarina that can play different pitches.
You could always try finding the whistles’ volumes by filling them with water and then measuring the amount of water it took to fill each. If the volumes are equal, you’ll know the difference must be from the angles involved.
