So, I’ve just acquired the subject “instrument”.
So the question: Does anyone regard this as an actual musical instrument? Or is it merely for Spike Jonesian sound effects?
I got it from a restaurant that is closing as of today, and they are clearing all their decorations and props, of which this is one. Ostensibly, the device has less than an octave range (which begs the question: How much actual music can be made on said device?), but can we be tricky with overblowing? Note, I just got this puppy, and I’m at work, so I can’t experiment quite yet.
Here comes the “Physics of Sound” lesson
Unlike a traditional whistle, because this is a tube only open on one end (go ahead, I dare you - argue why a pennywhistle is closed on one end) , the slide whistle has an odd harmonic series, meaning that overblowing should produce not the next octave, but an octave plus a fifth (similar to the clarinet), and the next overtone would be two octaves plus a third. Any possibilities here? Heck, if trombone players can do it …
Over blowing it should be able to hit C C G E Bb D F etc. with the slide fully extended (assuming the low note is C). It should act just like a willow flute with it’s end closed. Bore width to length ratio might be limiting though and not allow much over two octaves. No reason that it shouldn’t be considered a real instrument, but I can not think of anyone that has used it for anything outside of Looney Toons and sound effects.
Except trombone doesn’t normally operate in the pedal tone range, which is the usual case with the slide whistle.
I think you have an extra C in there: C G E Bb D F. But yes, you can hear this series (starting on G) on a normal whistle by covering all the holes and stopping the bell end completely against your knee. Of course the stopped end lowers the fundamental by 1 octave, and it seems impossible to hit that pedal note. So the first G is a 12th above the pedal, or a 5th above the unstopped whistle’s normal bell tone.
Good Idea, ID! I shall have a crack at making one. Now, Shall I make it in A, D or C…? (A would be longer and therefore either more notes or better likelihood of control).
I seem to recall that some years back someone - was it Avanutria? - posted a vid of a kitchen session where they were playing ITM on slide whistles. It was pretty funny.
It is good to know whether or not one should take these things seriously as one pores over catalogs from Elderly Instruments, Lark in the Morning, and Oriental Trading Company.
He may be another Chiffer; sadly I cannot remember his name. Tom might know.
It should be noted that in comparison to the nose flute Tom had been playing earlier, the slide whistle was an improvement, so that might have contributed to the nonchalance displayed.
I have a slide harmonica somewhere. It doesn’t slide to different notes - it just does a wah-wah effect, or if you’re really good, helps you bend notes up or down. I never got far with it.
But I’ve built my Slide whistle/Calliope flute!
It’s in 15mm plumbing tubing, and the length is the same from the airway blade to the end of an A whistle, which is the lowest note I do in this size of whistle. (about 330 mm). The same bore does D, C, B, Bb & A.
What can I say? It’s crap! Because the tube is blocked, the notes you get are about two octaves higher than the lowest D on a high D. That is pretty squeaky. I get about three recogniseable notes on the pennywhistle octave on this length of tube. It works, sort of.
If I do this again - and I might, I’m intruiged - I would use a much longer pipe. I’d like to use a larger bore, the 20mm that I use for low whistles.
I’ll post a picture if I can steal the camera from my daughter…
Without looking … That must be a chromatic harmonica with a chromatic slide, not a piston slide. Or must it?
Added: I crossed posts with IB. Now I’ve got to take a look.
It’s interesting … Stopping the tube actually lowers the fundamental by one octave.* You can hear this is you remove the mouthpiece/fipple, and blow across the open end of the tube like a pan pipe. But because of the way a fipple mouthpiece works, the lowest note you can probably play is the 12th - i.e. the first available overtone of the stopped series.
This is why the lowest note of a clarinet is nearly 1 octave below a flute, even though the lengths are approximately the same.
It’s a terrible picture from my mobile phone, because the proper cameras are lost in the children’s bedrooms somewhere. I am that blurred in real life - the whistle is not.
The lowest note on this is in fact a G [xoo ooo on the A whistle] but with a very impure tone.
If I did this again I would curve the blade of the airway, like I do on the overtone flutes, to make the most of the harmonics.
