Hello everyone,
every now and then I find it difficult to interpret the phrase “narrow bore”: I can never understand perfectly if the Anglo-Saxons use these two words to refer to the diameter of the instrument tube/pipe, or to describe the internal space of the beak.
Please, native English speakers, help me solve this interpretation problem.
Thank you.
It’s the diameter of the tube/pipe (specifically the internal diameter).
But the exact measurement is likely subjective…
THANKS!
Yes, it could be narrower than some assumed general standard or narrower than a particular maker’s standard. So there can be no exact meaning when one maker’s ‘narrow’ could be another’s ‘standard’ and so on.
Exactly, the “bore” of a woodwind or brass instrument refers to the inside of the sounding length, not including the mouthpiece.
On conical-bore bagpipe chanters the narrowest part of the bore nearest the reed is called the “throat” which has a critical effect on how the chanter plays.
I’ve heard Clarinet players call the top of the bore nearest the barrel joint the “throat” as well.
On whistles you have a complicated mouthpiece with a windway, window, and blade. One speaks of “windway height” “windway width” and “windway length” as well as “window width”.
Then some woodwinds have “bells” (like the Clarinet) which I don’t suppose would be considered part of the “bore” per se.
In addition to “assumed standard” there can be an observed average based on measurements taken from a variety of whistles, which I have done.
In general, and organ builders have a formula for this, as the length increases the bore increases as well, but at a slower rate of increase.
Therefore High D whistles have wider bores, proportionally, that Low D whistles.
It becomes clear when you plot the length-to-bore ratio of a large number of whistles of keys ranging from High D to Bass A. You can see the range that makers all stay within, the average ratio for any given size, and the outliers.
As the bore gets wider the low octave gets stronger and the 2nd octave gets stiffer, more difficult to sound, and more harsh in tone. Wide enough and you lose the 2nd octave completely.
As the bore gets narrower the 2nd octave gets sweeter and easier to hit, while the low octave gets softer. Narrow enough and you lose the low octave altogether, or it’s just a faint whispery noise, un-useable for playing.
Anyhow for me a “narrow bore” whistle is one that falls below the plotted average length-to-bore ratio for the given size.
It varies from maker to maker I suppose. Commonly it came into use when the popularity of the Session Bore eclipsed the formerly “normal” standard for a maker like Burke. The first time I noticed it was with the Burke whistles actually. His Session Bore whistles became so popular he began to refer to his standard bores as narrow bores. So the term may have been popularized there.
I think it absolutely varies maker to maker and it would be difficult to define exactly what that means across all whistles. I think more broadly the whistle trade off is (1) easier (less breath) upper octaves at the increased difficulty of maintaining the bell note (e.g. D on a D whistle) without it breaking to the upper octave versus (2) more breath needed to hit the upper octave but a more stable lower octave and more volume for sessions where it needs to be heard over other instruments. The wider the bore the more you get from once side to the other within reason. So with within the same maker if they say narrow bore, they’re saying that within their line it leans more toward (1) and wider bore leans more toward (2).