Yet another stupid question.

[MTGuru]

Warming a cold whistle (regardless of material) by blowing warm, moisture-laden breath through it may not be the best way, as your windway may already be half-full of water before you ever start to play.

Maybe not ... But I do it all the time. A quick puff / suck through the windway and the condensation is gone. No biggie. Many good whistle players that I know do it. Whatever works.

There's a joke in there somewhere about no room in my pants for a whistle ...

[CranberryDog]

Electric socks that are battery powered work well. Cheers, Cyril

[Anglorfin]

Through a little research here are some cool science facts.


Volumetrically speaking, Aluminum is more affected by temperature than brass is. That is, Aluminum will show more shrinkage per drop in degree of temperature.

However Aluminum is a better conductor of heat so it will actually warm up quicker than brass.

Not sure about composites or wood as their material makeups are a bit more complicated.

Theoretically if you had two whistles of exact same dimensions and design with one being aluminum and one being brass, the aluminum one should always be a bit flatter in cold weather. However it will take less time for it to literally "warm up".

edit: I just forgot that woods are great insulators. And shrinkage may vary greatly, so woods are probably always best played when you know they are warm.

Delrin is even less affected by thermal expansion/contraction than brass or aluminum. However it does take the longest to "warm up".

So if you find yourself running late to a session and you are carrying your whistles in out of the cold, start with a composite as it will play slightly better on average than any metal whistle. But if you have a few minutes to say hello and order a beer then pull out your aluminum once you sit down to play

[walrii]

Different materials require different amounts of heat to warm up the same amount. This value is called Specific Heat. It is measure in Joules of energy required to raise one gram of material one degree Kelvin. For some common whistle materials, the values of specific heat are:

Aluminum .897
Wood .42
Copper .385
Silver .233

So, an aluminum whistle will take over twice as much heat to warm up as a brass whistle of the same weight (I assuming the speciifc heat of brass is similar to copper). The amount of heat to warm a high D whistle is so small as to make this discussion probably moot, however there may be a noticible diifference in a low D, especially if you compared a silver low D to an aluminum one.

The Net is a wonderful thing.

[HarpsichordMan]

I've been playing recorder for something like 35 years and have always warmed up the head of the recorder in a pocket or arm pit (I promise to never sell one of them here!) before a performance. Not only is tuning affected, but so is the amount of condensate generated -- warming up the instrument will certainly produce less condensate build-up. Can't speak about brass/aluminum, but the warm up time s/b very little given the conductivity of metal vs. wood. My guess is, given your situation, that brass or aluminum will beat wood 100% of the time.
-dan

[hoopy mike]

Ah, but the shrinkage / coefficient of thermal expansion of the body material is a red herring, cos playing in a cold room would tend to shrink the whistle, thus making it sharper. It's the temperature of the air inside that matters, but heat conduction / insulation is what counts. Playing a whistle is more like blowing across a demijohn than blowing a trumpet - air exchange is minimal, so room temperature / body temperature of the instrument makes a big difference.

I'm a lecturer in engineering, and wondered about setting a project on the response to temperature of an orchestra of instruments (whistle included of course). Whereas whistles go flat in cold conditions, what happens to stringed instruments? (Rhetorical question, unless someone wants to hazard a guess!) The thought of locking a student in a cold store and getting them to play a variety of instruments is too good an opportunity to miss!

Mike

[Anglorfin]

I'm a lecturer in engineering, and wondered about setting a project on the response to temperature of an orchestra of instruments (whistle included of course). Whereas whistles go flat in cold conditions, what happens to stringed instruments? (Rhetorical question, unless someone wants to hazard a guess!)

Mike

My guess is they are slightly sharper as the string become more taut. O am assuming it would be the same for any instrument where the physical reverberation of the material is what produces the sound. Xylophones, cowbells, drums . . .

[MTGuru]

Whereas whistles go flat in cold conditions, what happens to stringed instruments?

I'd guess wooden stringed instruments tend to go flat when cold. It's probably not string contraction that's the main issue. As the wood shrinks in cold, less humid air, the bridge will tend to drop, thus lowering string tension. Also, colder, slower air in the resonant body of e.g. a fiddle or guitar will increase the effective chamber size, resulting in a darker, more bass-heavy sound.

[Anglorfin]

There's actually a lot of cool science in this. I'm really curious now. I wonder if it's possible to balance string tautness and body shrinkage or if this is something that expert instrument crafters even think about when shaping the instrument. Of course optimal performance will be room temperature so I guess the practicality of making an all-weather violin is trumped by other design aspects.

[Jetboy]

Am I correct in thinking wooden whistles don't require warming up?

Wood whistles definitely need warming up. And they take longer to do so than a metal one too. Usually takes a tune or two to bring them nicely into line. I always recommend that you take your whistle out and leave it on the table for a while to acclimatise to the location before playing it as well.

[hoopy mike]

Interesting stuff, thanks folks.

Here's my flat Sweetone whistle playing along with a fiddle and guitar...
http://www.myspace.com/reel2reelfolk
(select Skye Boat Song)

Not the greatest whistle tune (or the greatest player) but hey, gotta start somewhere

Take care,
Mike