Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hi,
I hope i am posting in the right section.
Does anyone know why are various fipple flutes are made from a cylindrical tube with the same diameter at both ends (bulgarian duduks, slovac and hungarian whistles) and some with cylindrical tubes but one end has a smaller opening diameter than the rest of the tube (romanian whistles).
How does this affect the sound? Or does it affect the sound?
Here you can see two photos that show exactly the difference betwen the two tyes http://hungarianfolkmusic.com/sct/74479 ... er-Furulya

The smaller opening at the end is found in several east-european fipple flutes (not only romanian).
It enhances overblowing, lowers the bottom notes and sweetens the overall sound of the instrument, but also weakens the low octave, particularly the lowest tone.

[Thread revival. - Mod]

As a player of Transylvanian [Romanian, HUngarian] and Csángo & Moldavian fluier/furulya, I use several of these 6-hole fipple flutes, common keys these days being A and C, altho' one can find them in a variety of lengths. I like the brief summary Michael Loos posted about the narrowed opening at the lower end of the tube. Many musicians playing in E. European traditions place a strong emphasis on the altered (well, altered compared, let's say, to an open-ended Irish/English pennywhistle) balance that results, e.g., greater control of vibrato, of harmonics, a mixing of registers, and so forth. Many players and tunes work best in 2nd and 3rd overblown registers, rarely going down into the lowest register at all. Note the widespread use of lower lip to partially cover the windway in the fipple, which lets a player combine breath sound with harmonics in ways that Western musical instruments ignore or consider "ugly" or unmusical or.....