Chiff and Fipple Forums

Can anyone explain why a short cylinder like a tenor drone gives a pitch one octave lower than a tin whistle of the same key and length?
Ie the same pitch as a low D whistle twice as long as the tenor drone?
Im baffled , thanks

Stopped pipe effect like a clarinet where the whistle's behaving as an open pipe.

Technical explanation, with pictures and video, at http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/flutes.v.clarinets.html.

It's mostly the bore diameter.

For a given length of tubing the narrower the bore the lower the pitch.

It's why a Scottish practice chanter is a full octave lower than a Scottish pipe chanter.

As you widen the bore, if you want to keep the same pitch you have to keep lengthening the tube.

You can test the effect by blowing a whistle top in your mouth with your hand around it and as you blow start narrowing the opening in your hand more and more and hear the pitch go down. The bore isn't getting longer, it's just getting more restricted.

It's more complicated than that of course, you have cylindrical bore v tapered/conical bore, and open pipe v stopped pipe.

pancelticpiper wrote:It's why a Scottish practice chanter is a full octave lower than a Scottish pipe chanter.

In that case, the difference is due to the bore taper, not the absolute diameter. The practice chanter has a cylindrical bore, while the GHB chanter has enough of a taper that it sounds an octave higher. A wider bore alone on a cylindrical chanter wouldn't be enough to give you a full octave higher.