This is one for the whistles makers, I think. Much more learned folk than me on this forum have suggested that different makes of whistle address the balance of tuning between 1st and 2nd octave in different ways. While the pressure needed for the 2nd octave may follow intuitively with some whistles, with others 2nd octave notes played with this amount of air may turn out to be flat or sharp requiring harder or softer blowing respectively. In the pursuit of understanding better how my instrument works I’m intrigued by this notion and would like to know how, in practice, a whistle can be tuned in these different ways, given in each case the whistle has to be in tune in the 1st octave to begin with.
I’m also interested in understanding how differing balances between 1st and 2nd tuning affect all other aspects of playing e.g. I’m told that a whistle with a 2nd octave that requires harder blowing will have more “room” beneath the 2nd octave notes for the likes of “falling away” techniques but will be much louder in the 2nd octave when played in tune.
Thanks for your input.
Dear Mike,
The taper of the bore has a lot to do with it. Copelands have much more of a stretch between octaves than do the Generations, for example. Benade addresses this issue of purposeful octave stretch in one of his lesser papers (I can find it if you want). I’ve found that one player prefers the octaves to be in one alignment, while another is adamant about a different behavior.
There are other factors such as any undercut of the block. Modern whistles such as Abell or Kelischek have a definite thickness of the sidewalls and this feature creates a high tonehole chimney which affects the octaves. Also: length of the tapered section; perturbations of the bore; height of the window; size of toneholes; robustness of voicing, etc.. In most cases, the maker brings these features together in a way that he feels he can control consistently in the product. I feel somewhat comfortable in voicing my whistles as “mellow” or “robust” to suit the player, but anything else requires a design change.
Walt
Hi Walt,
Interesting stuff. Thanks very much. There are far more variables involved than I imagined. My interest was primarily in respect of low whistles where tapered bores are perhaps rarer but, nevertheless, I can see how many other dimensions etc come into play. So am I right in saying that larger holes reduce the stretch between octaves as will a shorter window?
So, turning to the second question I posed, can you comment on what you see as the advantages and disadvantages of a greater stretch between octaves from the point of view of playability.
Many thanks.
Mike
Mike,
I’m referring to Laura Beha Joof’s article:
10. Widening the window will make the octave smaller, and vice versa.
11. [A taller window] . . . the octaves will be smaller.
13. Too large a windway . . . the octaves may be smaller.
Larger diameter toneholes tend to stretch the octaves. If the instrument has thick walls (wooden instruments typically), then the octave will stretch on the long tube (E) and compress on the short tube (C#).
Walt