Simple question about making a key changing flute

[Mhoram]

Now i'm very new with whistles, so i'm certain there is some obvious flaw in my reasoning here and someone will point it out quickly, but here's what I was thinking:

If you have a whistle with a removable mouthpiece, wouldn't it be possible to create a spacer to fit snuggly over the whistle, and into the mouthpiece, extending the whistle's length by half an inch, an inch, whatever. Wouldn't this change the key of the whistle, allowing you to play lower notes when you need them, and take the spacer out when you didn't?

I think the answer is going to be that it would change the intonation of the instrument, that the note holes would no longer be spaced out correctly to make the right notes.

I really want to play the Harry Potter theme song "Hedgwig's Theme", but the D whistle is three notes short on the low end and i'm not prepared to buy a new whistle at this time.

Any chance of this working or is it a vain idea?

[BoneQuint]

Yeah, the intonation would be way off it you lowered the pitch of the whistle three steps, and it would sound horrible. Good for spacy sound effects, maybe.

Instead, you could transpose the tune up from D to G, then play it on the D whistle using a cross-fingered C-natural. Just change the key signature to have only one sharp (at F#), and move every note up three steps. So the low A becomes a low D. A C# becomes an F#, etc. Make sense?

As a bonus, if you ever do get an A whistle, then you could play it using those same fingerings, and it would come out in D as originally written.

[Unseen122]

I think the answer is going to be that it would change the intonation of the instrument, that the note holes would no longer be spaced out correctly to make the right notes.

I really want to play the Harry Potter theme song "Hedgwig's Theme", but the D whistle is three notes short on the low end and i'm not prepared to buy a new whistle at this time.

To the first paragraph, that is absolutly correct. To the second, not prepared to buy another Whistle, wat kind of an attitude is that?

[Thomas-Hastay]

You are correct about the spacing between the toneholes. As an instrument gets lower in pitch the spacing between the toneholes increases due to the frequency nodes. Up or down 1 major keynote is not too much trouble, but 3?

PVC whistles are really cheap to make and there are a lot of talented makers here. The "Design Mathematics" is the reason for most of the cost on a high end whistle. I suggest you post a request for a PVC whistle in the key you desire. Maybe a new whistle isn't as expensive as you think?

Thomas Hastay

[Loren]

The "Design Mathematics" is the reason for most of the cost on a high end whistle.

[Denny]

The "Design Mathematics" is the reason for most of the cost on a high end whistle.

well...have you priced a super computer lately?

[peeplj]

Looking at my Overton and my Burkes in particular, I would say a lot of the price of a high-end whistle goes to meticulous workmanship, rigorous quality control, and the touch of a master's hand and mind.

Ditto for flutes only much more so.

Just my $.02.

--James

[m31]

I really want to play the Harry Potter theme song "Hedgwig's Theme", but the D whistle is three notes short on the low end and i'm not prepared to buy a new whistle at this time.

Unless you absolutely need to play in the same octave and key of the original tune, I would think your current whistle should have enough range to play the basic melody. Start on a higher note. The accidentals will be a bit tricky though.

[Unseen122]

Looking at my Overton and my Burkes in particular, I would say a lot of the price of a high-end whistle goes to meticulous workmanship, rigorous quality control, and the touch of a master's hand and mind.

Ditto for flutes only much more so.

Just my $.02.

--James

That is what I thought. There is a difference in quality control between a Generation and a Sindt, yes a good Gen and Sindt sound similar, but the Sindt is a better made whistle using higher cost materials and should last way longer.

As for Flutes, there is an incredible difference between a Pakistani FSO and an Olwell.

[Wormdiet]

If you want to get extravagant, here's another solution using exactly the same whistle - and almost entirely without modification!

1. Whistle
2. Harmonica pickup. The kind with the little velcro thing that sticks to your instrument.
3. Guitar amp
4. Guitar effects pedal with a pitch-shifter.
5. Assorted cords
6. Rockstar attitude

But I have to warn you - it might not fly at your local session.

[Easily_Deluded_Fool]

There is a load of John Williams tunes in midi format at


http://musicby.jw-music.net/midi.php?cr ... lm&lang=us


Get a midi prog' e.g. midinotate if you want to see the
'sheet music'.

Harry Potter music is there including
Hedwigs Theme in a couple of variations.

[michael_coleman]

If you want to get extravagant, here's another solution using exactly the same whistle - and almost entirely without modification!

1. Whistle
2. Harmonica pickup. The kind with the little velcro thing that sticks to your instrument.
3. Guitar amp
4. Guitar effects pedal with a pitch-shifter.
5. Assorted cords
6. Rockstar attitude

But I have to warn you - it might not fly at your local session.

This would work as long as the sound of amp would drown out the whistle, but it would probably still be gross unless you played 5ths, but even that would sound weird.

[Wormdiet]

If you want to get extravagant, here's another solution using exactly the same whistle - and almost entirely without modification!

1. Whistle
2. Harmonica pickup. The kind with the little velcro thing that sticks to your instrument.
3. Guitar amp
4. Guitar effects pedal with a pitch-shifter.
5. Assorted cords
6. Rockstar attitude

But I have to warn you - it might not fly at your local session.

This would work as long as the sound of amp would drown out the whistle, but it would probably still be gross unless you played 5ths, but even that would sound weird.

Details! Everybody's a critic.



I actually did try this idea with my flute through a guitar processor. It was a lot of fun until the novelty wore off. I was hoping for some really cool stuff to happen with the wah-wah pedal but no dice. I don;t think flutes, even Irish "reedy" flutes, provide enough harmonic content for a wah to mess around with and distort. The delay and reverse delay were a hoot though. Pitch shift doesn't work too well because the processor emitted a lot of electronic gurgles and hiccups and didn't sound "real."