Abstract:

The pitch produced by a flute-type instrument with a single tone hole depends on the position and size of that hole. Comparisons of theory with reality would be easiest if that tone hole had continuously variable size and position, so that no other holes need be present to complicate matters. A scheme for having such a tone hole has recently been presented [D. Hall and J. Schreiner, Proc. Intl. Soc. Musical Acoustics, Edinburgh (1977)]. A recorder head joint attached to a slotted cylindrical tube fitted with a sleeve with a wedge-shaped hole allows ranges of approximately 5 cm in hole position, a factor of 5 in hole size, and 2.5 semitones in pitch. This makes possible relatively simple experiments for (1) comparing the effect of hole size and position upon fundamental frequency with approximate theories and (2) studying the effect of hole size and position upon departure from harmonicity of the first two natural modes of the instrument. Results of such experiments will be presented.