{"id":1284,"date":"2020-09-26T15:30:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T20:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2020-09-26T15:30:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T20:30:39","slug":"difference-between-a-tin-whistle-and-a-flute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/difference-between-a-tin-whistle-and-a-flute\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s The Difference Between A Tin Whistle And A Flute?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are a lot of flutes out there, and sometimes it’s difficult to keep track of which flute is what and which one do you hold sideways and which one do you play pointing forwards, etc. etc. etc. Let’s get this all straightened out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tin whistle is a type of fipple flute with 6 fingering holes and is designed with two open ends and is typically an end-blown instrument. The tin whistle is also designed as a diatonic instrument. The concert flute usually has 16 holes and is usually played transversely.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are lots <\/strong>of differences between the concert flute and the tin whistle. But it can get complicated because there are so many variations of tin whistles and even concert flutes! Let’s dive in and look at the differences in more detail so you don’t mistake the two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The tin whistle and the flute actually are similar in some ways--they both create sound by air vibrating back and forth due to air being blown over and under a hard surface<\/strong>. Both concert flutes and tin whistles modify the air in the pipe by opening and closing holes along the pipe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concert flute and tin whistle have many other differences, size being one of the more obvious ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s take a look at both instruments and take a look at the physical differences of the instrument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parts of the Flute<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The concert flute visually looks much more complex with its multiple keys and the rods that the buttons manipulate to cover the tone holes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A concert flute typically has 16 holes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flute comes in three major parts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Headjoint<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The headjoint <\/strong>is detachable for storage purposes and can be used for tuning the instrument. If you pull out the headjoint the general pitch of the instrument will lower. On the other hand If you push the headjoint in it will make the instrument higher in pitch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The headjoint also has a crown<\/strong> which caps off one end of the flute, and the embouchure hole <\/strong>which is surrounded by a lip plate<\/strong>. The lip plate serves as a resting point for the players lips and to help position the airstream into the hole at just the right angle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The player blows air over and into the embouchure hole<\/strong> at a specific angle to create the sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Body<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The body <\/strong>makes up the primary length of the instrument and it has most of the holes and therefore the keys of the instrument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The player changes the pitch of the instrument by controlling their air speed and by opening and closing the holes of the instrument by pressing the keys on the body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Footjoint<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The footjoint<\/strong> has a couple holes (and therefore keys on it). It’s attached to the bottom of the flute and is aligned carefully so the player can reach the keys, properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parts of the Tin Whistle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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As you can see the tin whistle is much <\/strong>simpler. The tin whistle has 6 holes on the bore of the instrument, and there’s not much else to it. The tin whistle is often note deconstructed although more expensive tin whistles have detachable (and tunable) mouthpieces<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mouthpiece \/ Fipple<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mouthpiece of a tin whistle is called a fipple (a recorder also uses a fipple. If you want to see the differences between a recorder and a tin whistle, check out our article, here<\/a>) has a bit of magic <\/strong>to it. The flute player blows air in a very special angle into and across their embouchure hole that takes a lot of practice to perfect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tin whistle mouthpiece on the other hand, just requires a player to put their mouth against the mouthpiece and blow. This means that a child can easily make the tin whistle make sound within a minute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way this works <\/strong>on a tin whistle is that the mouthpiece has a special sharpened ramp that the air is directed to go over and under which creates the air vibration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some tin whistles mouthpieces are fixed<\/strong>, meaning that the pitch of the instrument is not immediately possible to adjust (without making some *cough* modifications). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Body<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body of the instrument is literally an open pipe with 6 holes. Some tin whistle bodies are conically shaped (like the one in the above diagram), while others are cylindrical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tin whistle, unlike the concert flute doesn’t have any apparatus to help the player cover the holes–the player has to use their fingers to cover the holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now that you’ve seen <\/strong>the difference between the flute and the tin whistle, let’s take a listen and see what the sound differences are between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll warn you, tin whistles come in a huge variety of quality and designs–so you may hear (for example) a Low D Tin Whistle which will have a sound much closer to a concert flute. Concert flutes themselves have hundreds of variations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what I’m going to show you are just two very common <\/strong>sound examples:<\/p>\n\n\n

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