h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A490439

Here's an entry I wrote a while ago. I thought it was a bit technical but Fragilis said it was suitable for Peer Review. Does anybody else have any views?

The technical level is way above my knowledge, but the entry is very well-organised and well written and I think it would make an excellent Edited Guide Entry.

Azara

Gnomon,
Indeed it lookes a good candidate for the guide, factual, informational and so on.

Some comments.
On the technical side, you can mention that the panpipes are also physically different, as the are closed on one side. This influences the wavelength for a standing wave. I leave the calculations for you.

You define woodwinds in such a way, that you should include the big church organ. The air does not come from the mouth, but that was not stated as a restriction. Physically the organ pipes are just big versions of a pan-pipe (if closed) or a normal flute (if open) but without the extra holes. Probably the organ started as a wooden instrument also.

Your statement "All woodwind instruments use tone holes" contradicts your inclusion of the pan-pipe. These have a fixed length without holes, where the different tones are produced by using more pipes.
Maybe you should include "almost".

At least with recorders, you can make half-tones by half covering a hole. With a half thumb-hole you can change the octave.

One small thing - you mention that the clarinet is not able to go up an octave by overblowing, but you don't actually mention overblowing when you talk about the registers earlier for other woodwind instruments. Is that where a description of overblowing should go?

Azara

Thanks for your comments. I've made the following changes:

1. I now mention organs and say that they are beyond the scope of the article.

2. I've explained what overblowing is so that my reference to it later on is now in context.

3. I've changed it to "Almost all woodwind instruments use tone holes".

I haven't added in the acoustical properties of pan-pipes, as I couldn't see anywhere to put it without the article looking very cluttered.

WOW

Another incredibly complete entry Gnomon

Gnomon,
I have tried to find my old schoolbooks, to get the difference between open and closed organ pipes. As far as I remember, they have different basic standing wavelenghts for the same length of pipe.

Technically, the panflute is a combination of a number of closed pipes, nothing more. This should give it a different tone from a version with open ended pipes.

The calculations envolved with open/closed tube ends are covered here: A473528: Brass instruments, tuning and harmonics, with a Workshop thread at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/f57153?thread=90606. Great work again, Gnomon!

Thanks Bossel, that was what I was looking for.
Maybe it is too technical for the entry itself, that is for Gnomon to decide, but we can also look at it in this way:
In an open pipe, the amplitude of the standing wave must be zero at both ends (forgetting holes for the moment). This means a maximum wavelength of twice the length of the pipe. The possible values for the wavelength are 2/n times the length of the pipe, with n a whole number.
In a closed pipe, the side you blow into has an amplitude of zero, at the closure the amplitude is at its maximum. This means a maximum wavelength of four times the pipe-length. The possible values will be 4/(2n+1) , with n=0,1,2,3,....

For a lighter note, there is another version of a closed pipe we probably all have played: an empty bottle, or not quite empty, to tune it.

Maybe the entries on brass and woodwinds can be grouped, with for the technically interested a separate entry just on the physics of musical pipes.

Article written by gnomon = very high standard, therefore as always should be in the edited guide post haste.

The two articles were actually planned together as a pair, but Jeremy went a submit his one months ago without telling me and I lost interest in mine for a long time because I thought it was too technical. I stripped all that stuff about wavelengths and frequencies out of it. I think it is probably more readable as it is. I might put a link to the Brass article, though.

Horrors! Due to a mix-up of two people sharing the one computer, that last message got put in with the wrong person's name. I said it!

Gnomon,

as always: Great Stuff

And as always it's really hard to find something to add or to correct. So let's start:

You mentioned the 'Alpen Horn'. I do not know if there's an English word for that instrument, but if there isn't one and if you want to use the German word, this should be 'Alphorn'.

In the 'Pitch on a woodwind' you say

'The longer the tube, the lower the *sound*; the shorter the tube, the higher the *pitch*.'

Shouldn't that be 'pitch' in both cases (or 'sound', but I think it would be better to keep the nomenclatura consistent)?

I hope this one will still be around when my next picking time comes ...

Jeremy

Thanks, Jeremy. Alpenhorn is correct in English, but not Alpen Horn as I had written. I've fixed it. I've also changed the sound to pitch as you suggested.

Gnomon,
in the Netherlands we have a small version of the Alphorn (at least I think it is), called the Midwinterhorn.

I put information about it on my space, as it comes from an external site. Can you look at entry http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A626276
and see if the info fits in your entry?

Thanks for that, Marijn. I'd never heard of the midwinter horn before. It does not fit into my article as it is not a woodwind. It is technically a brass instrument. I mentioned the alpenhorn only to point out that it is not a woodwind although it is made of wood. I'm not going to list every other instrument that is in the same category.

I keep details of all sorts of instruments on my Instrument Reference page. I'll add what you've said about the Midwinter Horn to it. I may add it to an edited entry someday.

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'Woodwind Instruments - An Overview'.

This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review Forum because your entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

You can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.h2g2.com/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!

Thank you!

Congrats Gnomon. Well done.

Azara