What’s a pitch pipe and how do you use one?

Pitch pipe

A pitch pipe or pitchpipe is a small device that sounds one note or notes. It is used to establish the correct starting note or pitch reference for musicians or singers. Pitch pipes come in all shapes and sizes.

Early pitch pipes

Early pitch pipes looked very similar to a recorder, but they had a plunger – not unlike a slide whistle or swanee or swannee whistle. The pipe was generally made of wood, such as oak, walnut or mahogany. The bore of the pipe was often square and the plunger was sometimes coated with leather. The plunger sometimes had markings for the notes in chromatic or diatonic scale. So, when the plunger was set to a specific position, the indicated note was produced when the instrument was blown. This type of pitch pipe was often used in the 18th and 19th centuries in churches were there was no organ to provide the opening note of a hymn. Tuning forks are not really a valid alternative because they are not loud enough. Today early pitch pipes are quite rare.

19th century pitch pipe by Paul WALCH

Modern pitch pipes

History has it that William Jacob KRATT invented the first fully modern pitch pipe in 1936. William was born in 1892 in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Trossingen is home to the company Hohner, founded in 1857. Hohner produced harmonicas and accordions and William started work there. In 1910, aged 18, he decided to emigrate to America. There, after turning 25, he started his own company in Union, New Jersey, USA.

The original pitch pipe he invented had eight notes from C to C. Then he redesigned the pipe to include all 13 notes – not only the white notes but also the sharps and flats. The pitch pipe was manufactured by the KRATT family for a whopping 76 years until they sold the firm to the MCNAMERA family. The MCNAMERAs had produced plastic parts for the production of the pipes. The Kratt Pitch Pipe Company is still a family business (MCNAMERA) and the only company in the United States producing pitch pipes, as well as other tuning devices. The company still uses most of the original 1936 dies. The families estimate that over those 89 years, they’ve manufactured more than three million pitch pipes.

Modern pitch pipe

How to use a modern pitch pipe

Simply, choose the note you wish to check or tune and blow into the note. There are now different pitch pipes for different instruments too.

LIBRARY OVERVIEW

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Fife – CAHUSAC, Thomas Sr.

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Emil Rittershausen – Boehm flutes made in Berlin

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Schwedler-style flute – ADLER, Robert Oswald

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Reform flute – V. Kohlert Söhne with Pupeschi system

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Bassoon – HUITTL, Ignaz

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E. Rittershausen, Berlin

One of the beautiful stories of mythology tells of the way the first musical instrument was suggested. As the story runs, as Orpheus was walking along the shores of the sea, his foot struck a reed that had been cast up by the waters, and had dried in the sun. The reed gave forth a soft, sweet sound as it was made to vibrate by the stroke of Orpheus’ foot and the result was the lyre or hand-harp of the ancient Egyptians. A similar story, and probably the same one adapted to the wind instruments, is that of Lucretius which says that “the simple flute had its origin from the breathing of western winds over certain reeds,” and thus was suggested the musical pipe, or simple tube, which has developed into one of the most fascinating of instruments.

The most elaborate and beautiful collection of flutes ever displayed in the United States, and probably in the world, was seen by visitors to the German section of the Columbian Exposition. The display was that of E. Rittershausen, of Berlin. It was arranged in a large, square glass case, and consisted of flutes made of various woods, of Ebonite and of sterling silver. The Rittershausen flutes are the standard of the world, and have received the indorsement of the best performers upon this favorite instrument. Until 1832 the flute was not regarded as a perfect instrument. In that year Theobald Boehm, of Munich, brought the instrument to such a degree of perfection as to make it one of the most prominent of orchestral and solo instruments. The Rittershausen flutes are made exactly upon the Boehm system, and with such wondrous skill and delicacy of workmanship as to have long since become the favorite of discriminating flutists. It is, in fact, the instrument universally referred to when the Boehm flute is desired.

Like the illustrious Boehm, Mr. Rittershausen is also a virtuoso as well as a manufacturer, devoting his entire faculties to the production of a perfect flute. By his own practical skill he is enabled to appreciate the many details and requirements in the construction of such an instrument as is demanded by the most fastidious virtuoso. This, it will readily be seen, is an invaluable consideration in the selection of a flute by a skilled performer. And in the rapid progress of musical culture of America, there are many lovers of the beautiful instrument who are its admirers and enthusiastic students at the present time.

Living in the musical city of Berlin, Mr. Rittershausen is thrown in personal contact with the greatest flutists of Europe, thereby receiving many suggestions from them that are of incalculable benefit in the manufacture of his instruments. The Rittershausen factory is located at 107 Bergmann street, Berlin, and its product has been famous from the establishing of the present business in 1870. Each year adds largely to the number of Rittenhausen-Boehm flutes in use in America, and they have received the highest testimonials from the most famous composers and performers in this country as well as those abroad. The American representative of the Rittershausen flutes is Mr. Carl Fischer, No. 6 Fourth Avenue, New York.

Musical Instruments at the World’s Columbian Exposition – Frank D. Abbottt, Charles A. Daniell – 1895 – P. 200