Usage
Some pitch pipes are intended for tuning string instruments, and only provide reeds for notes appropriate to a particular instrument. Chromatic pitch pipes are favored by a cappella singers and timpanists. Chromatic pipes most often provide thirteen pitches, each a half step above the previous. By providing all of the notes of a single octave, a singer can start in any key called for in Western music. Different pipes are available for men and women due to the differences in vocal range: male singers most often use F-F pipes, while female singers favor C-C pipes. However, it is particularly notable that the Men's pipe in F is pitched higher than the Women's C pipe. Pipes in other keys are available, but are much more rare.
The singers' normal use of the pipe is to play the initial key note or tonic of the piece to be sung. Less frequently the pipe will be used to play the first sung note of the song, especially where the song begins in unison or with a solo.
In Ethnomusicology, recording a short beep with pitch pipe in ethnographic recordings can be used in playback to determine the playback speed of the Gramophone record or Phonograph cylinder.
Read more about this topic: Pitch Pipe
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