pitchpipe

views updated May 18 2018

pitchpipe. Small wooden pipe of square section, about 18″ in length, with whistle mouthpiece, used in 18th and 19th cents. Leather-covered wooden stopper can be inserted to shorten pipe and thus raise the pitch. On the stem of the stopper the various notes were marked. Principally used in churches that had neither organ nor band of musicians.

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