Slide whistle

Diagram of a slide whistle. Sections: 1: mouthpiece, 2: fipple, 3: resonant cavity, 4: slide, 5: pull rod, 6: pipe.

A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee or swannee whistle, lotus flute,^[1] piston flute, or jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. Thus it has an air reed like some woodwinds, but varies the pitch with a slide. The construction is rather like a bicycle pump. Because the air column is cylindrical and open at one end and closed at the other, it overblows the third harmonic. "A whistle made out of a long tube with a slide at one end. An ascending and descending glissando is produced by moving the slide back and forth while blowing into the mouthpiece."^[2] "Tubular whistle with a plunger unit in its column, approximately 12 inches long. The pitch is changed by moving the slide plunger in and out, producing ascending and descending glisses."^[3]

^ Karl Peinkofer and Fritz Tannigel, Handbook of Percussion Instruments, (Mainz, Germany: Schott, 1976), 78.
^ Adato, Joseph and Judy, George (1984). The Percussionist's Dictionary: Translations, Descriptions, and Photographs of Percussion Instruments from Around the World, p.32. Alfred Music. ISBN 9781457493829.
^ Beck, John H. (2013). Encyclopedia of Percussion, p.83. Routledge. ISBN 9781317747680.

[1] Karl Peinkofer and Fritz Tannigel, Handbook of Percussion Instruments, (Mainz, Germany: Schott, 1976), 78.

[2] Adato, Joseph and Judy, George (1984). The Percussionist's Dictionary: Translations, Descriptions, and Photographs of Percussion Instruments from Around the World, p.32. Alfred Music. ISBN 9781457493829.

[3] Beck, John H. (2013). Encyclopedia of Percussion, p.83. Routledge. ISBN 9781317747680.

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