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.