Editing Pitch pipe (section)

== Origins ==
[[Image:Czechoslovakian Pitch Pipe.jpg|thumb|Variable Pitch pipe]]

The earliest pitch pipes were instruments similar to the [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]], but rather than finger holes, they had a plunger like a [[slide whistle]]'s (also known as a ''swanee whistle'') making it essentially a type of Slide Whistle. The pipe was generally made of wood with a square bore, and the plunger was leather-coated. On this plunger are marked the notes of either the [[chromatic scale]] or the [[diatonic scale]], and by setting it to the correct position, the indicated note will be produced when the instrument is blown. Pitch pipes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Pitch pipes of this sort were most often used in the 18th and 19th centuries in churches which had no [[organ (music)|organ]] to give the opening note of a hymn. They are now quite rare, and hardly ever used for what they were intended for, but may still be used as an alternative to a [[tuning fork]]. They are also useful for establishing what [[pitch (music)|pitch standard]] was being used at a particular place and time.