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Jennie Huff
Acoustics Final Paper
Dr. Cross
April 30th, 2020
Octave Comparison for a flute and piccolo
For my final project I decided to compare the flute and the piccolo. The main portion I

will focus on is how the piccolo’s design allows it to play an octave higher than the flute.

However, as I learned in comparing the frequencies recorded in audacity and the length

calculations, the piccolo I own is currently an octave ratio of 2.25:1 as opposed to the 2:1 octave

ratio we learned in class.

Now for a little background on the flute and piccolo. The current flute design was created

by Theobald Boehm in 1871 and has since replaced the recorder in many orchestra and band

settings. The flute is an edge-tone instrument that resembles a pipe that is open on both ends. In a

lower register the second harmonic is usually more dominate in playing, however, the

fundamental is still present in the spectrogram. Due to the mostly cylindrical bore of the flute the

player can accomplish “overblowing the octave”. This occurs when the player is playing in a

lower register and without making a correction in the embouchure (lip placement) the pitch

jumps an octave in frequency. According to William Hartmann 1 “no other instrument makes a

tone that is more sinusoidal” (Hartmann, Page 254). The piccolo follows the same principles as a

flute, however, it is usually about half the size and supposed to play about an octave higher. The

piccolo is mainly used in orchestras and marching bands because the sound can project louder in

the same amount of space because of its shriller nature.

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Data
Flute

The flute imaged above is an advanced flute I have had for about 7 years. This flute has a
better sound quality because it is a silver body as opposed to the nickel used in most beginner
models. This flute also has a longer length than other designs because of the extra key (located
on the foot joint and last on the far right) for B4. The final difference in this flute is that it has
open holes which are used to increase resonance and tone quality in the advanced model.

For the spectrogram, the left portion is a two octave E flat scale (Eb 4 to Eb6) first played
up the scale in quarter notes and then played back down in sixteenth notes. The right portion is
the chorus from the song “Find me in the River” featured in the movie I still Believe2. In the
spectrogram, the first three frequencies (fundamental and two harmonics) can be viewed very
easily. For the flute in the lower register up to five frequencies can be viewed in a brighter color.
Length ¿ mouthpiece ¿ end=L f =24.375∈¿ 0.619125 m

Because we live in the United States, I had to first measure the length of the flute from
the mouthpiece to the end in inches then convert this number into meters for easier calculations.
Diameter=1.9 cm=0.019 m
The diameter was consistent when measured from the head joint and at the end of the foot joint.
Eb4: 311Hz, 623 Hz, 999 Hz G4: 398 Hz, 780 Hz, 1166 Hz C5: 514 Hz, 1544 Hz, 1095 Hz
Eb5: 616 Hz, 1236 Hz, 1854 Hz G5: 780 Hz, 1556 Hz, 2341 Hz C6: 1039 Hz, 2079 Hz, 3122 Hz
Eb6: 1243 Hz, 2488 Hz, 3731 Hz
Audacity frequencies were recorded from highest abundance. In most situations the most
prevalent are the specific pitch followed by the octave and next the fifth. For the readings the
first value is always the actual pitch value in hertz followed by the next two harmonics. To make
the values easier to compare I tried to align the notes and I also only recorded the first, third,
fifth, and octave of the Eb major scale.
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Piccolo

This piccolo is silver bodied and a relatively compact design. This is also a more
advanced model because of the silver body and the way the keys are designed to make it easier
for the player.

The same scale was used (Eb5 to Eb7) and the same chorus 2 for the sake of comparison.
In this spectrogram only the first two frequencies (fundamental and second harmonic) can be
viewed consistently, however, the shadow of the third harmonic can be followed. You will notice
that the brighter frequencies are more spaced apart and falls about twice as high as the flute. The
piccolo is often known to be most in tune in its middle range and vary in the higher and lower
range.
Length ¿ mouthpiece ¿ end=L p =10.75∈¿ 0.273050 m

Again, because we live in the United States, I had to first measure in inches and convert it to
meters.
Diameter=1.1 cm=0.011 m
The diameter of the head joint and the foot joint where consistently 0.011 meters.
Eb5: 622 Hz, 1244 Hz, 1868 Hz G5: 786 Hz, 1569 Hz, 2357 Hz C6: 1053 Hz, 2101 Hz, 3155
Hz
Eb6: 1243 Hz, 3731 Hz, 2487 Hz G6: 1574 Hz, 3145 Hz, 3836 Hz C7: 2108 Hz, 4214 Hz,
6149Hz
Eb7: 2502 Hz, 5002 Hz
The audacity reading were started an octave higher than the flute because the piccolo
naturally plays about an octave higher and measured from highest abundance. The same scale
was used as before so the first, major third, fifth, and octave were recorded. In most situations
the most prevalent are the specific pitch followed by the octave and next the fifth. For the
readings the first value is always the actual pitch value in hertz followed by the next two
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harmonics. For the piccolo the higher range became to fuzzy to view the third harmonic for the
piccolo however following the trend it was probably around 7500 Hz.
Calculations
Flute
Assuming the flute is an open-open pipe we must perform two end corrections. This
equation uses the diameter measured and multiples it by 0.31. This is a concept that was learned
in class and because there are two open ends the value must be doubled.

D ' =2 ( D∗0.31 )=2 ( 0.019 m∗0.31 )=0.01178 m (eq 1)

The next equation is to find the total length after measuring the body of the flute from the
mouthpiece to the base and then adding the two open end corrections to find the total length.

Ltotal=Lf + D ' =0.619125 m + 0.01178 m= 0.630905 m(eq 2)

The following equation is then used to find the fundamental frequency of the flute as C 4
by taking the speed of sound (340 meters per second) and dividing it by two times the newly
calculated length. This was an equation we derived in the course for an open-open pipe.
m
340
v s
B4 =f 1 = = ≈ 269.45 Hz(eq 3)
2 Ltotal 2 ( 0.630905 m )

The next equation was used to find the first harmonic. This was also derived during the course.
B5=f 2=2∗f 1=2 ( 269.45 Hz ) ≈ 538.91 Hz (eq 4)

Piccolo
Assuming an open-open pipe must perform two end corrections. The same equations
were repeated for the piccolo with the fundamental frequency starting about an octave higher.

D ' =2 ( D∗0.31 )=2 ( 0.011 m∗0.31 ) ≈ 0.00682 m (eq 1)

Ltotal=L p + D' =0.273050 m+ 0.00682 m=0.279870 m(eq 2)

m
340
v s
D5=f 1= = ≈ 607.42 Hz (eq 3)
2 Ltotal 2 ( 0.279870 m )

D 6=f 2=2∗f 1=2 ( 607.42 Hz ) ≈ 1214.9 Hz (eq 4)

Piccolo and Flute Comparison

For the flute because of the extra key it now has a fundamental frequency of the clarinet.
For the piccolo because of its design the lowest note it can play is the D 5. In comparing the flute
and piccolo we can determine that the octave ratio is 2.25:1 instead of a 2:1 ratio.
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607.42 Hz
f 1 comparison of flute∧ piccolo : =2.25 octaveratio (eq 5)
295.45 Hz
This is an example in the lower range of a piccolo when comparing it to the flute.
Eb5 on flute−Eb5 on piccolo=616 Hz−622 Hz Hz=6 Hz difference (eq 6)

These are couple examples in the middle range of a piccolo when comparing it to a flute.
Eb6 on flute−Eb 6 on piccolo=1243 Hz−1243 Hz=0 Hz difference(eq 7)

Conclusion
I can conclude after my data and research that the piccolo is about a 2.25 octave ratio to

the flute. However, I believe in most situations this difference is very minimal in notes where

most of the keys are pressed down (Eb). Due to the nature of the instruments it is hard to

compare a note when less keys are in use such as a C. In the calculations, equation 6 proves the

distortion in the piccolo by a minor difference of 6 Hz however, this difference is usually more

prevalent in notes with higher frequencies. Where in the middle range equation 7 proves the

equality of the frequencies. For further research it might be helpful to use different types of flutes

and piccolos to see if this is still the case.

Citations
1 Hartmann, W. M. (2013). Principles of musical acoustics. Springer.
2 I Still Believe. (2020). Find Me in The River. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPlOQdt-
7Nw.