Pitch pipe

Pitch pipes of this sort were most often used in the 18th and 19th centuries in churches which had no organ to give the opening note of a hymn.

Inside the pipe, the air flows through a hole in a plate past the selected rectangular metal reed (usually brass).

In recent years, electronic push-button devices simulating chromatic pitch pipes have become available which are small enough to fit on key chains.

By providing all of the notes of a single octave, a singer can start in any key called for in Western music.

The singers' normal use of the pipe is to play the initial key note or tonic of the piece to be sung.

Carried in a pocket, a pipe will occasionally pick up small bits of lint which works its way into the narrow space around a reed.