According to an advertisement on classicfm, all toilets flush on E Flat! Is there anyone out there with perfect pitch who would like to substantiate or refute this statement? Does running water have a pitch? I know our church vacuum cleaner hoovers on F Sharp, because I know when I'm in unison with it when I'm practising the organ; are there any other household appliances that prefer a particular pitch?

Our downstairs toilet flushes in D.

I shall check the one upstairs and Henry (the vac) later.

Yep, Viohazard immediately said "D#" when he listened to our fount of hygiene.

Im sure our office one is F# minor !!

But the hand drier is B .

Upsairs toilet is also in D - possible slightly sharper - but not D#

I feel D is a more classy tone for a toilet - and quite exclusive.




ah! we're talking chords now - we can get really precise... I'll just need to drag my digital piano down the hallway
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Downstairs is Dm

Upstairs we have D Major

Hate to spoil your fun, but im quite sure that running water cannot have a single note. As it is constantly moving, the frequencies are constantly changing too, you are simply picking up on the fundamental frequency, which is usually the loudest.

It would be like sayin, 'what note does a string vibrate at?' it depends on many many factors, length of string, thickness of string, taughtness etc.

I have a couple of friends with perfect pitch, i'll ask them what they think, but im quite sure they will say it is just noise, rather than a note.

Don't mean to be a stick-in-the-mud, but I kind of debated this on my degree course a few years ago lol

Keet
x

...and why is that a problem???

Not a problem exactly, its just the fundamental will change constantly as less water enters the bowl, then fills up again, and constant water movement.
Once you've heard it though, your head sticks to that frequency. Once its in your head, it will think its still the loudest pitch, when it actually has changed and will be the secondary fequency. lol

I'm curious though, i shall ask my mates 'Perfect Pitch Pete' lol he's good at saying what has a note and what is noise.

Keet
x

How about it being ' in the Key of...' ?

..and any keys it modulates through??

Was Handel's Water Music in Eb then??

Okay, off to flush all the office toilets ....

Right, they all flush in Db, here at least, with a quick gliss up from Bb to Db after the flush has immediately been operated. The same was true for the chain-operated high-level and lever-operated low-level cisterns.

I understand you .

One thing that's really interesting to listen to is a tin can rolling down the street . (Can you tell that we live on a hill, near a can-drop?).

Oh, I wish I could do this. Maybe I'll go in with a tuner later! My cat purrs on the note of G when I last tested him

Awwww!

*drags Him Indoors off to identify pitch of Tiggy and Tabsy*

Poor cats!!

*wonders what pitch her clarinet teachers cat purrs at*

I'm not sure but I think the toilets here in Hungary pitch differently. I'll have to check.

Maybe I could get both toilets we have upstairs here to perform a two-part canon!

Glad you're taking your Hungarian studies so seriously, HK!

Naturally, Naturally!!

Aw...we had a Tiggy. They were supposed to be Winnie ( as Pooh) and Tigger. Our neighbours on both sides were called Wyn...so we changed Winnie to Minnie....
this degenerated to Minnie Moo and Tiggy too(as these things do with animals).

Anyway, very very sadly they died about 4 yrs ago.

Now have a big dog called Ellie ( alias Jelly Bean. No, there is no hope for me).

Sorry, I went off topic there , but Tiggy was the most wonderful affectionate cat and that brought back memories.

* runs off to try and make Jelly bark to see what key she is in.*

Aw, my Tiggy is a wonderful cat too! One of those VERY special creatures that grace us with their presence but rarely...



She is known by me as Darling Pussy (as opposed to Tabsy who is Devil Pussy ). However, Him Indoors is equally besotted by them both .

Sorry for digression!

Have you managed to tune them though?

Yes, Minnie was more of a devil pussy. She bossed Tiggy about, but Tiggy didn't mind. She hated my kids when they were born , but Tiggy didn't mind. She was tiny (runt of the litter) but still caught Magpies and tried to bring them in the house , but Tiggy would always be there with her little Vole.

Minnie died at 16 and then Tiggy became even more affectionate ( she was allowed to be, now!!).
Miss them.

My cats always seem to purr together, but a minor third apart. Will is definitely more of a baritone than Sambo, who is always higher. They can alter the pitch of their purr about a semitone either way too. I nave yet to test the loo theory.

*feels a whole new thread on cat adoration/tuning of purrs coming on*

Surely the toilet would just flush with the pitch 'do' .

Maybe it depends what's being flushed.....

EDIT....Or did I miss an insinuation in the above, like an idiot??

Ah, but 'do' can be any toilet - er, I mean, note - you want it to be!

Yep, that was the joke .

Maybe if one particularly needs the toilet, one is somewhat like a falling interval from the subdominant to the leading note .

D'OH....

Sorry, I was being a little obscure; sing the tonic sol-fa for the falling subdominant-leading note interval, with words....

You really have to think about that one if you've got a Belfast accent!

Hehe, this thread's funny.

What did I start with the cat purring thing. I don't think Peach's will be loud enough to get picked up by the tuner..

What does it say about our mentality that the same number of people want to discuss flushing toilets and purring cats as want to discuss Thomas Tallis?!

Did he have a cat?
No information given on that one so far..or should I say sol- fa

Scarlatti had a cat - hence The Cat's Fugue.

Our toilet flushes chromatically at random according to my center pitch tuner, but main pitch seems to be E.

So far, most toilets do actually seem to be centred between D and E, which would imply that the ad got it right!

They might flush differently whether its a number one or a number two

Is that a concerto ?

Could the person who took the time to go around and study this fact be a contender for one of next years Ig Nobel Prizes? ....or, have been awarded one already

For those who don't know what the Ig Nobel Prizes are all about, check them out HERE