The flow near the mouth of an open tube is examined, experimentally and theoretically, under conditions in which resonant acoustic waves are excited in the tube at the other end. If the edge of the tube is round, separation does not occur at high Strouhal numbers, which enables us to verify theoretical predictions for dissipation in the boundary layer and for acoustic radiation. Observation with the aid of schlieren pictures shows that in the case of a sharp edge vortices are formed during inflow. The vortices are shed from the pipe during outflow. Based on these observations a mathematical model is developed for the generation and shedding of vorticity. The main result of the analysis is a boundary condition for the pressure in the wave, to be applied near the mouth. The pressure amplitudes in the acoustic wave measured under resonance are compared with theoretical predictions made with the aid of the boundary condition obtained in the paper.