Would a curved whistle / flute be possible?

[palewine]

Imagine the biggest bass whistle (or flute) you can think of. So big that it becomes too long to be made as a straight tube. So you bend it, such that it curves around you. Like this (warning, crude drawing incoming):



For the time being, let's not worry about how you'd finger the note holes. Pretend we have an ingenious solution for that

Just thinking about the vibration of the column of air inside the body of the flute. In almost all flutes that column is straight. Has anyone done an experiment to see how it would sound if the body was curved, or even spiralled? Would it be detrimental to the sound? Would it change where you put note holes? Would it even make a difference at all?

[PB+J]

I don't see why not: a vibrating column of air doesn't care, i don't think, it it's straight or curved. A sousaphone goes around the body in the way you describe

[oleorezinator]

Michael Copeland would rest his low d whistle head
on his left shoulder with a flexible poly tube
shoved onto the end of the whistle. The window
being closer to the ear was easier to hear and
the right arm wasn’t extended as far. It made
for more comfortable playing.

[pancelticpiper]

Non only are curved flutes possible, they're standard for the bigger sizes.



They're also increasing in popularity for the normal-sized flute due to the ergonomics issues that transverse flutes have.

[palewine]

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

Richard, I noticed that in those flute pictures, the bend is always before the note holes. The part with holes, that serves to shorten the column of air, is straight. Is that more about ease of mechanical production, on the instrument manufacturer's part? I guess I'm wondering if curving that part would introduce undesirable turbulence into the air, and result in a less clean tone...

That bent head on the normal flute, letting you play it straight down in front of you, is a great idea, I hope it catches on

PB+J, as you point out, some brass instruments (like the Sousaphone) have all sorts of curved parts all over. Do you think there's anything about brass instruments that makes them different in this way? Like because the pitch and tone production happens a bit differently, those curves in the instrument maybe don't have an undesirable effect on the tone produced? Or does it truly not make a difference, and it just happens that the two instrument families (woodwind vs brass) just evolved differently like that?

[stringbed]

The bending on the flutes is all above the toneholes because the keywork is designed for inline mounting. The valves on brass instruments occupy a smaller portion of the total length, placing far less constraint on their “curviness,” but the adjunct tuning slides are also cylindrical. Avoiding random turbulence is very much a factor in wind instrument design but its relevance to the present discussion is, at this point, purely conjectural.

[plunk111]

Try googling "ring flute"...

[pancelticpiper]

Yes, it's the rod & axle keywork of the Boehm flute that require portions to be straight.

On keyless instruments, or instruments with short old-style keys, the whole instrument can be curved.

These are carved wood instruments, fingered much like whistles, with a brass-instrument-style mouthpieces, which were popular in the Renaissance.

[plunk111]

Still kinda popular today! I play the cornetto/zink myself!

[pancelticpiper]

Still kinda popular today! I play the cornetto/zink myself!

How cool!

At our local Ren Faire there's a guy who is an excellent player, he plays in an ensemble that's the most period-accurate music there. I love the sound! And it's fascinating to watch him play that beast.

As opposed to the people playing red plastic-topped Generation whistles and yellow plastic-mounted modern Highland pipes.

[palewine]

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who's responded to my question!