I’ve finished moving holes on my low D flute/whistle, and now it’s no longer crippling. (The tone’s great, by the way, now that I can cover the holes properly, and I’m glad I didn’t go wider with the bore as it takes a lot of lung volume to handle it. It’s somewhere around 19mm.) But I now realise that the lower hand is still uncomfortable because the tube is long and straight. If it had a kink in it between the two hands, the lower one could be at a much better angle. It’s a quenacho, so it’s held like a low D whistle in both flute and whistle modes. When I hold it up in the transverse flute position (it won’t play at that angle, but I just wanted to compare how that feels), I found the same issue but for the other hand - it’s the section for the upper hand that would gain from a kink to get a more comfortable alignment while the further-away hand is already comfortable. [Edit: just realised that there’s a compromise angle for that where you twist your head further to the side to gain more comfort for the upper hand without losing too much from the lower one, but it could still be improved by a kink.] Does anyone already make kinky flutes and low whistles? I think I should try it for the next one. I wonder if they need a counterweight at the end to stop them trying to rotate.
I’ve never really understood why kinks are necessary in whistles, personally. What is it about them that makes it easier to play? It doesn’t change hole spacing, so I don’t see how it would make anything easier. I guess I could see it being helpful on super-long bass whistles, where your arm might have to stretch an inconvenient length to reach the holes. But since that isn’t an issue on low D whistles, I don’t see why you’d need an angle.
At any rate, some people besides you must think it makes things easier, because it’s been done! Susato used to make whistles like this (but doesn’t any more). But it had a joint before any of the holes, not between the first three and last three:
If you’re very short, it’s difficult playing sitting down if you need to sit back in your chair. Not a problem I’d ever had, but I used to know someone who had that old kinked Susato because she’s only five feet tall. It helped shift the lower part of the whistle away from the edge of the chair.
I don’t quite get it for the fingering, though. I had a transverse flute on loan once to try it out; it was nice that I could slightly rotate the barrel for the lower hand, but I’d have managed okay if it had been one of the designs where all the tone holes are on the same piece of wood. But then again, I’m female and have long flexible fingers, whereas some men have far less flexibility in their joints.
It’s difficult to grasp until you’ve actually seen someone struggling with it, like my very short colleague and her very long low whistle.
I can play faster with my hand aligned straight with my forearm instead of being twisted to the side. On long whistles my lower hand is twisted uncomfortably. I realise now that this is also what slows my playing on low G quenas a little where the problem is also there, but much reduced.
At any rate, some people besides you must think it makes things easier, because it’s been done! Susato used to make whistles like this (but doesn’t any more). But it had a joint before any of the holes, not between the first three and last three
Interesting. That looks as if it’s designed to take the top of the tube further away from you before it goes down at a steeper angle, and again it leads to less wrist bending for both hands. Maybe I should do that as well as the lower kink.
Just tried that in the mirror, and realised it would happen to me if I had the thumb my of my bottom hand low down on the whistle body. I don’t though, it’s slightly higher than the index finger. That leaves the wrist more or less straight.
May not be comfortable for everyone, it’s just the position I adopted naturally when I first picked up a low whistle.
I’m not sure I follow. When I play low whistle, my forearm is aligned with my hand. And I don’t see how a bend in the body of the whistle would change this. But maybe I’m not visualizing what you’re trying to do properly.
This wrist alignment problem on low whistles is the reason most people have to adopt a pipers grip for the lower hand at least, as opposed to closing the tone holes with their finger tips/pads.
Yes, I took that as given.
I can’t really bend my fingers anyway so I have to use piper’s grip on all whistles. But even so, I noticed that if my thumb was placed in its natural position, roughly in opposition to the middle finger, it would introduce a twist to my wrist that might be something like what David describes. I’d probably find it uncomfortable too after a while, which is likely why I place the thumb as high as I can.
Ah, for the first time I think I understand what y’all are saying.
Yeah, if you’re not using piper’s grip (and don’t have monster-sized hands), you’ll end up having to twist your hand a bit to reach the holes. And I can see how having a bend in the whistle would make this a bit more comfortable.
Honestly, though, I think it’s much better to just learn piper’s grip. It doesn’t take long to learn how to do it, and it allows for much faster and more ergonomic playing, in my opinion. And it’s also a skill that can be transferred to other whistles, so you don’t have to always play your own custom-made whistles to play comfortably. And, as Moof mentions, as long as you use proper thumb placement, no wrist-twisting is necessary.
My thumb is high up, so that isn’t the issue. Piper’s grip certainly improves things a bit, and I can play it that way fine, but it still only takes it half way to the optimal angle. Good reasons for not putting a Clinton kink in a flute are that it’s aesthetically less appealing, and that it complifies construction, but if it makes it more comfortable to play it could be worth it.