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I am trying to build a reed instrument played by the wind (kind of like these aeolian instruments: Eerie musical instruments played by the wind from around the world but using reeds rather than strings), but given the necessary pressure to make the reed vibrate, I am having difficulties. For example if I place a reed instrument such as a duck call near a fan, it has not enough power to drive it. I tried to place a funnel in between, but still had no luck.

So, I have two things to consider:

  1. To find the most suitable type of reed or make one from scratch (something similar to these, but all the online examples are too narrow to capture actual wind: Hypotooter -- a Mini-musical Instrument) that starts vibrating in the weakest possible wind

  2. To direct the wind through a funnel-like piping (maybe not a usual funnel shape, but a different shape?), so that the reed is exposed to more power, if this is a good idea at all.

I am stuck at this point and don't even know if this is possible at all. I have heard of wind whistles or flutes played by the wind, but only when the wind very strong, however I am looking into a reed instrument because of its different sound quality + the ability for it to be played by lighter winds as well. Is this possible or is there any directions that you could suggest for me to experiment?

DiaperHands
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ali
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  • I don't have an answer for this. But I suspect this will be very challenging/ impossible. Reed instruments require a higher pressure to play than things like flutes and whistles. See [here](http://www.flutopedia.com/breath_pressure.htm). So if a flute played by the wind requires very strong wind, then a reed instrument will require even stronger wind. – atom44 Jun 07 '17 at 17:33
  • I think a funnel would do more harm than good due to the [choked flow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choked_flow) but I guess it depends on if you can convert the velocity it gains back to pressure afterwords. – JMac Jun 08 '17 at 18:32

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Do you really want to make a reed instrument or a reed like instrument?

The reeds used in musical instruments generally are very rigid & they need a lot of air pressure on them for the reed to vibrate. A similar effect can be achieved using durable flexible materials such as a tensioned rubber like membrane/diaphragm. A single sheet of membrane can be used, or the membrane can be doubled over to form two vibrating surfaces. One of the advantages of using a membrane is that the force of air required to make a sound would be significantly less than that required for a reed.

A kazoo might be an initial place to start investigations.

Using a funnel to concentrate the air pressure is a good idea, but the size of the funnel will be important, as will be the initial strength of the wind.

If you do end up with something you like, you might want to consider placing it on a rotating platform, similar to a wind vane so that a change in wind direction can easily be accommodated.

Fred
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    "reed-like" would be good enough. very useful suggestions; just need a simple clarification: regarding the kazoo, considering that it works by humming rather than blowing, do you think a similar design would work with the wind? or was this only an example for looking into its membrane? – ali Jun 07 '17 at 20:48
  • You're going in the wrong direction. Any vibrating membrane counts as a reed. Use a blade of grass held between your thumbs, e.g. – Carl Witthoft Jun 08 '17 at 13:10