The twin-flute, or twin-whistle shown is something I built after seeing similar
instruments in books showing ancient greek art. Though my pipes are bound to
each other both at the top and bottom, unlike the Greek models, playing them
has convinced me that I have a similar concept.
To see what I mean, make one for yourself. If you don't feel up to constructing your whistles out of pipe, you can make a twin-whistle out of two pennywhistles. They must be the sort which require a lot of breath, and they must be fairly well matched. Just strap them together with tape or string, using pieces of wood as spacers between them. The idea is to hold them together but far enough apart that the right set of holes falls under the second pads on your right hand's fingers rather than under the knuckles.
Put tape over the top three holes of the right-hand pipe.
To make one from pipe isn't much different, providing you follow my instructions on other pages for making whistles. Make one whistle with six holes as usual, the other with only the lower three. Put an extra joint or ring on the bottom end of each, then flatten the facing sides of the top and bottom joints so that the two whistles can be glued together. You may wish to shape the top as I've done to make it easier to get a seal around it with your lips.
Hold the twin whistle so that the left hand covers the top three holes on the
left-hand pipe and the right hand covers the bottom three holes on both pipes.
The holes of the right-hand pipe should be lined up with the pad between the
knuckles on those three fingers, so there won't be any leakage. There aren't
any rules on this... we're re-inventing as we go.
I prefer to leave both pipes open to the top, not connected together. That
way, I can blow just one of them if I wish. The left-hand pipe can be played
exactly like a pennywhistle. The right-hand pipe has the same scale as a
Gxemela_Fluto.ogg(This sound file is in Ogg Vorbis format.)