The present invention relates to a flute which devises a way to reduce the large distances between the finger holes to easily reachable ones while maintaining the required pitch/tuning.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
Flutes, whether they be transverse side blown musical instruments like bansuri flute, baroque flute or end blown flute like Quena. Shakuhachi, Ney or fipple flutes like recorder, penny whistle - all have one common feature of finger closable tone-holes laid along the length of the flue. These holes are closer to each other in smaller (high pitched) flutes and get progressively farther apart as the flute length increases (pitch decreases).
Flutes get progressively harder to finger as they go up in length (and down in pitch) because of increasing distances between the finger-holes
A common challenge faced in playing the flute is the positioning required of the hands and fingers for the proper control and operation of the musical instrument. The player must rapidly shift fingerings between all finger-holes of the flute being closed to some or all holes being open, resulting in fast changing support /balance of the flute in player's hands, effecting the stability of the flute.
This instability is reflected both in the difficulty of maintaining the ideal relation between the lips and the flute so as to produce the most perfectly formed notes and in the difficulty 3f changing fingerings quickly and reliably while also preventing the flute's shifting / rolling away from its ideal position. As flutes go up in size they have larger distances between finger-holes and as a result maintaining this ideal position gets progressively challenging

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
The objective of the present invention is to devise a way to reduce the large distances between the finger-holes of a flute to easily reachable ones while maintaining the required pitch and tuning of the instrument.
An other object of the present invention is to make it possible to layout the holes as per the player's convenience by altering the relative hole distances while keeping the desired pitch/tuning in place.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
In order to achieve the above said objectives, a tunneled flute, comprising: a round or any other cross-section tubular body with a row or rows of finger holes; a blowing hole or opening to produce sound; characterized in that the positioning / layout of the finger-holes can be arranged as desired by reducing/altering the hole distances while keeping the desired pitch/tuning in place.
In the tunneled flute, the finger-holes can be positioned at desired positions by means of extending (or 'tunneling') the depth of one or a combination of the finger-holes, in to the bore of the flute or alternatively, projecting them out of the outer surface of the tube.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrative examplary embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments

of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
Fig. 1 illustrates the different views of the conventional flute with normal finger holes.
Fig. 2 illustrates different views of a tunneled flute in which finger-holes are brought closer together with the technique of hole-tunneling
It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow chart, flow diagrams, state transition diagram, pseudo code, and the like readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of the disclosure is described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments are described herein such details as to clearly communicate the disclosure. However, the amount of details provided herein is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments: on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
It is also to be understood that various arrangements may be devised that although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure, as well as specific examples, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes" and/or "including", when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.
In addition, the description of "first", "second", "third", and the like in the present invention are used for the purpose of description only, and are not to be construed as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number f technical features indicated. Thus features defining "first" and "second" may include at least one of the features, either explicitly or implicitly.
It should be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example two figures shown in succession may, in fact, be executed concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
Unless otherwise defines, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g. those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
Fig. 1 illustrates the different views of the conventional flute with normal finger holes.

As described in Figure 1, the tone-holes (also called finger-holes) are, and have to be, laid out in fixed pattern/ ratios to maintain the desired tuning of the instrument. The tone-holes can get difficult to finger in large bass flutes because of large distances between them.
These holes are closer to each other in smaller (high pitched) flutes and get progressively farther apart as the flute length increases (pitch decreases). Flutes get progressively harder to finger as they go up in length (and down in pitch) because of increasing distances between the finger-holes.
Fig. 2 illustrates the different views of the tunneled flute which lays out the holes as per the player's convenience by reducing/altering the hole distances.
Figure 2 describes the tunneled flute which layout the holes as per the player's convenience by reducing/altering the hole distances. In the usual course, as the size of flute is increases, the tone-holes can get difficult to finger in large bass flutes because of large distances between them. The flute described in figure 2 devises a way to reduce the large distances between the finger-holes to easily reachable ones while maintaining the required pitch/tuning.
The finger-holes can be positioned at desired positions by means of extending (or 'tunneling') the depth of one or a combination of the holes, in to the bore of the flute or alternatively, projecting them out of the outer surface of the tube, which in effect will increase the effective length of the path traversed by the sound vibration before exiting from the enclosing space of the flute tube / tunnel combine. For example, in comparison to finger-holes 1, 2 and 3 of Normal Flute depicted in Figure 1, in figure 2, in the Tunneled Flute section, finger-hole 2 and 3 are 'tunneled' to reduce their relative distances from one another and to finger-hole 1 The number, depth/length, diameter, angle of terminating end of these 'tunnels' or projections is calculated so as to result into closer finger-hole distances while producing the same pitch of notes as if it were a Normal flute.

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES:
In the conventional flutes the finger-holes are, and have to be, laid out in fixed pattern/ ratios to maintain the desired tuning of the instrument. The finger holes can get difficult to finger in large bass flutes because of large distances between them. The invention makes it possible to layout the holes as per the player's convenience by reducing/altering the relative hole distances while keeping the desired pitch/tuning in place.
The above description does not provide specific details of the manufacture or design of the various components. Those of skill in the art are familiar with such details, and unless departures from those techniques are set out, techniques, known, related art or later developed designs and materials should be employed. Those in the art can choose suitable manufacturing and design details.
It should be understood, however that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the discussion herein, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussion utilizing terms such as "receiving" or "determining", or "retrieving" or "controlling" or the like refer to the action and processes of an control unit or similar electronic device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the control unit's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the control unit memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
Further, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that several of the above-described and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into other systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may subsequently be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as encompassed by the following claims.

The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teaching described herein, including those that re presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others.

CLAIMS
I claim:
1. A tunneled flute, comprising:
- a round or any other cross-section tubular body with a row or rows of finger holes;
- a blowing hole or opening to produce sound;
characterized in that the positioning / layout of the finger-holes can be arranged as desired by reducing/altering the hole distances while keeping the desired pitch/tuning in place
2. A tunneled flute as claimed in claim 1 wherein finger holes in the round or any other cross-section tubular body can be arranged as per the player's convenience.
3. A tunneled flute as claimed in claim 1 wherein finger holes can be arranged as needed while keeping the desired pitch /tuning in place.
4. A tunneled flute as claimed in claim 1 wherein the finger-holes can be
positioned at desired positions by means of extending (or 'tunneling') the
depth of one or a combination of the finger-holes, in to the bore of the flute
or alternatively, projecting them out of the outer surface of the tube.