If that were true, it would result in some extremely awkward musical instruments. A tuba would be 18 feet long! :eek:
A standard Boehm flute shares much of the same fingering with other woodwinds (saxes, clarinets, oboes, recorders). Not identical fingering, but similar.
Like the alp horn, which gets its name from the traditional call to the player’s friends after a playing session ends: “Alp! Alp! B’ring dertruk! B’ring dertruk!”. While the meaning of this phrase is lost in the mists of time, the tradition among alp horn players remains vibrant to this day. 
That’s what I was describing. That “J” would be the original flute but have a bar that is perpendicular to the other part.
And, yes, they do use such bends on the larger instruments, so it’s not impossible. But it’s not traditional, and the original looks more elegant and works.
I would also bet that any flutist would have to do extra work to learn to play one. Part of playing involves rotating the body slightly for certain notes. And your arms and hands would be a different position, messing with your muscle memory.
In other words, it’s not broke enough to warrant fixing.
True enough. After learning recorder and tin whistle, I was surprised at how easily I could pick up flute fingerings. Then, after I could play the flute, how easy it was to pick up a sax. I was hardly an expert sax player–I was much more comfortable with flute, which I ended up studying for a number of years–but I had little trouble with the sax, based on the fingerings that I knew from flute, tin whistle, and recorder.
Not like playing a jug. A jug is played by buzzing the lips into the opening, adjusting the pitch by how tight the lips are held together. The jug serves as a sound chamber. You can make a sound by blowing across the top, but you only get one pitch, and it’s not very loud.
Then this bent bass flute doesn’t make any sound? And the keys are just there for decoration?
Really buzzing, as with a trumpet? I’ve never heard of playing a jug that way.
But there are lots of things I’ve never heard of. 
Understood. I was trying to address the issue of weight and whether holding the instrument is awkward. Holding a trombone for an entire parade can’t be any easier than carrying a flute.
I played flute in the Army band.
But, when we marched in parades, I played piccolo.
In a marching band, you wouldn’t hear a flute. But, you wouldn’t mistake a piccolo.
Yes. Otherwise it could only make one pitch, and not very loud.
I suspect that shorter frequencies lose some significant energy going around bends. That would be why bendy wind instruments are either brass (high energy at any pitch), or lower pitched woodwinds (higher energy at lower pitch).
The relevant part of a wind instrument is not made out of brass, nor silver nor wood. The relevant part is made out of air.
The answers are very interesting. Ignorance fought.
Flute and recorder do indeed sound different, and much of that is because of the different ways in which they are blown.
Also, the recorder is a simpler instrument than the flute. As orchestral music became more complex, recorders were used less in the orchestra and flutes more (flutes can play more notes and a wider range of notes than recorders.)
And back when recorders were sometimes used in orchestras, not all orchestras had a standard lineup of instruments.
(I also find it interesting that this was in Great Debates - maybe just a little error. Now the debate between whether the recorder or the ukulele should be the instrument that kids learn in schools - that can get heated.)
I’d be reluctant to try either of them that way. But my instrument is far worse from that perspective, so don’t complain too loudly.
If you’re going to get downright pedantic, the relevant part of a wind instrument is the shape of the air, which I think pretty much everyone on this thread already gets.
I didn’t know this either, and I looked it up on YouTube, and it’s totally true. It makes sense now that I think of it. If you blow over the top, you only get one pitch. It would be strange for a one-note musical instrument to be so popular.
I didn’t know that, either. It suggests I might be able to transfer my ability to buzz on pitch to a fairly cheap instrument. Cool. It’s different from doing it in a mouthpiece, I find.