Chiff and Fipple Forums

Sedi, I really appreciate your pinky tip about where to keep my pinky tip. I’m a self-taught flautist and it shows. Your advice, along with a clip on thumb rest I made helps a lot supporting the instrument in the vertical position.

On my Reyburn low whistles I use clarinet thumb rests and a bit of heavy duty double stick tape. The double stick tape I use only has to be replaced every six months or so.

A package of six or so of the thumb rests is cheap on eBay. You can get rubber pads for them as well.

Piper Joe

That's really cool. it's not a quite flute, and not quite a whistle, but you could make great music with it.

O'Brien wrote:Richard- I’m working on a clip on Delrin support for the right thumb.

Or you could use the ones already in production and used in the Boehm flute world for vertical flute playing.

They're well thought-out and comfortable to play.

It would save you the trouble of re-inventing the wheel, so to speak.

Sedi wrote: If your Boehm flute works anything like mine the right pinky should stay on the flute and work the corresponding key... The right pinky only is removed for a couple of notes and is used to balance the flute while at the same time keeping the key open which works just the other way round as the rest of the keys.

Yes of course that's the standard and correct Boehm fingering, the lower-hand little finger usually pressing the Eb key (in ITM terminology) which in the normal transverse playing position helps hold the flute. If you don't press open the Eb key the note E natural is a bit flat.

Thing is, on Boehm flutes with perforated keys (the so-called French model) the pitch of E natural doesn't change appreciably whether the Eb key is open or shut. In fact I know a woman who has played Boehm flute her whole life (since a child) and has never played any other instrument who doesn't open the Eb key except when playing that note. She has always played a French model flute.

Richard- I’ve seen the ones on the flutelab site. They seem to come as part of the headjoint package. Do you know where they can be bought on their own?