Chiff and Fipple Forums

"Rockstro hold/support", or, better since Rockstro didn't invent it, "3-point support (method/system)".

Sedi, in English "grip" definitely has an implication of force.

tstermitz, please, please, please, please don't call how you hold/support an instrument a "grip"!

The pad appears to have a much weaker rim indentation on the side opposite the V mark - I'd suspect that rather than the mark, but both could be involved. I suggest first putting a moist cloth between pad and seat and letting the key rest on it for a few minutes. Then refloat the pad (a cigarette li...

"He" in the video is me! :D :poke: There's barely any force in the pushing away with the R thumb - see the second video for the theory and try it out! It is hard to master the tendency to grip with the L hand if you do not feel confident both consciously and subconsciously that the flute i...

This demonstration and the first supplementary one linked in the YT blurb are on Böhm flutes, but exactly the same principle applies to simple system or keyless flutes. The other one linked there may also help. https://youtu.be/lssGAtVBS_8 See also Terry McGee's pages on Nicholson's and Rockstro's p...

If you're having trouble with L hand ornamentation, you're probably holding/gripping the flute with L hand fingers, increasing pressure and making free, controlled movement harder. Look to your support technique and posture. A good Rockstro style support should obviate such problems, freeing up your...

Suck test the head too. If the stopper leaks, that'll lose the bottom end.

OK, found 'em.... These old threads are relevant and useful: http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=103571 http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61131 - alas lacking useful images due to the old image hosting debacle. This post has links to videos I made of my ol...

I long ago did some experiments with Giorgi style embouchures on the ends of PVC conduit tube instruments with normal 6-hole diatonic fingering. They've been discussed and illustrated here of old, I seem to recall, although I'm not easily finding any old threads/posts to link here....

There are 10 or 11 hole chromatic keyless fifes, have been for a good while. I don't know how far back they go, though. Probably not as far as Georgi. But didn't Tromlitz try to do something similar well before Georgi? It's too obvious an idea not to have been tried. But that sort of fingering syste...

The Somers aluminium flute is absolutely excellent - the head is Delrin and has a Böhm taper, so there are no octave intonation issued with the cylinder bore. His embouchure cut is nothing short of brilliant (his all-Delrin flutes are superb too). Plenty of "hard", reedy sound readily avai...

I presume this is a Böhm system cylinder-bodied instrument? For those, sounding length is a pretty accurate reference pitch indicator and yes, 600mm is A440. 605mm might be a little flatter, perhaps continental diapason normal A435.
Sharing some photos would help.

tstermitz wrote:

None of the flutes of my acquaintance have required the F-nat key to vent the F#.

I'd say just about every keyed simple system flute I own and the vast majority of all those I've met/tried benefit from venting an F key for F#!

tstermitz, I wouldn't advocate keeping an F key open except when playing F or F# or higher fingerings requiring it. There's no advantage/point in constantly venting it, unlike the Eb key. You won't see doing so indicated on any period charts.

I avoid it as much as possible - completely on flute, really. So I only do it, very rarely, on whistles. I mostly play fully keyed flutes anyway and would avoid using a keyless for tunes requiring those accidentals. If pushed, I prefer to cross-finger rather than half-hole on both keyless flute and ...