I’ve been playing a keyless Irish flute for 4 months now. One problem I often have is how to hold the flute without straining my hand, especially my left hand (i.e. the hand covering the first 3 holes). Any advice on how to find a comfortable hand position?
I also wonder if this issue is due to my hands being small, or just needing to find the correct way to hold the flute? Right now I am covering all the holes with the middle part of my fingers, but this makes playing some notes, i.e. C natural a bit difficult.
My guess would be it’s the way you are holding the flute.
More info would be helpful. What are you playing? An immediate
fix would be for you to see a teacher, if you haven’t done so.
Holding the flute is a bit of an art.
Left hand cramping (if right handed) is not uncommon when starting out; some people get past it quickly, harder for others, including me. Folks talk about the ‘grip of death’, where you clamp the flute too tightly with the left thumb. I’ve struggled with it to the point of almost giving up, but I’m making progress based on advice I picked up here. I had a thread going a while ago on the topic https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/a-thanks-to-jem-and-terry/97951/1 Since then, I have continued to experiment , especially with rolling the flute inward a bit, and now I can play fairly comfortably without any contact of my left thumb at all… though I do sometimes let it touch the flute, it makes things a bit easier, but I still get the grip of death happening a bit if I am playing something fast. I can feel the pain coming back then. So if I can become 100% comfortable with no contact, and still get the tone I am looking for, that’s my goal.
I’ve been watching some videos of Harry Bradley playing, and he seems to use his left thumb as kind of a shelf that the flute rests on, so it isn’t squeezing the flute at all. It works for me, but it means my finger TIPS end up coming down on the toneholes, rather than the fleshy pad which is more common. Looking at the Bradley videos, it seems to be the same for him. So, Bradley and I can play the flute the same way …that’s kind of a joke, because he is many worlds better than me.
Something that helps me with flute and low whistles are little pads that I buy from Carolyn Nussbaum (flute4u.com).
They come in either black or white in a pack of four or so. Very cheap, remove without leaving residue and do a good job of preventing the instrument from “twisting”. Allows me to relax my hands, lighten my grip and play more comfortably.
Holding and playing the flute has some physical challenges. With time they ease. For me, some eased up within a year, while other issues persisted for least double that time. Now, I’m relatively pain-free unless I play for a good long time. My challenge with my new keyed flute is learning to hold down the Eb key, which makes my right little finger very tired.
Pushing the left wrist while it’s twisted makes the wrist sore. This one has taken me a long time to fix or maybe become accustomed to.
As suggested look into ergonomic issues, and have a professional teacher observe what you are doing. Little things can make a big difference. For example, are you pressing with the very bottom or the not-quite-bottom of the left index finger. See what I mean about consulting a professional… in person.
As for embouchure training… that’s longer than a couple of years.
I’ve been playing for some 30 years, only simple system flutes. I’ve attended a lot of workshops. In my experience, many of the simple system teachers are self-taught. They’re great for repertoire and articulations, but not very knowledgable on matters of posture and holding the instrument. Although there are exceptions, generally they know how they do it and that’s all. I suggest looking up Youtube videos of Boehm (silver) flute teachers on the topic, since this is one area where the two flutes are similar. Here’s one video of many: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U-5nrHjuUw. Perhaps a lesson with a Boehm teacher would be worthwhile, but I’ve never gone that route.
One area of particular concern to me - the bent left wrist. I played with a bent left wrist for years and developed carpal tunnel syndrome. I learned to play with a straight wrist and and the carpal tunnel issues went away (thanks to a lesson from Grey Larsen). I was not the only one with bad left hand posture - check out videos of Seamus Egan or old videos of Kevin Crawford playing with bent left wrists. In a workshop I took last summer and in recent videos Kevin Crawford now plays with a completely straight left wrist. As an added benefit, if your left wrist is straight the ‘death grip’ is not possible.
You also may have issues with flute fit. I’ve changed recently from a R&R-type flute to a larger Pratten-type flute. Although the difference in stretch is only a few millimeters, it makes all the difference. I’m finding the Pratten a difficult adjustment and may have to move back to a R&R. As a new player, you’ll probably change flutes a few times over the coming years. You’ll learn what fits and what does not. In short, it should not hurt.
The best advice/direction on “flute support” that I’ve received came from the post just above mine–from jemtheflute. I play both Simple System and Bohem flutes and Jem’s instruction has been invaluable for me and has made my practice and playing so much more enjoyable. I’ve had to unlearn some very poor habits which was not easy to do since they were fairly well established. I suggest you follow the advice which he has provided. In addition, the U Tube video on Body Posture, as mentioned in ryarbrough’s post has been helpful as well. Best of luck, enjoy the journey, it is most certainly worth it.
Heh heh, as I get older, I find I’m becoming more and more radical in my hold of the flute. Here’s this week’s position statement…
Start by lining up all the holes, including the embouchure. Try holding it by the three-point position - left knuckle pushing inwards, chin pushing outwards, right thumb tip pushing outwards and upwards towards the centre of the flute. Now play middle c# (all fingers off, ooo ooo). Totally hopeless, isn’t it, the flute rotates back towards you, unless you carefully restrain it somehow.
Now start rotating the head back towards you until when you play c#, the flute just sits there. It may be quite a radical offset, almost as far as the c-key.
You’ll find also, by this time that your left elbow that had been out in front of you is now comfortably dangling down brushing your chest.
But it might bug you that your right arm is now sticking out to the right, and your right shoulder feels high. If so, and assuming you aren’t playing a Prattens, feel free to rotate the right hand back towards you until your right arm feels comfortable. About halfway between the embouchure hole and the lefthand finger holes seems good to me. (Reaching the Long F key could prove a limit on some flutes.)
Now you might want to fine-tune both offsets (head and right-hand sections) to get the best results, which I would characterise as:
good dark tone by blowing “towards the bottom of the embouchure chimney”, but not muffled by turning in too much
comfortable, relaxed left arm and wrist
comfortable, relaxed right arm, fingers free to dance on the holes
no tendency for the flute to rotate as you run up and down the scale, so no need to press hard anywhere to restrain it
completely free left thumb to operate Bb and not to have to deal with the rotational tendency
completely free R4 to operate Eb and not constrain the freedom of R3.
This office may release an amendment in the week after the National Folk Festival in Canberra at Easter. I plan to hit the sessions hard!
Being a piper, I started using the “Piper’s grip” for both my left and right hand. Works a lot better for me. A lot less tension
I’ve tried to finger the flute the more common way, many times. But it’s so much harder to move (especially) my left hand fingers quickly. Ornaments and fast movements are so much easier and it doesn’t cause cramp either…
Tom Doorley, Patsy Hanley, and others, do it to at least some extent, esp. the left hand:
I play a keyless flute, for long enough time now that my hold has settled in and it’s comfortable. Quasi-piper’s grip on the low hand, more on the finger pads with the upper hand.
However, on that point above (and Jem’s video)… I’ve noticed a tendency to use my R4 pinky to lightly touch the flute most of the time, as if to help stabilize it. Just a very light touch, not pushing hard, with the right thumb doing almost all the work. I can still play without it touching, and it flies up occasionally with certain note sequences. Probably the ones with R3, I haven’t put much thought into it.
I’m conflicted about whether this is something I should try to work on. I know I’ll need to make sure it’s in the right spot if I ever get a keyed flute with an Eb. But for now, I don’t know if this is a problem or not. Lord knows I have other things I need to be working on…
I’m pretty new to the flute. Self teaching/you tube… I have pretty much come up with a grip like the guy in your first video. A little bit like holding a low d whistle and then bringing it up to a transverse position.
I then saw lots of vids where players were holding it in a more ‘traditional’ way I.e. the bent wrist. So I tried that. Decided that my original way was probably wrong as no one else seemed to play like that BUT as it seems infinitely more comfortable I’ve gone back to it
So I’m pleased to see some much better players using the same holding technique
The ‘bent wrist’ technique, done properly, doesn’t involve
a particularly bent wrist. It can be quite comfortable. A teacher
might show you how, or you can simply work out a comfortable,
straightish position. Might be worth a try.
But it is nowhere written that you must play this way.
My teacher encouraged me to try the classical grip as opposed to the pipers’ grip. I get a completely different tone out of my flute. Aging and ease of motion are considerations. I appreciated the wise contributions to chiff&fipple. Thanks everyone.
Keyless flute is a bit easier than the keyed flute, and that is something to enjoy. As you point out, the right pinky is useful for support on some/many notes, and maybe you only need to lift it when you roll the E-note. I came to flute from whistle, and those habits were more-or-less natural.
On a keyed flute, many players just rotate the foot out of the way so the right pinky plays the same, (merely) supporting roll as on the keyless. Of course this up the Eb, which is only used occasionally. When you need it, you need it, and a solid Eb is very satisfying.
From my experience… When I moved to keyed flute, I had to learn how to use the keys (easy enough - Fnat, G# and Eb; I don’t use Cnat or Bb - cross-fingering is a different topic). Strengthening the right pinky took a bit more effort and time. Hardest was learning to lift or press the Eb key depending on the particular note: must be down on E & F#, must be up on D. It is true that on my flute, the Eb is very beneficial for E & F#, whereas on most modern flutes you might not have that necessity.
I agree with kmag that the piper’s grip might be an issue if you change to keyed flute. The blocks holding the keys on my flute are too close to the finger holes for the piper’s grip to work. And I’m one who might benefit from it as my ring finger is rather shorter than my middle finger, and my Eb/C/C# pinky is even shorter.
These are all things you can work through. A few months of relearning is not the end of the world. But, if I could tell my newby flute self one thing, it would be to start with an Eb key.
Yes, it’s a lot more comfortable and also gives easier finger movement. And if it works for Hanley and Doorley, then who’s to say it’s “wrong”…?
I too have tried, many times, to get used to the “normal” left hand position. But it isn’t right for me. I came to the flute from years playing the pipes and the low whistle.
As for keys, many players never use them anyway. And I have no problems (well, at least none due to my left hand position) using most of them even though I hold the flute the way I do.
Hi
If you have small hands you might find this clip useful. I made it for Mary who came from the classical tradition and was having trouble getting her fingers to comfortably cover the holes on her new flute. Hope it helps you too. https://youtu.be/yfbNKJSaVhI
Tim Adams Flute Maker - www.adams.se/flute
