I used to play with the little finger of my right hand resting slightly against the flute. After some time it seemed that the little finger was interacting in such a way that the ring finger seemed to be locking. I changed my grip so that my little finger was now beneath the flute and this helped.
However the problem has come back to some extent although perhaps it was still there but wasn’t so noticeable.
It feels as though my ring finger is inflamed or something and although it is still working it sometimes feels as though I don’t have the same freeness of movement in it.
I’ve been playing a lot recently and would like to find a way around this issue. I’m guessing that working on achieving a relaxed and natural grip might help.
I’ve tried sliding the ring finger forward a little in such a way that my right hand is angled such that the pad or joint of the index finger is covering the hole whilst the tip of my ring finger is still covering the hole but a little further up. This seems to allow me to slightly increase my control of my ring finger. I’m not sure if I like this grip as it’s halfway to using piper’s grip.
I think I would like to carry on playing with my fingertips. I think I can develop a lighter more relaxed grip. However, I’m not sure what the root of the issue is. I’m not expecting any definitive advice. But any insights into holding the flute and some sort of finger exercises would be gratefully received.
I think there’s a lack of illustrated guides to holding the flute out there. I’ would like especially to see the the flute from an aerial view when the holes are covered using the various grips that are used.
I understand that the third and fourth fingers (not counting the thumb!) share some common linkages. So best not to impede the movement of the ring finger by restricting the fourth finger unless you need it, eg to press an Eb key on a keyed flute.
19th century English players developed a specific hold to optimise the freedom of motion. Here’s the broad outline:
The flute is held at three points - the first joint of the LH first finger, pressing inwards, and the chin and tip of the RH thumb pressing outwards. Note, I said the tip of the RH thumb pressing outwards, not underneath the flute holding it up.
Takes a bit of getting used to, but it leaves all the other fingers quite free to press any keys or just float around.
A further benefit is that the RH fingers can be held a bit more straight than in the “thumb under” approach.
This way of holding the flute is sometimes erroneously called the “Rockstro Grip” because Rockstro mentions it in his book “The Flute”. He makes it clear he is probably the last user of such a hold. (Little did he foresee the Irish wooden flute revival in the late 20th century!) We don’t normally call things after their last user, we call them after their inventor! Unfortunately, that worthy is lost in time.
So, give that a go. As I mentioned above, it takes a bit of getting used to. But you suddenly get it, and it really works.
There are various reasons for it, but the two fingers do want to move together. For instance, it’s quite hard from most people to curl their little finger down towards the palm while leaving the others extended, yet they may be able to do it fine if they curl both the little finger and the ring finger.
One of the things that make anchoring the little finger uncomfortable is when it’s a little too short to reach fully. That leads to shifting the hand placement in order to enable it, and that can put stress the hand generally. Can you let your little finger ‘fly’, the way whistle players do? It’s not required to cover a hole, so it’s just allowed to do whatever it wants (which often involves following the movement of the ring finger).
Thanks Terry. I don’t think I understand this sentence though.
Do you mean:
Best not to try to improve the movement of the ring finger by restricting the fourth finger in case you need to use it to press an Eb key?
Moof, my little finger doesn’t reach the flute when I play with my fingertips. I think that I used to position my right hand such that my little finger was placed on the top of the flute. I started to lose control of my ring finger, and hence retrained myself to play with the little finger below the flute. I appreciate your suggestion that I let the little finger move as it wishes without trying to control it. I tried that today and will see how it works.
I’m not sure how close I am to achieving the 3 point grip but I’m giving it a go. I’d already tried it with my left hand and think I’m part way there, although I still seem to be using my left hand thumb to support the flute, which I understand is not necessary when the 3 point grip is correctly applied.
Thanks, and I’ll see how I get on with the suggestions.
I’m not Terry, but my understanding is that the ring and little finger essentially act as “one unit” in their movement. That’s a common practice on the left hand, to use the two together, and it has the benefit of providing added momentum when doing rolls or cuts on the G. My understanding is that those fingers move together, and the movement is only restricted when it’s necessary to play the Eb key. But since you’re playing a keyless for now, I wouldn’t worry about that.
I just went through the process of learning a fingertip hold (or balance, to yield to Terry’s preference for terminology ) and I’ve kept more piper’s grip on the right hand, as it doesn’t interfere with the keys. Most of the time my little finger just floats above the flute on a keyless model, and rests lightly on the C/C# key on a keyed one. The only time the little finger is restricted is if I use it to provide a bit of stability on an upper-hand note or if I’m using it to play a key. I tried tucking it underneath the flute, but it felt restrictive, like I was slightly straining the joint to do so. I much prefer letting it move in unison with the ring finger. I might be able to take pictures of my flute hold if it would be helpful, but others would probably be more qualified to do so, and less likely to unintentionally point you down the wrong path!
Perhaps various finger excercises might help, I used to tap out rhythms with my fingers seperately, ie little finger - tap tap tappety tap, ring finger same etc. It helped a lot when I started playing Button accordion.
With Irish flute there are a ton of ways to skin the cat, numerous different bottom-hand “grips” and various approaches to what “anchor” finger to use, and when.
You probably know all this, but with the bottom hand I’ve seen great players
use the end-joint pads of the index, middle, and ring fingers with the fingers slightly arched
use the end-joint pads of the index, middle, and ring fingers with the fingers flat (or at least somewhat flat)
use the Low Whistle grip with the index and middle fingers using their middle-joint pads and the little finger using its end-joint pad, and somewhat flat to fully flat fingers
use the mid-joint pad on the index, middle, and ring finger all three, and somewhat flat to fully flat fingers
For an “anchor” finger I’ve seen great players
keep the little finger in contact with its key-block (or the body of the flute) for notes above F#, or in some cases for all notes (the little finger staying down even for E)
not using the little finger at all, but instead using the ring finger as the anchor for notes above F#
These give a really wide range of possibilities. Who can say if one of them helps your finger issue.
I have a “trigger finger” issue which prevents me from playing anything requiring my upper hand fingers to be arched, forcing me to give up flute. Instruments which are held vertically with fairly flat fingers like pipes and whistles are perfectly fine for me.
Richard, I’m curious: Why didn’t switch to the Piper’s grip on your left hand instead of giving up the flute?
Some years ago I developed physical issues that forced me to abandon the standard left hand grip and switch to Piper’s grip with the left hand. Oddly enough, it wasn’t changing things up with the left hand that was difficult, it was figuring out how to balance and stabilize the flute with the right hand once I removed the left hand support from under the flute that the standard grip provides. For a while it felt like the flute was going to fly out of my hands at any moment!
Anyway, I’m sure you had your reasons, just wondering.
Unfortunately the trigger finger was just the last in a line of issues. I’d been suffering hand and wrist cramping and neck and shoulder pain for many years already.
But the trigger finger alone made me give up guitar (not that I was ever much of a guitarist, just a dabbler).
I feel ya man, got my own ever increasing list of physical issues accumulating that have impacted more than one of my favorite activities. Fortunately the last Mission Impossible movie is in the can, so I can take a break from stunt doubling for Tom Cruise, and give the aches and pains a rest for a bit.
I’ve started playing with my fingertips covering still covering the holes but with my little finger straight so that it’s hovering alongside my ring finger.
I still feel that it’s affecting my ring finger. My little finger seems to be inflamed as though there’s a build up of fluid or something.
I was thinking of asking a pharmacist if it’s worth using a cortesone hand cream. Has anyone tried this?
One other thing, I think I may have a ganglion on my little finger. I forgot to mention this as I didn’t think it was related. But a search has indicated that this can have an effect on movement.
One is that you can see how Matt Molloy keeps his lower-hand little finger straight and on the flute fulltime.
Note how he often shifts the position of his lower-hand ring finger. It’s the shift that you would do to press the Short F key, but I don’t think the tunes have that note. I haven’t slowed down the video to find out.
You can also see how he keeps the lower-hand index, ring, and middle fingers flat, however due to the middle finger being longer he has that finger, when closing its hole, in a curious bent manner, something like this
(hand) /_
This can be seen more clearly in other videos.
Second, an even cooler thing is at 9:12 when a second fluter joins in, he using what I would call a “Low Whistle Grip” on the flute.
I’ve seen that a lot with older players but also some younger players.
Some rest the flute on their shoulder meaning an extreme twist to the head and neck.
) and I’ve kept more piper’s grip on the right hand, as it doesn’t interfere with the keys. Most of the time my little finger just floats above the flute on a keyless model, and rests lightly on the C/C# key on a keyed one. The only time the little finger is restricted is if I use it to provide a bit of stability on an upper-hand note or if I’m using it to play a key. I tried tucking it underneath the flute, but it felt restrictive, like I was slightly straining the joint to do so. I much prefer letting it move in unison with the ring finger. I might be able to take pictures of my flute hold if it would be helpful, but others would probably be more qualified to do so, and less likely to unintentionally point you down the wrong path!