small hands?

[littleegg]

I have read a lot of posts about small hands. What is a small hand? Is there a standard guage as far as flutes are considered? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I want to buy a flute and had a terrible experience with a Mid East Mfg as far as stretch. Thanks.

Greg

[jim stone]

I think you will find some info about this on Casey Burns' site.

[crookedtune]

Stretching out your right hand, measure distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the pinky. About 8-9 inches is a fairly normal hand size, I think. Mine is 8.5, and I have no trouble with any D flute I've tried.

[LorenzoFlute]

Mine is 8.5, and I have no trouble with any D flute I've tried.

Same size here, and with piper's grip and some getting used to i can reach cylindrical low B flutes with massive holes (bansuri).

[littleegg]

Thanks guys. It IS a stretch for me to get 8.5 more comfortably 8. I'll probably end up learning piper's grip and just deal with it. Thanks again.

[MED]

Eeek, I can only reach 6.5 inches comfortably... and thus it is confirmed that I have the hands of a 5 year old.

[crookedtune]

Well, size is only part of it. The hand is full of ligaments and tendons, and can be conditioned to stretch further with some exercise. As a new fluter, I did a lot of reverse finger-bending, alternated with clenching, and noticed a difference in strength and flexibility very soon.

[Steampacket]

If you suffer from small, chubby, baby hands, and short, fat fingers then you can always as a last resort cut the webbing between the fingers to improve your stretch.

[LorenzoFlute]

If you suffer from small, chubby, baby hands, and short, fat fingers then you can always as a last resort cut the webbing between the fingers to improve your stretch.

[jim stone]

Well, Casey Burns has a small-hands flute. I thought there was on his site a measure for
how small your hands needed to be before he recommends it, but I can't find it now.
Anyhow he's worth contacting, as his small-hands flutes are very good.
Also ergonomics help. Small differences in hole size and spacing and placement
can be a big help. Casey is the man for that. He can make standard size flutes
more comfortable--short of the small-hands version.

[Denny]

We've all webbed hands and feet here, quite common to have to cut the webbing.
It does slow one down if you cut it however.


That might have been what inspired Casey to make small handed flutes.


It does seem to have quit raining for the next few days.

[benhall.1]

Well, size is only part of it. The hand is full of ligaments and tendons, and can be conditioned to stretch further with some exercise. As a new fluter, I did a lot of reverse finger-bending, alternated with clenching, and noticed a difference in strength and flexibility very soon.

Yes, I find that clenching helps me hit the highest notes. Doesn't always work after a curry though.

[Doug_Tipple]

I have short pinkies, which were really a problem on the classical guitar. My hands measure 7.5 inches from thumb to the tip of my pinky. Also, on the silver Boehm flute I have trouble with the pinky reaches on the endjoint for the C#, C, and B keys, not to mention the Gizmo key. However, on the 6-hole simple-system flute, where the RH pinky is not used for covering a hole, I can comfortably play the low Bb flute, which is a considerably larger flute than the low D flute. When you have small hands it is important to practice stretching the fingers if you want to play the larger flutes, but most likely you can do it.

[m31]

Yup, small hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHYWISCh40k

[Gordon]

Stretching out your right hand, measure distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the pinky. About 8-9 inches is a fairly normal hand size, I think. Mine is 8.5, and I have no trouble with any D flute I've tried.

I'm never sure why this method of measuring is useful, as you don't use your thumb to stretch at all - says nothing (directly) about the stretch between your index and your second and third fingers, or how far you can fork your fingers apart. OTOH (left or right), measuring your hand size does approximate finger size, and stretch. As a lead guitar player, my ability to use my pinky for a five or six fret stretch was important, even though other players with larger hands were less flexible in their stretch and had to jump about the board more.

I guess my point is that developing a stretch between fingers, particularly in order to cover large holed flutes' holes, is partly anatomical, and partly gymnastic - a yoga stretch between fingers - that some can do easier than others, (perhaps) regardless of hand size, or after playing for awhile. If you have small hands - which a person is probably aware of without measuring first - it might be safer to choose a smaller holed, narrower flute, or one customized, or offset, for easier reach.