up to now I have been playing my flute without using my right pinkie for anchoring on the flute,
having read Hammys Irish flute players book ( great read ) he advises the pinkie as a stabilising
finger, I tried it and realised my left hand hold has probably been all wrong for some time, the right hand thumb has been under the flute and I have a habit of covering the D hole to balance the flute on notes like A and B, which to my ears doesn’t seem to affect the sound of those notes, so my question is how do I get my pinkie to stay on the flute as it naturally wants to stay in the air, have I created a monster that cant be reversed, any tips on finger re-training greatly appreciated, as the new right thumb position on the side of the flute as opposed to under is better and if I can get my pinkie to stay in contact with the flute that also feels better.
If you have moved your right thumb to the side of the flute then there should be no need to attach your pinkie to the flute. If the flute is properly supported then the pinkie should be completely free to move and attaching it will just restrict your flexibility.
Yes, I use my pinky and keep the rt thumb under the flute.
Anyhow a good way to train the pinky is to play scales. Up and down. It’s OK for the pinky to come up when
playing the
the bottom notes, as enough fingers are in place to secure the flute.
If you can hold the flute steady and it’s not causing tension somewhere else, there’s no need to put the pinky down. Having it free can leave your RH more relaxed and makes E rolls easier. Putting the third finger down on the A and B is fine, too.
I am by no means an expert, or even a competent authority. At a recent clinic I attended, Grey Larsen (a competent authority by my reckoning) recommended that I keep the right pinkie on the flute. The right pinkie pushes away, slightly, while the lower joint of the left index finger pushes toward you. Between that and the head joint against you lip the flute is very stable without undue tension. Your thumbs are free to provide some resistance against your fingers when they are covering holes. His recommendations on holding the flute have made my hands much more relaxed. Watching myself in a mirror as I play I find that the flute moves around a lot less than it used to, which is also to the good.
I think I my have left it too late for pinky down, as it seems to naturally want to lift off, I start off with it on but as soon as it has left the flute for the first time it wont go back, not without me conciously having to think about it which then breaks my flow, not that my flow is that great at the moment
elbows when you said quote ( Putting the third finger down on the A and B is fine, too. )
do you mean covering the the D hole, as this is what I do sometimes, I have seen others do this
and with info I have got in the past on flute and whistle playing there is no fixed way, just what works best with your own playing, I do see a great many players using pinky, but I think they have started that way from the very beggining, I guess its probably like pipers grip on left and right hand, and resting the flute on your shoulder if it works and causes no pain just roll with.
Again, if you want to learn this, play scales up and down ten minutes at a go each practice session,
pinky down and lifting at the low notes (if you want). Consciously do it.
No question you can learn this if you practice it.
Not that you need to play this way, however.
As to balancing flute with R3 down on D hole, personally I don’t see any problem with that if it works for you.
Quantz advocated a three-point grip – RH1, lip, and RH thumb. I consciously try to do this, but on my one-keys, some notes need the Eflat vented, many prefer it, and very few notes require it to be closed, so I just leave it open most of the time. I play with the pinkie down unless it needs to be up.
It’s folk music, play however you enjoy, you’ll play more that way. If you instinctively play with the pinkie down, unless you find your hands hurting or that your mechanics are messed up by it, go ahead and play with it down.
Not quibbling with any of the advice above about how to get the pinkie down and particularly agree with doing what you feel you want to do. I just can’t figure out why someone would want to put it down, and thereby limit its movement, if they didn’t need to. It seems to me that you’d be moving from an ideally flexible grip in pursuit of some other players convention with no defined advantage. I’m not recommending that people pursue a floating pinkie as a principle but if you’re lucky enough not to need to put it down, then don’t.
I’m not trying to copy any particular player, and its not that I want to put the pinky down, I just wanted to avoid making a rod for my own back by using R3 as a support when playing A and B, having read Hammy’s Irish flute player book which mentions bad habbits early on can be difficult to fix later, so maybe I should have worded the post, pinkie or R3 as anchor point, and yes R3 seems to work best as trying to use my pinkie causes me to over think which breaks my flow,
I know Denny made the comment ( isn’t that called practice? ) well if its detrimental to me learning a tune i’d say no.
so I agree with you for me there is no point in trying to put it down, I suppose some of the reasoning stems from the line in Hammys book and that I have found a great trad flute teacher, who lives 15 miles from me who comes off tour in November, which is when I am booked up for a course of lessons, and not knowing what his advice would be regarding the whole pinkie thing just thought I could retrain the pinkie before lessons start.
Sorry if I misinterpreted, I took your opening post to mean that you could now support the flute with thumb moved to the new position, without either R3 or pinkie to help stabilise your grip.
Rob,
Matt Molloy’s playing is beyond amazing but it doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t be better off with more pinkie flexibility if he wanted to play those Bflat Donegal hornpipes!!!
Poor Matt…we all keep hoping he’ll make something of himself.
The Eb key has come up more than once in this thread; I thought I’d mention that, using my little cork bit on the eight-keyed flute, I’m able to vent the Eb key without actually lifting my pinkie. I just rock it over a bit, and Bob’s your uncle. Or my uncle.
