Blueblade, I think both Steph Geremia and Kevin Crawford are superb players, far better than myself. I’m sure they do what works for them, as should we all. There are no absolute rules about this, though there are absolute rules of physics and anatomy with which we have to try to optimise our personal dealings, fitting our own bodies to the flute according to logical principles. I think that if you watch them both carefully they are in fact both making tube contact with their thumbs behind the bottom centreline. If you could get a good end on view I think you’d find they are pushing forward at least as much as up. A front on view isn’t the best for assessing what’s going on as different people’s thumbs behave differently - my own reflex significantly, so the top appears below the flute in a straight-on, eye-level view, but the curve of it means the main contact is more behind the tube than is apparent from that angle. Of course, there are players who rest the flute on their R thumb like a shelf and who play perfectly well. But often folk who have learnt that way have issues with stability/security of support and with free, relaxed-controlled movement of fingers.
Everything you say makes sense to me. I’m going to watch your videos and make the changes. Thanks for your help.
@jem.
Point taken. The word grip does imply force. As a newby my flute hold/support was somewhat grip-like until I learned to ease up. Thus my self-sarcasm.
Excess force is normal when you are starting out, and it eases only as your muscles and hands learn how much is enough vs how much is too much. I found the Rockstro hold to be is a good doorway to a more relaxed hold.
I am having problems and feeling “insecure” when playing the C#! I find I need to use one of my right hand digits to comfortably stabilize the flute when all the holes are open. Is this a common feeling amongst players?
Common enough, and logical if not achieving a properly secure support set-up.
Jemtheflute and all,
This thread has been hugely helpful to me and my playing. I am very appreciative of your time in providing information and video links. I too am anticipating my first keyed flute after many years of dabbling with keyless flutes–my whistles are neglected. Off to work on applying what I’m learning!
I agree, BKWeid. Jemtheflute is a veritable evangelist for good and more comfortable flute practice. I’ve watched all the videos he lists and have been working on my flute support. While I developed a sense of confidence that I won’t drop my good flute, I “worked out” with a homemade PVC D flute that actually has a good tone and is in tune. But I was not afraid of dropping it, so I could focus on holding the flute without the additional tension of whether I would lose it. I could just as easily have used a length of 1 inch dowel; but the PVC flute provided tone holes and an embouchure for orientation.
I’m now transferring that feeling to my Casey Burns D. I think it is working, though I have to stop occasionally and take stock of posture, position, hold, embouchure, and the myriad of other matters to pay attention to. Anyway, I am grateful to this group, and especially to Jemtheflute, for helping me pay attention to good habits from the beginning.
Glad my materials are proving helpful. 
I hope this post will not bring down the wrath of Jem on me (actually he seems to be a very gentle person), but I think it should be noted that while the manner of holding/balancing the flute that Rockstro described is probably the best way to do it, I doubt if anything like the majority of flutists or flute players use it. In my own case, my thumb is utterly incapable of any degree of the ‘bending backwards’ that, however slight, seems to be necessary to make this manner of support work. Colin O’Grada describes the more common ‘thumb under’ means of support in his tutor, and Grey Larsen in his actually argues against it (although not strongly if I remember correctly). In sum: try the Rockstro manner and if it doesn’t work, move on with the thumb-under manner (taking care not to grip the flute tightly in the left hand (this is the manner recommended by Quantz for the Baroque flute, but I agree completely with Jem that it is to be avoided). Chet
Chet, no wrath, but the thumb doesn’t need to reflex - fleshy tip of a straight thumb against the tube is perfectly functional for a Rockstro support.
I have managed to shift to something closer to a Rockstro hold (RH thumb push) as I’ve started trying to use the keys on my flute more. I’m trying to get away from the RH “pinkie post” on the flute body that I used with my previous keyless flute, and just floating with the lightest possible touch on the Eb key.
One thing I wanted to add to the discussion is that a Rockstro RH thumb push (if I’m understanding this right) needs a good thumb tip flesh pad in contact with the flute. That means little to no thumbnail.
It took me a while to figure this out, because I’ve played fingerstyle guitar for years and have always kept my RH thumbnail fairly long. Just that thumbnail in contact with the flute doesn’t work. In fact, I’ve noticed small scratches in the wood at the point my RH thumbnail contacts it, either from me or the former owner (I bought this flute secondhand).
So I’ve made the supreme sacrifice to my guitar playing lately, cutting my RH thumbnail down almost to the quick, so there is plenty of flesh pad to contact the flute. I’m building up a side callus on the thumb to compensate on guitar, so not all is lost. I don’t think I’m going full Rockstro because my RH thumb isn’t pushing directly against the center of the flute, it’s slightly lower but enough to make the fulcrum work. My flute hold feels more secure now, and I think my RH 3rd finger is more nimble without the 4th/pinkie locked down for support.
That last bit about improved R3 mobility is good news and a good illustration of the point of not using R4 as primary pusher (or counter-lever in a thumb underneath support system) and keeping them both slightly arched, not locked out. I have rather a tendency myself to lock them out even though my Rockstro thumb position is good.
Re: the thumb, I don’t keep my nails particularly short but I don’t use the very tip of it and I don’t normally have nail to tube contact, but then, my thumbs reflex. I’d say the normal contact/pressure point is not exactly the side midline of the tube but somewhat lower. If you looked at the tube from the foot end, I’d expect contact/pressure to be at about 8-o’clock or a little lower/before, not 9-o’clock.
Jem, after my post yesterday, I experimented again and discovered that if I used the tip of my thumb I could do the hold. However, just like Conical Bore, I normally keep my right hand thumbnail long (after nearly 65 years of playing flamenco and classical guitar this is a reflex action even though I’m not playing my guitars much at all now). I’m pretty sure that if I cut my thumbnail short, I could manage the R-hold. For classical guitar there is a minority tradition (Fernando Sor, Francisco Tárrega, Emilio Pujol) through the centuries of playing the instrument without nails, but for flamenco that is an impossibility. I don’t personally have any trouble with the thumb-under support so don’t plan to change although I agree with you that the R-support makes more sense. As an aside, but a curious and interesting one I think, some players who rest the flute against their shoulder keep their right hand little finger up all the time. Catherine McEvoy is an example. She has what I would describe as a Quantz hold (grip in this case is perhaps accurate) with her left hand. On the other hand there are players such as Harry Bradley and Matt Molloy who never move their right hand pinkie from its resting place. Quantz did not advocate keeping the Eb key open as much as possible, only when needed, but with 19th century simple system and Boehm flutes it must be down nearly all of the time. (Most modern makers of keyed flute for playing Irish music make their systems so as not to require venting with the Eb key.)