Any thoughts or advice on a head joint that wobbles a bit when playing?
When I watch videos of top players, the flute seems rock solid and still at the embouchure. But I can tell when playing in front of a mirror that my flute wobbles a bit at the embouchure when my fingers are moving. Seems more pronounced when playing with my right hand.
I use a so-called Rockstro hold and usually anchor my right pinky on the flute as well.
My teacher thinks I’m not using enough inward force against my chin. And I take that to mean that I’m not using enough outward force at the right thumb as well.
He’s probably right but I don’t want to create too much tension when playing. My left thumb wants to squeeze the flute and I have to combat that tendency.
Just curious if anyone has tips for finding the right amount of pressure and keeping the flute locked in at the embouchure while the fingers are free to move.
I am totally trying to figure this out as well! Conal O grada showed me how much pressure is on his lower lip, and it is A LOT. I understand why some play with the flute resting on the shoulder, because it really does stabilize it. But I don’t want to do that.
Hmmm, if the English 3-point hold is going well, you should be able to play with your left thumb completely off the flute. You need it free to be able to press the Bb key at will.
Have you tried turning the embouchure hole inward a really long way compared to the finger holes? I find I need to turn it in about 60 degrees to be able to find the right balance point. That puts it in line with my upper c key which is an extraordinary amount of turn in.
You know you have the degree of rotation right when you can play up and down the range of the flute using only the 3 points of contact. The left thumb and right pinkie can wave around in the air until you need to play Bb or Eb.
I find the tip of the right thumb needs to point directly into the flute, rather than the pad of the thumb being under the flute.
Agreeing with Terry here, about the right thumb tip pressing directly into the side of the flute, and not underneath for a three point hold.
I had to sacrifice the long thumbnail I had on my right hand for fingerstyle guitar playing, trimming it down to a nub and exposing the bare flesh at the tip of the thumb. With any appreciable thumbnail it tended to slide on the flute body instead of making a solid fleshy contact.
Even if you don’t play any tunes that need a Bb key, or if you’re playing a keyless flute, you should have completely free movement of your lefthand thumb if you’re applying enough sideways pressure with the right thumb against your chin. I also don’t anchor my righthand pinky. With a solid three point hold you don’t need that.
Like Terry, I rotate the headjoint inward a bit, with the outer edge of the embouchure hole aligned with the inner edge of the tone holes. It feels like it puts my hands in a more comfortable position for this flute hold.
Appreciate these thoughts. I’ll experiment with some of these ideas. I do rotate the headjoint inward and that made a big and positive difference to the three point hold when I first tried it. But maybe I need to rotate in a bit more. The outer edge of my embouchure hole is more or less in line with center of the finger holes. Though I do sometimes experiment with rotating the right hand out more. I have a keyless flute with the left and right hand holes on two separate pieces.
I am also applying pressure more with the pad of my right thumb than the point. So will experiment here too.
When I first began playing, my left thumb would get sore, clearly showing I was putting too much tension/pressure there. I worked on being able to play without the left thumb touching the flute at all and that did help me lock in the three point hold, but when I rest my left thumb on the flute, it has a tendency to want to grip, which I have to fight.
The right pinky is a different story – I’ve read and heard from those that advocate for the pinky as an additional anchor (whereas no one seems to support use of the left thumb). I’ve thought that anchoring with the pinky was either helpful or at least harmless, but maybe I need to work on being able to keep the flute balanced without any help from the pinky. I wonder if I’m using some downward force with the pinky that needs counterbalancing and that leads to the balancing forces on the three primary anchor points being off. I am trying to use the pinky to provide mostly outward force, but given that it sits sort of near the top of the flute, it might be providing downward force too. I do notice that it is easier for me to play without the left thumb than it is for me to play without the right pinky anchor.
I used my righthand pinky for support when I started playing Irish trad on a keyless flute. It just felt natural. Then I got my first keyed flute, and started learning some tunes that needed the Eb note key. That was the start of the journey to the three point hold.
If you can free up the pinky now with a more solid hold using just outward pressure on the tip of the righthand thumb, then you’ll be in better shape to use a keyed flute later on. Or you could just get a keyed flute now for motivation.
Pinky - see if you can let it just ‘rest’ for balance rather than using it?
For determining amount of pressure, try each note thinking a scale of 1-10 where 1 is no pressure and 10 is max pressure. What number gets you the minimum pressure for a nice clean tone for that note? And likely be different for each note, also depending on the position of the whole flute.. That will give you what you want to aim for.
For bobbling.. wobbling.. see if you can determine where on the chin/lower lip you rest the flute. The best stable spot is where the flute rests on the chin-bone. Sometimes you might need to raise the flute above that spot to get good tone, but also maybe with the flute there you can kind of maneuver your top lip to produce the good tone.
Along with finding the best place to rest the flute at the chin, you want to aim for a good pressure point against the spot which corresponds to the place just below the front teeth. That is, the gum below the teeth. If you find the flute is above that place, you can just kind of roll the hj out a hair to get there, without changing the chin location.
With all these ideas, try to do only one tiny change at a time (o how do I know this..) and reassess before you move anything even a millimeter.
Of course remember if anything hurts, stop!
Hope this helps. I recommend you go over these points with your teacher so they can see what’s happening at each step, and tell you how to practice any new solutions.
