Right, so Piper’s Grip, left hand, appears to mean
that one may one day have to relearn the
fundamentals in order to play
a keyed flute–I promise you it’s worth avoiding. I do think
there’s something to be said for from the beginning
learning to hold the flute in a way that will
let you progress farthest and give you the
most options.
I certainly don’t think that people should use
what hurts and doesn’t work for them!
At the same time, though, I’m a bit concerned that the
advice to newbies ‘Do what doesn’t hurt
and works for you’ may cost them trouble later.
The flute position that may be best for you
and enable you to progress farthest
may be quite awkward initially. I know
that left hand position on standard grip
seemed virtually impossible for me
when I began to play flute–it took a long time
for me to get used to it. I’m glad I have it.
I think Grey is giving good advice in his book,
and there is something to be said in favor
of adopting his position–
probably most newbies can
do this. And yes, he means standard grip for
both hands (see earlier posts of mine
in this thread).
I add my opinion from
another thread: for newbies,
if you can find a good teacher of wooden
flutes, a single lesson at the beginning can
save you time and trouble
later. These are pretty cheap, in my experience,
and worth going a distance to find.
What an interesting discussion! Well, on more careful reading of Grey’s description of normal grip, the left thumb is supposed to provide a slight amount of pressure for stability to oppose the force of the left fingers on the tone holes. I don’t recall Grey saying that one of the balance points is the chin in the normal/standard grip, so much as the lower lip. I will recheck this.
I find that sealing the tone holes in normal grip is difficult. I cannot get the same volume from the flute as I do with piper’s grip (eg, with my left thumb under the flute), and sometimes all I get to sound is an airy wind - no note at all. Perhaps it is because the beveled edges on the Folk Flute’s tone holes require more pressure with my type of fingers? All I know is that as soon as I switch back to piper’s grip, the sound comes back.
Maybe I would do better with a polymer flute too. I seem to have to swab the insides of my mopane flute every other tune. I hear that polymer flutes don’t care about moisture buildup.
Sometimes terrific ideas pop into my head, just like that. I was walking through the produce section of Walmart this afternoon, admiring all of the lovely vegetables (turnips are my favorite), when the idea came to me. I have heard that there are idea thieves, lurking on various boards, trying to come away with ideas that their underground manufacturing facilities can have on the mass market in weeks, if not days. So I am only going to reveal part of the vision that came to me.
You probably have seen joggers wearing weights around their ankles. Right? This practice develops muscles in the legs, so that when you take off the ankle weights, it feels like you are walking on air. Well, why not have little weighted pads that you could attach to the back of your fingers when you are practicing the flute? I think that lead fishing line shot would work for the weights. The deluxe pads would attach with velcro, but there could also be budget models that attach with masking tape. Then when somebody important asked you to perform the reel at dance tempo, you could take off the pads and really go to town. Well, what do you think?
From my observation in sitting and practising with concert standard bansuri players (including the 82 centimetre A flute) I note:-
Bansuri is not just phalanging the tone holes.
Combination of finger tipping and phalanging.
The right ring finger tip closes the tone hole and the next two fingers are “phalangers”. Ditto with left hand. This is much easier and more balanced than 6 finger phalanging.
I am just now (these last 2 weeks) adjusting my Irish flute playing to this approach. It does wonders for the posture. My bansuri player friend sits and plays these large flutes for 2 to 3 hours at a time every day. My friend studies under Hariprasad Chaurasia’s bansuri maker whenever he visits India. I forget the makers name just now. Actually I couldn’t grasp it through my friend’s Italian accent.
I can’t cover the holes at all with pipers grip. I have been going through the various suggestions here, as well as reading GL, and I am not coming up with the same combos at all. I can’t even reach the flute with my RH pinky, so I balance with the RH third finger covering the E all the time, same as I learned on the whistle. I guess it really is important to try all possible methods to find what works for you.
On a back street in Calcutta in 87 I came upon a small flute-
making factory. Wooden flutes of all sizes, very inexpensive.
I bought a large wooden flute and brought it back
to the states. It was solidly and simply made (to
last forever) and
it had a strong, beautiful woody sound, but it was
in no key I could ever identify or play with
other instruments.
I knew nothing about flutes at the time,
and so didn’t think to buy a D flute!
I’m convinced they knew what they were
doing and had D flutes.
Sometimes even now I wake in the night screaming.
I mean the smallest finger on the right (lower) hand. Several references tell me to lay this down on the lower end or foot of the flute to stabilize it. I cannot reach the flute with my smallest finger. Instead, I use the ring finger of my right (lower) hand on the E hole all the time, except when it interferes with a note, of course.
There are six holes on the flute. I
often stabilize the flute by putting my
rt ring finger on the bottom hole, which
sounds a D when it’s covered.
I did this on the whistle, too.
I used to use my pinky, however this makes it
hard to use an Eb key, so I converted.
John Skelton manages the
Eb key this way, I believe, which inspired me.
This can be combined with the sort of
grip James illustrates on his excellent and
helpful website,
the right thumb presses on the
side of the flute. This, after you get
used to it (!), enables one to play
even without the ring finger down,
that is, with all the rt hand fingers but
the thumb off the flute. This
can simplify fingering, it’s quite
helpful, although I often have my
ring finger down anyhow.
Grey mentioned the right-thumb-pressing-on-
the-side option to me,
too. James Galway uses it, I believe
he said. Things you can get from a
teacher that he may not be able to
put in a book.
