I am having a touch of tendon soreness in my left hand/forearm that I don’t want to screw around with and make worse. Is anyone aware of a way to continue to work on embouchure without using ones left fingers/hand? I have decided to simply try to do as little as possible with the left hand and have been playing no flute or whistle for a few days now. Thanks.
Though it sounds paradoxical, I believe that playing whistle (with a firmish grip on the beak)
helps keep the embouchure healthy. Not as good as flute (or perhaps the coke bottle)
but does more good than one might think.
Just whistle. With your lips: http://www.youtube.com/user/WhistlersBrother?blend=7&ob=5
It will keep your embouchure nice and strong. Drinking through a straw will also help and with the right mix you can even ease yr tendonitis.
It happend to me. I taped over the top-hand holes (blocking them with poster putty or wax may be better for the wood finish) and played an octave scale and simple tunes using my right hand and harmonics. Can use the left hand in any position (maybe holding the stopper end of the head) to support the flute. I got the idea from a workshop recording somewhere on the web where J M Veillon does that and says something like “You don’t need the left hand. If something bad happens, you still can play” . Google can’t find those recordings now. (JMV also does high C# roll that way, but you really need a top hand finger for that)
Edit: I found it http://users.skynet.be/berkenhage/nieuweberkenhagesite/muziek/harmony%20exercises.mp3 (it means harmonics, not harmony) More if your start here: http://users.skynet.be/berkenhage/ and click the Music tab.
Speaking of one-handed whistle. Jean Duval has a whold CD with his compositions.