I have been practicing for a long time now to use normal grip, and it is still very uncomfortable, and I just can’t play fast using it. I have decided to stick with the piper’s grip on the flute, because it feels good on my hands, and I can hit all the ornamentation I can without trouble. Are there any great players that use piper’s grip? and would there be any trouble hitting keys using piper’s grip, and if so, is there a solution? Thanks.
An answer to part of your question:
some keyed flutes are set up for piper’s grip.
The seth gallagher flute is–no surprise
as the guy makes pipes.
There is a right hand touch for the Bb and the blocks
are set a bit low to accommodate your fingers.
Probably other makers do this, or would
if you talked to them.
Best wishes, Jim
I would agree with you. Pipers grip works better for me. Ornamentation is easier, and flows better!
As regards to famous players who use pipers grip, one person who springs to mind is Mike McGoldrick. If you check out this video youtube
I think he is playing a grinter(open for correction). It is a left handed flute, with a right hand Bb key!
Um, just to ask, but what sort of flute are you playing? That is, there are various kinds of flutes.
I’m just trying to get a picture of your situation.
Whistle Collector,
Here’s another wrinkle to consider. I also play with the piper’s grip since my left hand is so much more flexible that way, I just can’t unlimber the left index finger to the point where I can move it smoothly, and my hand feels cramped that way. However, when I do use the LH classic grip, my embouchure is consistently rock solid and strong, and the flute seems to automatically be tucked in under my lip where it needs to be to keep it that way. Whereas with the piper’s grip, the flute moves around just enough that I tend to lose the embouchure halfway through a tune. Maybe I should just suck it up and play with the classic grip, but I’ve been trying to use my RH pinky to anchor the flute a bit so it doesn’t move around as much, and that seems to help.
BTW, Paul McGrattan uses the piper’s grip.
Cheers,
Mark
I have been playing only a few months but settled on piper’s grip (I already knew pipes anyway) but with the upper joint (i.e. left hand holes) of the flute rolled forward about 20 degrees. Somehow it is much easier, since the left thumb can now support the instrument better.
I know almost nothing about flute grip but do know a bit about ergonomics. Normal grip, with the sharply angled fingers, seems inherently constricted to me. Obviously many great players make it work, but many others find it hard on the tendons.
yes…I firmly believe that you should get one!
doesn’t Doc sell those?
Now I’m not suggesting anything at all here, so don’t look too deeply into it, but personally I just can’t do the piper’s grip on the flute.
Basically, with the piper’s grip, all the weight of my flute is on my left thumb. Given what a Seery Delrin weighs, that leads to aches very quickly. Normal grip works great for me…as long as I don’t grip things too tight.
If I could learn to relax more, I’d finally get the hang of this durned thing.
Casey Burns Folk Flute.
Thanks for all of the advice and name of great players.
Well, in that case I’d say that your options are pretty much wide open.
mark, i feel your pain…this is my situation completely. i use the pipers grip but it seems harder to hit the bottom D and overall my sound is not as good, but when i switch to the classic grip my sound is solid and that bottom D jumps out. so i tend to switch back and forth between the two grips hoping that one day the classic grip will feel comfortable or the pipers grip will sound better.
my other problem is thumb strain with the pipers grip.
Same here, but if I use the normal grip, my pointer finger can’t move that well, and I just can’t play at all when I use it. I find Micheal McGoldrick’s way pretty good, where the top of his flute rests on his shoulders a bit.
I just started learning this month and have all the same problems. For now, I’m just practicing both ways.
PS to Rebelpiper- I’ve heard of Hooley before. Heard you guys were pretty good! Maybe one day I can make the trek from Auburn and see ya’ll play.
Classical Grip takes some getting used to
and lots of people have trouble initially.
Nothing the matter with pipers grip, each has
its own advantages, IMO. I’ve used both.
About classical. Some measures that may ease things:
- It’s possible to get more extention for the left index,
which is therefore easier to move, by fashioning
a bopep out of clear plastic hose. You can buy this
cheap at a hardware store. Cut off a section an inch or
two long, slit it lengthwise and put it over the flute
just over the B hole.
I used this for a good while until finally I no longer needed it.
Also it gives a broad contact for the flute to rest on the base of
the left index finger,
and it’s a bit more tacky than wood.
- I’ve pasted rectangles of moleskin at appropriate places
on the flute–above the B hole, where the right thumb goes,
where the rt pinky goes, even where the left thumb goes.
Then put some superglue on the OUTSIDE of the moleskin.
When this dries it makes a very rough surface that becomes
a more comfortable with use.
This gives you a wonderfully firm grip, and that helps one
relax a good deal while using classical grip.
- Exercise. Hold the flute against your lip using the base of
the left index, the left thumb, the rt thumb and the rt pinky
BUT THE OTHER FINGERS OFF. So no holes are covered.
Just hold the flute this way and feel how firm and stable
you can make it.
THEN, place the fingers on the holes in the most gentle
and relaxed way you can, without tension, so that they
do no work in holding the flute, they just cover the holes.
When playing, if you start having trouble with your hole covering
fingers, stop playing and review this basic position, fingers
off the holes. Then place the fingers on the holes in the most
relaxed way you can. Repeat as often as necessary,
many times if necessary.
Classical grip is a bottom up affair, IMO. If the bottom is solid
and the fingers aren’t tense or working to hold the flute,
they are more likely to move easily and less likely to cramp, etc.
FWIW.
That is some good advice Jim, thanks.
i use classical on the left hand and i dont know what on the right. i go back and forth between classical and pipers on the right, depending on my mood. i do not find a tonal difference between the two.
i think that for most of the time, i end up doing a pipers grip on the silver flute and a classical on the wooden.
i think tonal problems between the two would have to do about where you are putting the pressure. nicholson suggested three points of pressure: your face, the crook of your left hand next to the b, and your right hand thumb against the side of the flute.
http://mcgee-flutes.com/Nicholson_on_Tone.htm
that would mean not to use your left hand thumb for anything at all. the problem is that on both types of flutes you need the thumb to play other keys (boehm for c and Bb, and simple for Bb). if you have your embouchure and face pressure controlled by your left thumb, you will run into problems when you are trying to use that finger for anything.
the other thing i do is that i follow nicholson’s recommendations on setting up the angles of the flute, as well. i mess around with it, sometimes my holes are completely in line, somedays 30 degrees off and sometimes 45.
http://mcgee-flutes.com/Nicholson's%20Flute.htm
i have been playing the silver flute for longer than the wooden flute, and i have always (for some reason) used my right thumb on the side of the flute rather than underneath. so, when i read that nicholson recommended the same thing, it was not a switch at all, because i had already been doing it.
recently, i got a thumbrest
for my flute. ironically i do not put my thumb underneath it, as it is intended, but i put my thumb on the side of the thumb rest. i have found that it gives me more leverage and allows me to better control the pressure against my face than without the thumb rest.
I have one of those very thumbrests, but it will not fit my D
flute. The wooden flute is too wide for it.
I have it on a G flute I got from Phil Bleazey.
Things like that for our flutes would be welcome, IMO.
Nicholson was all for physical changes and add-ons
to make the flute more grippable. I think
that can help, in fact.