Seems like my left hand is way slower than the right. I’m assuming it’s because of the different grip. Would appreciate any advice on how to loosen up…thanks, John.
I’m in the same boat and the only cure AFAIK is practice practice practice those A and B rolls 
Yep, my A and B rolls still need the most work (just starting to get the short rolls as well–those need even more work). They do get better over time, but progress does seem slow, at least for me.
Me, too. I’m at a very frustrating plateau. I know from past experience, and other instruments, that progress is never steady. It comes in fits and starts. Sometimes you just need to go on faith.
I think it can help to sometimes practice with the left thumb off the flute, just relaxed and hanging.
If the flute is held correctly this works OK and it can reduce the ‘death grip’ that
can affect the left hand. You can’t grip too tight if the thumb is off the flute,
and holding tight can slow one down.
Just play slowly and prettily and all will be well.
Maybe it’s your right hand that is too fast.
Or your brain, thinking that speed is important.
Same problem here. The issue is not that fast passages are difficult to play, but that A and B rolls don’t sound right. It’s hard to give the cuts and strikes the quick, percussive sound they require. It’s also hard to perform the rolls with perfectly even rhythm or, alternatively, exactly the uneven “lilt” that you want to give them.
I’m trying to address this by playing concentrated exercises. For instance, I often repeatedly loop through the following:
DBBB GBBB
…with the triple B representing a B roll. I based this exercise on the most difficult part of a reel I like, “The Earl’s Chair”. I’ll play this bit of music dozens of times in succession. Every time I start, it seems clumsy and weak, but I’m slowly (very slowly, compared to other aspects of my playing) improvement.
One thing I notice is that the middle finger of my left hand seems to have more flex in it than others. My hand position leaves it at an angle that doesn’t let me arch the tip joint in a way that prevents it from flexing when it strikes the tone hole. I’m experimenting with changing my hand position, but it always seems to revert to the same geometry. I may need to find a teacher to help get me out of this habit.
This is interesting. My problems are mostly with my right hand. I’m “sort of” a right handed person and this has bothered me for a while.
I say I’m “sort of” a right handed person because I write with my right hand, but there are many things I do mostly with my left, like throwing and catching stuff.
So to all of you who answered this, reporting problems with your left hand: are you left handed or right handed? Is there a connection? And to those of you left handed, what is your hand most difficult to work with?
I don’t want to hijack this thread, but probably answering the above will clarify the responses given.
I am right handed, and have had problems for many years playing guitar, banjo whistle and flute, the little finger is by far worst, then they get a little better First finger i pretty ok though. I am quite convinced it’s just a matter of teaching the fingers to “behave” and train the muscles seldom, if ever used in your non-dominant hand..
Hi y’all, I am with andref, right hand is slower and it is the third finger that is slowest of all. Makes those E rolls pretty clunky. My teacher says loosen up and throw the right half of the right hand into it, no muscular motion, just a flick. Easier said than done. BEEE GEEE ad infinitum. It does help to cut with the 3rd finger on the left hand instead of 1st on right for the E roll.
On my left hand the move to piper’s grip pretty much speeded the A rolls to where they (can) sound good. Change in grip also helped all the 1st finger B cuts. Give it a try if you haven’t, maybe you’ll like it.
L
Jim’s on the right track. This is a recurring, old-hat issue on this and other forums. Probably plenty of old threads on it. There ought not to be any difference between the hands despite the different types of approach they make to the flute, and if you get “orthodox” holds correct they should be at least as facile in the L hand as with “pipers’”, if not more so. It is, as almost always, about relaxed control rather than blocking tension. L hand problems tend to be with players trying to grip (even if not death grip per se) the flute rather than support it. Get those fundamentals right first, so that all your fingers are free to move easily, then practice (in tune contexts or in systematic exercises, to taste) the specific fingering sequences at issue making sure you don’t revert to unhelpfully stressed hand postures.
I have to confess this one has always puzzled me, mind. I mean, I started on Bohm flute with little teaching input, learnt to hold it in more-or-less orthodox fashion though without any real attention to detail, took up whistles, never had any difficulty with free movement of particular fingers on either, learnt to do rolls etc. through the scale and have no recollection of any particular roll being harder than others (not saying the timing/speed etc was easy to learn!); switched to simple system, ditto… So when folk say they struggle particularly with rolls on B and A, I wonder why… - personal experience as a player hasn’t led me to anticipate it, though subsequent experience as a (sometimes) teacher and a would-be helper/adviser here has made me aware it isn’t uncommon - but why? ? ? ? Odd.
The whistle is a lot easier for me, course I’m using pipe’s method on both hands! On the flute, because the thumb of my left hand is wrapped under it for flute support, the fingers are bent instead of flat and feel stiff. Maybe I am gripping too hard and need to relax. Low whistle was easier too because of piper’s grip. If I try that with the flute, I can’t hold it! J.
Yes - your fingers shouldn’t be stiff because they’re curled, nor does being curled intrinsically make them go stiff. Gripping does. Ideally you should not “hold” the flute at all. The L thumb should, as Jim said, be able to hang free and certainly be free to operate thumb keys without you feeling in danger of dropping the flute.
Picking up David Levine’s point, I am trying to learn the pipes, and am having “death grip” problems. Today I decided to play everything at half speed, and discovered that the death grip went away. As a type A compulsive person, it doesn’t seem natural that doing less should achieve more. A former teacher said “It’s better to play it 49 times slow, and once fast than the other way round”.
I also agree with Jim that learning to play without the upper hand thumb holding the flute is what I do any time I notice tension in my upper hand.
Brad Hurley said something illuminating years ago about 2 handed rolls for A and B (cut as usual, but tap is slapping down all 3 fingers of the bottom hand. There’s not much change in pitch, but the articulation is there. For some reason, going through this step was a key for getting good rolls with the conventional tap. On B rolls I sometimes tap with the 2nd and 3rd finger because I find it easier to keep the upper hand loose this way.
Hugh
In the ‘theft over honest toil’ department, a thumb hole or a C-natural key provides
another way to do B and A rolls.