May as well give it its own thread.
So yeah, cover a bit of the hole and mess around with it until it sounds good.
Good synopsis William! That about covers it, doesn’t it?
But, Drouët does give a nice description, even if it sounds a bit like an instruction manual written in a different land. It seems though it’s actually a pretty good guide for a short summary of how to “sound the flute”. Thanks for posting it.
Where did you find it?
The book is “Drouët’s Method of Flute Playing. Intended for those who have already made some Progrefs on the instrument,” written in 1830. I forget where I got it, it can be purchased online somewhere. It’s published by Jan Boland, so probably through her website. It was apparently written in english by Drouët himself, so I imagine the prose is a mixture of frenchlish and the manner of speaking at the time. It’s a pretty good book, actually, if one’s interested in classical music on 8-key or just getting used to keys.
I would have said “gracefully” rather than “without ungracefulness”!
Also, funny how most flute players appear to have been males back then. My daughter the orchestral viola player says boys don’t play the flute “unless they are gay”.
. . . she is not talking about ITM flutists of course!
Don’t be too sure. The stereotype is still out there all around and your daughter may have bought it. I’m just sayin’.
Back in the day, though, it appears that the flute was considered a “man’s instrument”, it being unseemly for a woman to have such a priapic piece of furniture in proximity with her mouth, and men were considered to have the better lung power. That, and the prevailing wisdom was that due to embouchurely acrobatics one cannot play flute without unprettiness. Men tended to have beards, then, too, so for them the issue of facial indignities was solved, never mind that it’s far more okay for a guy to look unpretty.
just slap those sillies! 
Seriously. At a gig I had a fellow flirting with me once; not so big a deal, but he made louche suggestions about what “we all know about fluteplayers”, (Don’t you just hate that? And he wouldn’t give up on it despite that I rolled my eyes), asked me how I cleaned it, and mentioned with a glint in his eye that some use a peacock’s tail feather. I had had enough by that point, and said, “Sorry. That’s just too…precious for me.”
I think by that point he finally got that I was put off - but that it was really about the stereotype was probably lost on him.
I got the other side of it!
1972, aircraft carrier off the coast of Viet Nam, 5,000 males
the tallest guy on the ship walking from a lower aft berthing compartment to to fo’csle to try to figure out how the dang thing works.
Eh? Guess I’m a bit thick today.
ah, rather a lot of homophobic people about
what thought that I was being overly bold
perhaps even flaunting
what tended to bring out their desire to appear menacing
Gotcha.
Well, of course. A flute, and all. You were “advertising”. 
Jeez, Denny…on the Rolling Main everyone knows you’re supposed to be playing a concertina.
not a concertina in sight.
many guitars, a couple of harmonicas…
one git with a sax…bit miffed I wouldn’t give 'im lessons (nothing to work with)
one heck of a lot of cassette players!
During a recent discussion about instruments, one of the group chimed in with, “I play the radio…”.
ah, we had a lot of that mentality, we did!
wasn’t a lot of radio stations though…funny, eh?
Control freaks, is what.
okay, my turn
say what?
che é mas macho?
¿Matt Molloy é Sir James Galway?
… lol - my flute playing is a source of embarrassment to my 17 year old flautist. She subscribes to the flute = gay theory too. My stock reply is “you could do worse than have a gay dad” : ) I’m not gay & don’t care who is or isn’t, but that generally shuts her up.
Maybe the rising popularity of ITM will help make that stereotype go away. ITM flute rocks!
Best,
Deisman
Hey, I’m gettin’ pretty good at Denny-ese, there.
With a cassette player you have control. With a radio you’re at the DJ’s mercy. 
ah
One of my main goals in life is to bring back the flute to the list of “macho” instruments in the eyes of the public.
Wish me luck. I’ll wish you all good health and good
whisky