No, I’m not with the board of education.
I use the base of my index finger to support the flute and this limits my movement for strikes. Anyone share this problem or have a solution to it? Thanks for your help.
Just thought I’d clarify that I’m talking about the index finger closest to the embrouchure hole.
whether you are using your index finger to either play a strike or a cut, the key is really to make sure that your hand is relaxed, even though you are supporting some of the weight of the flute on the base of the finger.
There are a couple things that i’ve found helpful for relaxing my left hand as well as building up strength in that finger. First, you just got to conciously think about making sure that your fingers and relaxed and loose. For me, just focusing on relaxing my hand helps out a lot. Another thing that you can do to build up strength in that finger is to wrap a rubber band around the flute and loop it over your finger and play a series of cuts, strikes, whatever using that finger. Obviously, don’t make the resistance so strong that it is going to hurt your fingers or give you tendonitis down the line, but a little resistance can help build up strength in that finger.
If there is a particular tune you are playing where you notice that you are having problems hitting ornaments with your b finger, you can just play through the tune with the rubber band and help build up strength. you’ll notice that once you play it through again without the rubber band, it’ll be a lot easier to hit those ornaments.
hope that helps.
b
Very interesting idea, thanks, I’ll try it out.
Edit: I did a bit of testing and realized that all of my fingers move at the knuckle joint to perform a strike but my index finger, since its movement is restricted, is moving at the second joint, thus giving it significantly less power. I’m trying to adjust the way I hold the flute so that I can move my index finger with the knuckle joint as well. Hopefully that will solve the problem.