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FLUTE BALANCE - How to Hold Your Flute - Flute Tube 23
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ย. 2020
- Today we look at how you should hold your flute!
Having this general concept explained to me at age 15 took at LOT of pressure off of my fingers, wrists and tendons. It made my fingers faster, happier, and better looking (really!). Over the years I've further refined how I think of and teach flute balance. These ideas have revolutionized many of my students' basic hand position!
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A very important and often overlooked element of teaching. "How to Hold Your Flute" is not just for beginners but us advanced players too. It's important to keep correcting!
Thanks so much for this video. I’ve been struggling holding the flute, trying all these gadgets but not getting anywhere. The “paradigm shift” was such an aha moment. I feel so much more secure now.
These balance points are so useful to me - especially since I struggle with tendonitis and carpal tunnel!!
Thanks - even though I studied flute at university I have never been taught this!!! Brilliant, will be us and teaching this.
Keep going pulease!!!!
Great video. Congratulations.
You just saved my right thumb!
😍
Very good, very clear!
your explanations are so accurate and fun at the same time! a precious resource! :)
by the way, to improve my right hand posture I found very useful a thumbport. My right thumb tended to slide forward, giving me a sore right hand, especially the pinky finger. After a while playing with the thumbport I was able to eventually take it off and keep the good posture. No more sore hand!
Yes, me neither, eventually I took it off because I prefer the feel of the instrument in my hand rather than the "plasticky" thumbport, and was happy to see that the effects were staying 😉
You are an amazing teacher April. PHD students from Juilliard can learn from you.👍👍👍😁😃
You're such a great teacher!
In celebration of you completing a half marathon, I thought I would stream this entirre playlist. Better than me trying to run a marathon!!
Thank you for spending a marathon with my channel instead! I'll visit your channel soon as well 😊
This is so helpful! I have really extreme hitchhiker's thumbs and so I've always struggled with finding the right balance when I hold my flute. Knowing to push horizontally instead of vertically (and that I should probably trim my thumb nail multiple times a week) has made me feel so much more stable and comfortable when I play.
This is awesome!! There are a lot of similar things with violin - keeping fingers lower/closer to the strings, keeping the pinky more relaxed.. and both our instruments have "3 contact points" in common!
Seeing the right angle in the pinky of the right hand is such a helpful tip for finding this error in students! Also recognizing that the right hand fingers might be high BECAUSE of the thumb position is very helpful. 👍🏻
Please continue your tutorial videos! As an older flutist who has been an independent learner for almost 40 years, these short focused topics are perfect. Fresh perspectives, timely reminders, or new ideas-or a mixture of these-have been gleaned from the videos I have seen. Thanks so much for doing them!
I didn’t realize James Galway pushes so hard with his right thumb as he plays! Right now I do push with my right thumb, but not nearly so much as he described. I would like to try his method as well as the opposite with little to no pushing in my practicing and see what works best!
I struggled for years with tension in my right pinky and would experience pain shooting up my wrist until I started learning the horizontal paradigm shift from you! It was a tough habit to break but I haven't had any pain in my pinky and wrist since then! Always a good reminder to watch for tension in my wrist in the mirror to check now and again. (Also I love your dress!!! A lot!!!)
Those balance points seriously make the best difference! And I love what you said about selective pressure, that there isn't really a right or wrong but your preference and what is best for your hands. I have sensitive hands, so I'm continuously trying to make life easier on them!
Great explanation, thankyou.
I would love for you to keep going with these videos!!! They've been helpful for my practice in that they either teach me something new or remind me of stuff I've forgotten.
So helpful!
Thanks Dr. Clayton! This is a great resource to share with my remote students right now too - just shared it with one today. Hope you're doing well amid the chaos that is 2020!
And...I realized I was commenting from my boys' account...wow
This is really great I was struggling with holding the flute. In 5 minutes I was confident holding my flute. a big thank you.
I'm glad it was helpful!
I can definitely related to the right thumb going to forward!
This has helped me SO much with my aching wrists! And I feel so solid when I play. This is honestly one of the first things I teach my students. Thanks, Dr. Clayton!
I for one always look forward to your videos. They're so useful and fun at the same time. I'd be happy and grateful, if you continued to do them
This is ALWAYS good to review and re-review! Relaxing any muscle helps my sound to be released and free.
Yes, YES. I teach this way. But with the very young students especially online! It's pretty hard to fix this. So thanks for the stick idea. I love this balance way. I think of the left hand index knuckle as the fulcrum.
Wow! This is what I had to overhaul in the University too! And now I can remind my students because of your wonderful help!
This is flute gold. Thanks so much for doing these videos
Thanks for the nice comment! The videos simplify my life - I can send my students to watch them and then discuss, rather than repeating myself endlessly. 😂
This is super cool!
picked up a flute for the first time since gr 8 - im now in my 40s will take all the refresher videos i can find.
That's great! Good work picking up your flute again, and all best wishes to you in your practice!
Thank you so much for sharing this video! I'm independently learning how to play the flute (since only 2 weeks) and this video made something click in my mind about balancing my flute. So glad to see you're still posting 2 years after this video; I will definitely be coming back to your videos to help me learn these concepts!
This was a huge breakthrough for my hands and especially my thumb! I need to be better at cutting that thumb nail as well. I remember focusing on this so much during my freshman year and I think I over focused on it because it made my hands tense. I was worried about not doing it right, but once I dropped the weight of my elbows, it felt to much better!
For me a natural right hand, right elbow, right arm position is achieved by not making any effort to raise my right elbow, or, in the other direction, push my elbow forward. This is the influence of my spouse who was a devotee of Janus Starker who believed in not unnecessarily contesting the effect of gravity. This position for me doesn't cramp my hand or wrist or cause my fingers to flare up and relaxes my shoulder and provides more vertical support for the instrument. The forearm is at about 11:00/5:00, not 12:00/6:00 and definitely not horizontal or close to it.
My flute is just a big stick!! Thank you for this reminder! I'm excited to practice with just my cleaning rod and a few good piano hand exercises to (hopefully) solve a lot of my current instability issues.
I do think it's very helpful to put the flute down and work with something else (cleaning rod, wood dowel, even a pencil). We have soooo many hours of habits attached to our flutes that it can help a lot to practice on something else, with no strong habits attached. 👍
@@AprilClaytonflute Great Video! I love the Chinese Bamboo Flute and The Irish Penny Whistle Flute in the key of C. And I'm learning to play by ear. Can you please give me any advice on improving my technique on playing both the Chinese bamboo flute and the Irish Penny Whistle? Thanks, Steve.
I had to take a short flute tube break, but now I'm back to start your Season TWO!
I have a question about this. I teach flute lessons to some students, but I have a hard time finding a way for students with smaller arms to be able to reach the flute without bending their right wrist up; it just seems impossible if the forearm is required to reach far enough to the right. Do you have any advice on this, Dr. Clayton? I'm really hoping to be able to better help my students!
Great lesson!
Thanks! 😃
Streaming your channel today!! 😀🎶
Thank you!
Fabulous! I sent this off to my flute studio. Thank you!
Wonderful! So glad if it's useful!
I've changed my right thumb position according to your indications, and what an improvement! I was about to quit the flute, but now I've discovered the solution to my everlasting problem. Demarre McGill and Dennis Bouriakof are two of the flutists that I know use the same approach. Maybe Emma Resmini also. Thanks for this tutorial!
I'm so glad to hear this helped! Especially if you were on the brink of quitting - we certainly can't have anyone quit playing the flute!! 😬 Best wishes to you, and thanks for your nice comment!
Emmanuel Pahud uses the same technique as well.
@@user-nf4st5kn6l Yes, since I realized that I've seen many other people playing this way.
Thanks for this lesson, I’ve watched myself playing and I’ve noticed that my fingers go too high when I play, that explains it. Good thing that I’ve found your channel 👍
I'm glad it's helpful! Best wishes with your flute playing! ❤
Hello, I am enjoying your wory !! (Orny Leo)
Your videos so helpful 😊
Ooh I love the activity with the cleaning rod! I'm going to try it on my students as they are driving me nuts gripping their flutes and pulling it backwards with the rods facing down. This might just work! Fingers crossed!
I hope it can be useful! Good luck with that!! 😃
Keep going. You are a natural as a teacher 1:16
Amazing video!
Streaming 🤗
Streaming!
Streaming again.
😀
Hi! Loved this video! How do you approach teaching students who are hypermobile or double-jointed and how does this change with people who have a C# trill key that makes the flute roll back?
Thanks for the comment! With double-jointed or hypermobile students, no matter how they are holding the flute it can be a challenge to keep them from locking one or both of their thumb joints. I find if they get used to the idea of keeping their joints flexible, pushing but not locking, they can have better success avoiding locking those joints this way than if they're holding the flute "up and down," instead of horizontally. I also encourage them to experiment with thumb ports, bo-peps, etc. I'm not opposed to those things, and some students find they add a fair amount of stability and support. The C# trill key is light enough - such a tiny percentage of the weight of the entire flute - that I haven't had a student struggle with balance for that reason, IF they've otherwise sorted out how to stabilize their flute. Nice to "meet" you! 😊
@@AprilClaytonflute Nice to meet you too! ☺️
Hi dr. I am loving these flute tube videos I'm learning a lot. I have been a long-time High finger position player. I'm hoping that trying these new positioning techniques will help bring my fingers down like they did for you. I am curious if you are pushing with your right hand and I know it's a slight push, does your head turn to or what I'm thinking that I do is I have my flute too far in front of me, not directly out to my side. That probably doesn't make sense but what I'm saying is I feel like I push the flute too far in my embouchure is
no longer lined up with the hole. Is that okay?
I'm glad you're finding these videos useful! I do turn my head slightly to my left. I like the idea Mr. Debost talked about for position - grabbing your right earlobe with your left thumb and index finger. When you do that, you naturally and slightly turn your head to the left. I do push slightly with both right and left pressure points (base of l.h. index finger, and tip of right thumb). But I keep in mind the flute's actually quite light, so I don't push very hard. Some people find thumb ports, etc, are useful, and I'm not opposed to those if they help - but I don't use them, myself.
Nice video! But there's a thing that I can't seem to get right...! When I try only relying on my right thumb and loose the pinky, the whole flute rotates towards me, not allowing for the head joint to remain in place!
Do you ever recommend students use the Thumbport?
good question! i'm also wondering?
Hi April, I really appreciate your videos and lot. But I really struggle sometimes to have a stable embouchure. The reason is that even if I stabilise the flute horizontally sometimes the right thumb slips under the flute, and the embouchure becomes unstable. And sometimes the flute wants to rotate inwards. Maybe I have to increase the pressure on my lip plate. Maybe I have to change something with my left hand. What do you think? Many thanks in advance. Best regards Jan from Switzerland
Hello, Jan, and thank you for the note! I wish that I could work with you in person... Some people gain a lot of stability from a right-hand thumbport or similar device. I have nothing against using those kinds of tools. I even know professionals who use them. It might be worth a try to see if something like that would aid you. Otherwise, it really helps my students to try balancing a pencil like a flute - or a cleaning rod - using only those three contact points (chin, left-hand base of index finger, right-hand thumb). If you can feel VERY stable balancing with those three points on a stick other than your "flute stick," it becomes a lot easier to apply the same principals when you try again on your flute. Best wishes and good luck!
@@AprilClaytonflute Hi April, many thanks for your answer.
I tried thumbport few times. It did not feel well for me. Would you be willing to work with me remotely? Maybe just for a while. How can I contact you?
Thanks in advance. Jan (Switzerland)
Hello, Jan! Send me an email at aprilclaytonflute@gmail.com and let's see what we can do. I also teach in Vienna during the first half of August each year... I don't know how practical that would be for you, maybe not at all... but perhaps we can find a way to meet either online or in person!