I have an album by Joe Burke showing him playing his flute on the cover. The tail piece is twisted so the finger holes are facing foward rather than up. I am wondering if he did that to get the keys out of his way or so moisture could drain out of the holes. Does anyone here position the tail piece that way, and to what purpose?
A lot of players don;t use the foot keys that much and turn the joint so that they aren't in the way (because they learned on a keyless and it feels more natural I suppose) I don;t believe it's a drainage issue but an ergonomic one.
In terms of drainage, the end of the flute is a whopping extra inch down from the last tone hole, so the foot holes wouldn't actually help that much in the grand scheme of things. ..
I turn the end joint away, but it's a bad habit. Can't get used to the E flat key being in the way when I turn it back for tunes with a D sharp. But when I get my new flute, maybe I'll have to get into good habits, as the bottom two keys will work properly.
My flute is indeed old (1800's), but the bottom three notes play very nicely. The small wooden block that supports the keys has always worked for me as a place to rest my pinkie. My flute gets a bit gurgly after I've played for awhile, and I always thought the collection of moisture was in the head joint. I tried twisting the end piece, and lo! the gurgling vanished. I need to continue experimenting to see if the drainage point is consistently helpful. Given that the key pads are made of pewter, not felt or some other soft pad material, it won't damage the flute to have water coming out the holes, but I wondered if anyone else had any experience with it.
Catherine McEvoy doesn't use any of the keys on her flute. She plays left-handed and her flute (an old Rudall, and very rare at that as it has an unlined head joint with no tuning slide) is keyed for a right-handed player. Often she will have rubber bands or Blu-Tak on the flute to make sure the unused keyholes are sealing tight.
For an example of a left-handed player who does use the keys on his right-handed flute, look at Cathal McConnell. It's always entertaining to watch him lift up his left hand and reach across to hit the G# key. (But the most everything that Cathal McConnell does is vastly entertaining, isn't it?)
As for rotating the bottom joint, I'd venture to say that the vast majority of those who do it are doing so to get the keys out of the way rather than for drainage. I have a six key flute and play it with the D# key lined up in the correct spot, even though I never actually play that note. But invariably any time I hand my flute over to someone else to play, the first thing they do is rotate the bottom joint to get that key out of the way.
Query for 8-Key Flute Players
Query for 8-Key Flute Players
I have an album by Joe Burke showing him playing his flute on the cover. The tail piece is twisted so the finger holes are facing foward rather than up. I am wondering if he did that to get the keys out of his way or so moisture could drain out of the holes. Does anyone here position the tail piece that way, and to what purpose?
# Posted on November 15th 2006 by Ailin
Re: Query for 8-Key Flute Players
A lot of players don;t use the foot keys that much and turn the joint so that they aren't in the way (because they learned on a keyless and it feels more natural I suppose) I don;t believe it's a drainage issue but an ergonomic one.
In terms of drainage, the end of the flute is a whopping extra inch down from the last tone hole, so the foot holes wouldn't actually help that much in the grand scheme of things. ..
# Posted on November 15th 2006 by wormdiet
Re: Query for 8-Key Flute Players
I turn the end joint away, but it's a bad habit. Can't get used to the E flat key being in the way when I turn it back for tunes with a D sharp. But when I get my new flute, maybe I'll have to get into good habits, as the bottom two keys will work properly.
# Posted on November 15th 2006 by minijackpot
Re: Query for 8-Key Flute Players
If you've got an old flute whose bottom keys work at all, you're lucky...
# Posted on November 16th 2006 by nicholas
Re: Query for 8-Key Flute Players
I would assume it is to get the Eb key out of the way as they rest their pinkie in that spot.
# Posted on November 16th 2006 by Why Bother?
Re: Query for 8-Key Flute Players
My flute is indeed old (1800's), but the bottom three notes play very nicely. The small wooden block that supports the keys has always worked for me as a place to rest my pinkie. My flute gets a bit gurgly after I've played for awhile, and I always thought the collection of moisture was in the head joint. I tried twisting the end piece, and lo! the gurgling vanished. I need to continue experimenting to see if the drainage point is consistently helpful. Given that the key pads are made of pewter, not felt or some other soft pad material, it won't damage the flute to have water coming out the holes, but I wondered if anyone else had any experience with it.
# Posted on November 16th 2006 by Ailin
Re: Query for 8-Key Flute Players
seems like catherine mcavoy turns the keys away on her rr flute, just doesn't use the bottom notes i think.
# Posted on November 16th 2006 by Dont
Re: Query for 8-Key Flute Players
Catherine McEvoy doesn't use any of the keys on her flute. She plays left-handed and her flute (an old Rudall, and very rare at that as it has an unlined head joint with no tuning slide) is keyed for a right-handed player. Often she will have rubber bands or Blu-Tak on the flute to make sure the unused keyholes are sealing tight.
For an example of a left-handed player who does use the keys on his right-handed flute, look at Cathal McConnell. It's always entertaining to watch him lift up his left hand and reach across to hit the G# key. (But the most everything that Cathal McConnell does is vastly entertaining, isn't it?)
As for rotating the bottom joint, I'd venture to say that the vast majority of those who do it are doing so to get the keys out of the way rather than for drainage. I have a six key flute and play it with the D# key lined up in the correct spot, even though I never actually play that note. But invariably any time I hand my flute over to someone else to play, the first thing they do is rotate the bottom joint to get that key out of the way.
# Posted on November 16th 2006 by johnkerr