Has anyone experienced the awkward feeling of trying to play the NA flute and ya just can't get your hands to work right on the holes? I did....

When I first began to play, a friend of mine who makes flutes showed me the way to hold one and place my fingers on the holes.....(that's when the NA flute took me over...hahahaha) then began the process of showing me how to breath playing one (another experience). Well, when I came home, sat out on my deck, and started the wonderful sound of squeal, twip, and delayed sound from note to note, I became frustrated, not with the weird sounds I made (understandable for beginners), but, my fingers just didn't want to move on the holes in a comfortable way. It felt like trying to write right handed (all lefties have experienced this in a right handed world! ).

Well, being the stubborn and motivated woman I am...(just give me a challenge!) I kept on because I wanted to hear those beautiful sounds that I knew my first flute had in her. After two weeks of it I began to feel like there was absolutely no way for me to play that flute.

One day, after a few minutes of ranting, rocking the chair across the deck, and looking at the flute as if it had answers, I picked it up and started playing.....SOUNDS ....notes...music (for a beginner). I stood there playing away and actually felt as though I was playing a song instead of just notes.

As I looked upward, in a most humble "thank you"....I heard this voice say "look at your hands" (we all have those voices sometimes) Well.......I had picked up the flute, put it to my lips and not even thought about finger placement.

I discovered I had my right hand on the top holes (I play a six hole) and my left on the bottom holes.....I just picked it up naturally...my fingers actually knew what to do without looking at them going up and down..hahaha....the notes flowed...What a REVALATION!

That was 3 years ago and now all my flutes are left handed flutes... Well, when I play them they are.

So, for those just starting out...who are left handed....try it if you haven't already discovered it....We each play our own way, guided by teachers....but any way you play, you have to relax and become one with the flute....

For you lefties - just reverse the hands! Your left sidedness may just take flight to a whole new world....and when other flute players stare at you with a curious look when you play....just smile and say....."I play left mouthed".....

I wonder....does it sound different playing lefthanded? hahahaha...doesn't to me...or to others when I play....but then the NA flute is straight (mostly) and has six or five holes and it isn't particular which hand is upper or lower...it just knows you are comfortable playing it.

Just thougt I would share the experience in the newbie section, one lefty to another.....maybe there are others having the same problem I did!

Note: a few months ago I had a great close friend introduce me to a five hole that he made.....he said he wanted to make sure it was ambidextrous....(I hit him on the arm before taking the flute) It plays left handed too!

Play on!!!!

** For the flute makers ** not knowing anything about making one other than looking at the art of it and enjoying your fruits of love.....would it make a difference creating one for a left handed player? Do you bore the holes differently if they have angles to them??? Have no idea....but would be curious to know and hear from you......THANKS...

Lefties unite!

I wondered about that - which hand to put where since I was left handed. I haven't gotten my flutes yet so I can't experiment.

I've read differing info on different websites - some say which hand to put where and some say it doesn't matter.

I thought I would put my left hand on top because I have more 'control' over it - don't know why I thought I wouldn't need as much control on the bottom 3 notes!

I am kind of ambidextrous out of necessity - you lefties know what I mean!

The advice that I typically give to left-handed players is to do exactly what you did--reverse the hand position. Actually, the first piece of advice I give is: Do whatever make you comfortable, but try it both ways!

There is no difference from a flute-making standpoint between a flute for a right-handed player vs. a left-handed player, providing the flute is endblown with the fingerholes in a straight line.

I make side-blown flutes that are optimized for right or left handed players, and they have the mouthpiece on one side or the other and the finger holes are "articulated" (not in a straight line) in order to facilitate ease of fingering. These flutes are clearly quite specific to a players "handedness".

I am a "rightie" that plays the flute as a "leftie". I don't know why that's just what feels best to me. My first flute came with no instruction and so I just placed my hands where they naturally wanted to go. Luckily the teacher I found shortly after I got my flute plays exactly the same way and encouraged me to place my hands where they felt natural.

Just what Geoffrey said. If the holes are in a straight line and it's an end blown flute, it doesn't matter which way it's held and one should simply find the way that works best for them.

For larger flutes where the holes are offset or arranged in some sort of ergonomic manner, then (of course) the design of the flute will dictate which hand will be used on which set of holes.

Hi,
I'm new to the flute too. I injured my right hand a few years ago. I can't spread my fingers as wide as they are meant to go. I started with an FM# and the right hand position at the bottom was to hard. Bending my wrist at that long distance made my problem worse. I tried playing with my right hand at the top and presto no problem. It feels natural enough so I'm going to stay with that method.
Bart

I'm also a rightie who plays as a leftie. Actually, I didn't know there was a difference until today on this forum.

After I got my flute, I tried holding it according to what I'd seen in a few videos. It felt wrong, I had real trouble covering the holes, and my fingers would cramp after a few minutes. Then one evening, like Sakwayi did, I just picked it up without thinking and something akin to clean notes came out and it finally felt right. Looking into the mirror I realized my right hand was on top.

Shevie

I'm left-handed. My first flute was a Butch Hall "beginner's flute" which came with an instruction booklet and a CD. Right from the start Butch said to choose which hand would be above and which below; it didn't matter. So I chose to put my left hand on the bottom three, and that works just fine for me.

My Mockingbird deep Gm flute is specifically made for people who play as I do. It's a long flute (three feet) and the holes are very far apart, so that my fingers are splayed as far open as they will go. Happily, the builder, Larry Evans, designed it such that the holes follow the arc of splayed fingers, and lo and behold, they are designed so that the left hand goes on the bottom! Yay Larry!

P.S. For the naive and unsuspecting among you, here's an advance warning: we are going to take over the world. And when we do, you righties will have to use lefthanded scissors and pliers, and you will get pencil lead or ink all over the bottom of your hand as you write from the RIGHT side of the page across to the LEFT, smearing your hand across what you have just written, the same as we lefties have had to do for millennia. Guitars will be strung as Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney did it, and you'll have to do all that fancy fingerpicking with your left hand.

Muhahahahaaaaah!

Hilarious!
You tell 'em, GatoCat! And don't forget sitting in those desks made for righties - we had no arm rest! And spiral notebooks scraping your hand! And can openers!

(Those righties just don't know how much we lefties have suffered!)

Ah, tootie, this is the gospel truth: I had a girlfriend once, who went to get my scissors for some mundane chore she was doing, and could not figure them out. She thought something was wrong with them. She told me, "It never occurred to me that you would need a whole different kind of scissors just because you're left-handed." And so the rightie world goes on, blithely unaware. That's why we're going to take over; we're going to make them live like we have. Vive la revolucion!

P.S. About the spiral notebooks: I learned early on to buy only the ones that had the spiral at the top instead of on the side. However, you know, there was no hard-and-fast rule that said we couldn't start at the back of the book and write on the backs of the pages. I have done that, a time or two, when the top-spiral type wasn't available.

P.S. About the spiral notebooks: I learned early on to buy only the ones that had the spiral at the top instead of on the side. However, you know, there was no hard-and-fast rule that said we couldn't start at the back of the book and write on the backs of the pages. I have done that, a time or two, when the top-spiral type wasn't available.
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Yep, I've done that, too.

But you know what's sad ? I have been assimilated by the rightie Borgs. I can't even use a pair of left-handed scissors. I didn't have them growing up and now I'm too old to learn how to use them!

Thank goodness the NAF isn't partial to righties or lefties! Maybe that will be the glue that unites us all!