¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Hi¡ªI just posted an odd little piece I wrote almost 40y ago. If nothing else, it might make a good "leap" etude ;-) F¨¹r Elise's Birthday for solo flute or violin Do please let me know if you end up playing it... Michael

(versi¨®n en espa?ol al final) Good morning to all This group seems to be a bit stalled, let's see if there are still flute players listening. I am an amateur musician from Spain (original message in Spanish at the end). Let's see if you can help me or give me some ideas. I have been having problems in my hands for a year now, pain in my fingers and wrists. I have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my fingers, which has been getting worse and causes me problems and pain for many things, also when playing the flute. The finger that is worse is the left index finger, the knuckle joint. Also the right index finger bothers me and the middle finger, but more at the level of the metacarpal joint, although the knuckle also bothers me. Bending the left index finger at a right angle to press the key is painful and makes my fingering difficult. I have tried to alleviate this by moving my finger away from the key, so that I don't have to bend it so much, using one of those silicone thumb rests. With this, my index finger at metacarpal level rests on the silicone insert and I don't have to bend it so much. I have also used the thumb insert for the right hand. But this affects the locking of the keys, I don't press the D and E keys with my right hand properly and sometimes it sounds dull or wrong, as if they don't lock properly. In the left hand, I manage to press the B key better, but I end up pressing too much on the index finger and it hurts my metatarsal joint quite a lot. Thanks in advance for any advice or idea. Regards Fernando Buenos d¨ªas a todos Este grupo parece estar un poco parado, vamos a ver si todav¨ªa hay flautistas a la escucha. Soy un m¨²sico aficionado de Espa?a (mensaje original en espa?ol al final). A ver si me pod¨¦is ayudar o proporcionar algunas ideas. Llevo un a?o con problemas en las manos, dolores de dedos y mu?ecas. Me han diagnosticado artrosis en los dedos, que ha ido a peor y me provoca problemas y dolores para muchas cosas, tambi¨¦n al tocar la flauta. El dedo que est¨¢ peor es el ¨ªndice izquierdo, la articulaci¨®n de nudillo. Tambi¨¦n el ¨ªndice derecho me molesta y el coraz¨®n, pero m¨¢s bien a la altura de la articulaci¨®n del metacarpo, si bien tambi¨¦n el nudillo me molesta. El doblar el ¨ªndice izdo en ¨¢ngulo recto para presionar la llave me resulta doloroso y ello dificulta mi digitaci¨®n. He tratado de paliarlo alejando el dedo de la llave, de forma que no tenga que doblarlo tanto, usando un suplemento de esos de silicona de sujeaci¨®n del pulgar. Con ello mi dedo ¨ªndice a la altura del metacarpo se apoya en el suplemento de silicona y no tengo que doblarlo tanto. Tambi¨¦n he usado el suplemento del pulgar para la mano derecha. Pero ello afecta al cierre de las llaves, no presiono las llaves del re y mi con la mano derecha de forma adecuada y a veces suena sordo o mal, como si no cerraran bien. En la mano izda, consigo mejor presionar la llave de si, pero acabo presionando demasiado sobre el dedo ¨ªndice y me duele bastante la articulaci¨®n del metatarso. As¨ª que he tenido que quitar esos suplementos. Ahora he puesto un suplemento usando cinta de doble cara sobre la llave de s¨ª, de forma que pueda cerrar la llave sin tener que doblar tanto el dedo. Parece que me va mejor, pero es un tanto chapucero y la cinta resulta pegajosa y demasiado blanda. No s¨¦ si existe alguna soluci¨®n m¨¢s profesional en silicona o similar que se pueda colocar sobre la llave. ?Alquien ha tenido problemas similares? ?Qu¨¦ soluci¨®n hab¨¦is encontrado? Soy m¨²sico aficionado, he empezado de mayor, no toco tantas horas al d¨ªa como para tener estos problemas, no acabo de entender que me ocurra esto en un plazo tan corto de tiempo. Gracias anticipadas por cualquier consejo o idea. Saludos Fernando

Hi Fernando, There may be a better glue for temporarily adding an extension to your B key. But yes, contact cement is the glue that is used to put a patch on a bicycle tire. Here's an example: Amazon tube of contact cement. You apply it to both alcohol-cleaned surfaces, wait a minute or so until it becomes "tacky" (slightly dry) and then you press the two surfaces together and hold for several seconds to bond. (Don't shift the items; keep them in their final position). I discovered that the flute surface is slightly resistant to the contact cement and requires to be glued twice. Each time it should dry overnight. Removal: It is simple to remove the wood and cork and any residue from the glue can be cleaned with alcohol. Your flute repair person can also remove your extensions and clean the glued area if and when you sell the flute. But I welcome suggestions of other glue types from Flutenet members. Perhaps even a square of Gorilla TAPE might work on a B-key. Jen Fernando wrote: Do you mean the king of contact glue that you use for glueing shoes, which you extend in both sides and let dry for a while before contacting both surfaces? YES!

Hi Fernando, I don't have osteo but I have hade left hand difficulties and so have built wood and cork extensions for my flute which have been on the instrument for over 25 years (they don't fall off if glued twice with contact cement): See photos and instructions: https://www.jennifercluff.com/extensns.pdf I'll take a look at David's idea too. Jen Cluff

Hi Amanda, You can use google to find out the differences between the flute and the recorder. https://melodica.ae/flute-recorder-similarities-differences Best, Jen

Hello, Following up on Larry's post, this reminded me that I have not shared this little gem on the list, for no other purpose than curiosity. https://bertrandtech.ca/HawkesFlute/ Hawkes & Son #23118 Boehm system wood flute. Its sound has a strong presence, able to compete with any recently made flute. The head joint was stuck to the body but it came loose with some work. There is a metal sleeve inside the head joint that makes the tenon into the body. The pads generally don't seal well. When played, I can finger A, Bb, B, C and C# but any of the other keys (G and further down the tube) don't sound. The tuning is a half tone high w.r.t A=440: finger C, get C#; finger B, get C; finger A, get Bb. I got it from a private sale on the Kijiji.ca buy & sell site. Best, --Louis Louis Bertrand louis@...

I have not written anything to this list in a very long time, as I have taken a long break from flute playing however now I am back with a revived interest. I started out as a self taught simple system player and have always had a soft spot for these instruments I was recently at a concert of Bach's St Matthew Passion, where there were four baroque flutes in evidence. Just wow! Anyway why I am writing is that I have just won a flute on ebay which looks to be interesting as it is not just a simple system flute, but a simple system flute with closed holes made by Adler which is something I have never seen before. Just how common was this in the first half of the twentieth century from which this flute originates Larry Arnold

Greetings fellow flutists. I see that little by little the mailing list has been losing strength. I think it may be partly due to the fact that it is a bit of an obsolete system. Perhaps if we had a modern forum it would be much more dynamic and active. I am the administrator of a photography forum that uses discourse, a modern and comfortable system to create communities. It would be easy to create a discourse forum for flutenet, instead of the mailing list. It requires a server where to install it, but to start and with few users there are servers for 4€ per month, even 1€ (although I'm not sure that this one would be powerful enough to run discourse). Therefore it would not be a high cost and counting with some sporadic contribution from the members we could gather enough to keep it running annually. Would there be any interest in having a flute forum? In a forum the information is more accessible and can be kept more organized, also sharing musical interpretations, scores, etc. with other members. Best regards Fernando Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Hi everyone, I have to show off this beautiful antique flute. https://bertrandtech.ca/HawkesFlute/ Hawkes & Sons, London Made before 1930. That's when Hawkes merged with Boosey. It's in excellent shape, without cracks, and the mechanism is modern and in almost perfect working order. Sadly, it cannot be restored. It's tuned a half tone sharp and unlike silver flutes, wooden flutes cannot be retuned. It will live out its life as an interesting museum piece. All the best, --Louis Louis Bertrand louis@...

Just checking in with all my fellow flute players. Things are going well. For about three weeks, my workplace was closed because of a fire. The good news is, we are back in operation, and I start back work tonight. Thank goodness. I was going stir crazy getting no jobs done. Luckily though, I got paid time off which is good. Amanda

Dear friends and fellow Flutenetters, I have released my latest book. It's called An Entire Day of a Faun. If you've ever wanted to practice all the significant flute passages in Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun in every key, all the way up to D7, and all the way down to B3, I've put them all together for you! I feel that there is much to gain in control of tone color, etc. by practicing this music this way. If that isn't too entirely mad an idea for you, I hope you will check out An Entire Day of a Faun on sheetmusicdirect.com: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1566338/Product.aspx My best wishes to all, Lenny (Leonard E. Lopatin) Lopatin Flute Company West Virginia, USA www.lopatinflutes.com

Hey everybody. Amanda here. My YouTube handle is flute player 86. Just checking in with all my fellow flutists. How are you? Things are well here. Still playing flute and recorder. The performance on May 26 went really well. A friend of mine and I did a trio of pieces. Pussy willows cattails by Gordon Lightfoot, morning has broken by Cat Stevens, and seek first out of the Bible. Matthew chapter 6 verse 33. Pussy willows cattails and seek first were both played on flute, while Morning Has Broken was played on recorder. Amanda

Hello there fellow flute players. Amanda checking in. I haven't been able to play flute for two weeks because I was sick with Covid. I mean really sick. Not the point where I was hospitalized, but it looks like a really bad cold. My mom is doing well and recovering from cataract surgery. Things are going well here. How are the rest of you doing? Sorry I haven't been very active. Amanda

Hello there. It's Amanda. Just checking in on my fellow players to see how everyone's doing. Things are going well on my end. Last weekend at work, the sound was so overwhelming, I felt like my head was going to explode. Not literally of course, but figuratively. I'm still working with the instrument, and doing well. A friend of mine and I are going to get together on Monday and make a little music. She is a violinist and a pianist. She is inquisitive about how the flute works, so I tried my best to explain how it works to the best of my ability. How is everyone else? Amanda

Hello Flutenet friends, As some of you know, particularly those of you who are my Facebook friends, I have composed four etudes for flute. I now have them available to purchase (PDF download) at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/tinytudes-opus-no-1-digital-sheet-music/22635891 and https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1436299/Product.aspx. If you like these, stay tuned! I have more in the works which should be out before too much longer. Thanks everyone, and happy 2024!

I will be off line for several days, so I am wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas a bit early. Dan Colburn General of the Dark Side (Piccolo Forces)

Sounds like you're having a lovely holiday season, Amanda. Carry on in music and love. . . . .Sue G. Sue Garton, FluteKeys Studio 217 355-9498 (calls or texts) Champaign, IL

Hi! I was once a member, when it was on yahoo groups, my flute playing has diminished substancebly due to alot of things. Maybe I have two accounts now ... do not remember. ;) Good to be back anyway.