Practical ergonomy of the childrens flute- what every flute teacher should know.

Jos was a very popular flute teacher and she was well acqainted with teaching music to children. When her own daughter turned 5, she wanted to play the flute, too. Jos, whom I saw often in my shop, bought a Prodigy flute for Ann. Only 3 years later Ann won the 1st price in an amateur flute competition.

Something so close to our heart as music we want to teach children from an early age. The development of children's flutes has brought much younger pupils into the flute classrooms than before. Unlike the concert flute, little is known about ergonomy and balancing of these flutes. Having been keen on flute ergonomy for many years, this drew my attention. In comparison to the concert flute, the children's flute is 16 cm (6inch) shorter, and it has a bend, offsetting the point of contact of the lips from the main flute body.

One day, Ingrid, another regular customer and a flute teacher, came in. She said to me that she had her pupils adjust the curved head vertically as per the diagram on the left.

This way, she assured me, there was no way her pupils could put any pressure on the embouchure; the flute would simply roll over.

Instinctly, I disagreed with her, but it took some reasoning before I could explain why.

In a concert flute, the lip is one of 3 or 4 points neccesary to keep the flute in balance. Left index finger, right thumb and pinky, any fingers touching keys, and the lip are all points from where force is exerted on the flute. Together with gravity, these forces hold the flute in balance. The diagram below shows a simplified rendering.

In this system, the left hand provides counter pressure to the lip. Remove the lip, and the left hand is providing counter pressure to ... nothing. Then to prevent the flute simply falling to the ground, one has to tuck the left hand and right thumb literally under the flute.

This has two negative effects: first, the wrists are flexed way beyond their relaxed position; and second, the upper arms are pressed against the thorax, reducing breath capacity (try it, you will see).

Reasoning that it would be easiest to find a balance if the left hand, main tube, and lip were roughly in one line, I turned the head in by about 45 degrees as per the next diagram.

This yielded a good balance. To carry this out practically proved very easy: the crown of the curved head joint sits right over the hinge of the high c# key.

The way to adjust this setup is easy: if the head tends to shift up, it is too high and must be adjusted down. Conversely, if the head tends to roll down, it is too low and must be turned upwards.

Beginning players will often seek maximim stability by reducing degrees of freedom. So they will cross legs, hold the upper arms against the body AND crush the flute into their teeth. But these strategies are only temporary and will vanish soon with most pupils.

If well done, this adjustment literally teaches children by feel how to balance their flute.

After a few years of playing the moment comes to return the children's flute to the rental shop and aquire one's first 'real flute'. I always left this decision to the teachers, expecting them to know best. But it happened more than once that teachers gave in to their pupil's demands to get a concert flute as owned by their friend or sister. And the teachers had no more to go by than common sense.

The Hague School of Movement Technology has more than once sent students in need of a thesis subject to me, and Helen Prochazka and Martijn van Dam were more than happy to make this the subject of their thesis: when to switch from a curved-head flute to a straight concert flute?

They interviewed teachers, measured and photographed young flute players and had them perform strength test. Data were compared with a mathematical model and the results were tested in the music school.

At graduation, Martijn and Helen presented a clear protocol for teachers to decide if a child is ready for the straight concert flute or not. The indicator is the length of the upper arm, measured from the acrominon (A) to the underside of the epicondylus lateralis (B). Both are clearly discernible bone protusions. Measurement is easily done with a tape rule, having the pupil laying a hand on her belly.

Using the measurement: Length less than 24 cm (9" 3/8) means the pupil is to stay with the children's flute. Over 24.5 cm (9" 5/8) it is safe to play a straight flute. Between 24 and 24.5 is a transition zone, allowing a teacher to weight other factors.

So what actually happens when a child plays on a straight flute when she is not physically ready? As the child reaches for the right hand keys, she meets a limit. The wrist cannot bend (pronate) any further. To compensate, the entire flute is shifted to the left so the right hand fingers meet the keys. But now for the lips in order to reach the embouchure, the entire torso must be bent to the left.

For those pupils who hardly practise there is no health risk involved. But the really enthusiastic little players may be confronted with overuse issues by changing to a straight concert flute too early.

Acknowledgments:

I wish to thank Helen Prochazka, Martijn van Dam, Karina Erhard, Marianne van Wagtendonk, Karen Lonsdale and Viento Querfloeten for their help.

This article first appeared in Fluit 2010-1 (Magazine of the Dutch Flute Society).

Further reading:

“Juf, ben ik al groot genoeg?” - Graduation study on young flutists and flutes; Helen Prochazka and Martijn van Dam; Haagse Hogeschool voor Bewegingstechnologie, 2008

Karen Lonsdale: Towards a Better Understanding of the Musculoskeletal Characteristics of Flute Playing. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Australia, 2008

Music Related upper limb pain in schoolchildren  - H.J. Fry and G.L. Rowley; Annals Rheumatic Disease 1989, 48, 998-1002

Maarten Visser (Amsterdam, 1959) graduated in 1983 from Newark Technical College in Woodwind making and repairing.