Chapter 1: Design & Layout
The three primary sections of the Flute are the Head Joint, Body, and Foot Joint.
On the Head Joint, you will find the crown, lip plate and embouchure hole. The crown is a very delicate part of the flute. Leave this alone! If it becomes loose, simply screw it in gently. The lip plate and embouchure hole is where we will form the embouchure to make sound on the flute in the next chapter. The body holds the barrel and the keys that your fingers will use to play the flute. The foot joint holds the right hand pinky keys.
Key Names
The diagram below shows the names of keys - use this as a reference when learning hand placement. Take note of the left hand (LH) and right hand (RH) “1, 2, 3” keys, as these are your “home keys” where your fingers will hover, ready to push down keys when necessary. Your LH and RH pinkys should be hovering closely to the LH and RH 4 keys. Your left hand thumb should rest naturally near the thumb(TH)/thumb B-flat key - we will learn which thumb to use in a later chapter. Finally, your right hand thumb should support the flute and is not utilized to press any keys. We will cover proper flute hold in Chapter four.
