One of our best selling products in the Flute Shop is the Thumbport.  This device is meant to help with the balance and stability of the flute and therefore isn’t merely a training device for young students.  It has become very popular with amateurs and professionals as well. 

As you can see from the above picture, the Thumbport can change your right hand position making it much easier to support the flute.  It has a small lip on it that prevents the flute from rolling backwards.  You can position it in several ways, but in the way I find the most comfortable, the Thumbport actually brings your thumb back a little from its traditional place directly underneath the flute.  This allows you to better balance the flute.  There are several schools of thought on the best way to hold your flute and I’m not going to delve into that debate, but for the purposes of this blog I will use the example that I was taught.  Thinking of the flute as a lever and your left hand as the fulcrum (or pivot point), your right hand thumb pushes the flute forward when in playing position.  The flute should pivot on the left hand fulcrum and push the lip plate into your chin.   The Thumbport makes this easier by bringing the right hand thumb out from under the flute and almost to the side of the flute.  It also provides extra support with the lip of the Thumbport to prevent any slippage.  In addition, I find that it frees up your right hand fingers to move a little easier.

Whew, ok done with the physics part now onto the more important point….it comes in so many color choices!!  The most popular colors that I sell are the grey/black and ivory/grey since they blend into the color of a silver flute best.  There is also yellow/grey which works well for a gold flute.  If you want to add a little color you can also choose from ivory/green, ivory/purple, ivory/pink, and ivory/blue.  The material of the Thumbport is also a great feature because it is very pliable so it won’t scratch your flute when putting it on or taking it off. 

The Thumbport is also available for alto flute and piccolo.  (I have found that you often have to trim a corner off of the piccolo Thumbport to get it to fit, but that’s easy to do.)  The Thumbport II is a little different take on the original Thumbport, as you can see in the above image (it’s the one on the far right).  The lip of it is a slightly shorter and it has a little bit different angle that works better for certain people depending on their thumb size and hand position.

If you are looking for a remedy for hand pain, to correct a problem with your hand position, or if you just want to try something new, stop in the shop and try out a Thumbport!

All pictures from www.thumbport.com