- Your flute is made up of 3 parts: head joint, body, and foot joint
- Pick up your flute by the ends, not by the keys
-Gently set the head joint into the barrel, and twist it into the flute
- Line up the hole in the head joint with the keys
- Still holding the body by the barrel, pick up the foot joint
- Hold it underhand, and gently set your thumb on the key -
..don't press down very hard! Just hold it lightly
- Be careful - when you put the foot joint on , put it on very straight
- Once you have it on a little bit, hold it by the part that doesn't
--have any keys, and gently twist it on
- Line up the rods on the foot joint through the middle of the keys
--on the body

-Start with your left hand - keep it straight up and down
-You want the flute to rest at the top of the index finger's knuckle
- Rest the flute there, about where the 1st key is
-Keeping your hand straight, bend your 1st finger over to hit the 2nd key
- Skip a key, and put your middle finger on the 4th key
-The next finger goes on the next key
-Your pinkie will be used for the G# key
-Your thumb will be on the bottom, on the Bb key to start
-For the right hand, put your thumb right under your 1st finger, 3 keys up
--from the end
-Hold the flute between your thumb and 1st finger, like a big pencil
-Your 2nd and 3rd fingers go on the next 2 keys, and your pinkie will
--go on the Eb key
-For a first note, play a G:
-Leave all fingers up on your right hand, except put the pinkie down
--on the Eb key
-For your left hand, put down the thumb, 1st finger, 2nd finger,
--3rd finger and leave your pinkie up (remember to skip a key
--between the 1st and 2nd fingers on the left hand)

- Clean your flute each time you finish playing it, before you put it away
-When you blow into your flute, moisture condenses and needs to be
--cleaned out
-If you neglect to do this, the pads will wear out much faster
-Remember to always hold the flute by the barrel, on the body
-Put your cleaning cloth on your rod, and stick it up through the foot joint
-Gently twist the foot joint off, finish pulling the cleaning rod through, and
--set the piece in the case
-Push the cleaning rod through the body of the flute, twisting it to get
--all the moisture
-Gently twist the head joint off, just like when you put it together, and set
--the body in the case
- Put the cleaning cloth over the rod, and push it all the way up into the
--head joint, making sure you clean all the moisture out
-Never grab the head joint by the lip plate! This may destroy the
--connection between the flute and lip plate
-At this point, you can take a polishing cloth and wipe the fingerprints
--off the flute

-To keep your flute in good working order, make sure your hands are
--clean
--before you begin to play
- Make sure you haven't been eating right before you play, and never
--eat while you're playing
-As you play the flute, make sure you're not resting your hands on the
--rods of the flute. This can cause it to go out of adjustment much quicker
-Even with good care, the flute will go out of adjustment periodically
-Take the flute to a good repair person at least once a year, perhaps
--twice a year
-Also take it in whenever you feel leaks in the flute, or if the keys
--become hard to press down. All of this is normal.
- Neglecting to take the flute in to a repair person at the first sign
--of leaks or hard-to-play keys can cause the flute to be damaged
- If you properly clean and care for your flute, it will stay in good
--working order for years to come