So for Solo Ensemble in April I am going to be playing alto in a sextet.. well I got it today and its so big! It really doesn't help that I'm pretty petite (5' tall).. and the alto flute doesn't have a curved hj. Its a Jupiter btw. I am borrowing it from a local private middle school.

The only other problem I have with it is the low C but i figured out that the first low key/button thing (that goes down when you play C#) doesn't close all the way if I'm only pressing on the roller for C.. I can't really reach the two keys and have both of them down without hitting the Eb key.. if the other key is fixed though I can just press on the roller and it's supposed to close both of the holes on the end, right? Hope that makes sense.. I'm taking the flute to my lesson tomorrow though just to point that out and if she wants me to play some of the song.

I really like playing it as I LOVE playing low register stuff.. but i really wish that this alto had a curved hj.. it would make it a whole lot easier on me.. My other problem is that it hurts my wrist really bad in order to play C and C#. I am also used to a thumbport.. maybe I should get one for Alto? I don't really know if its worth the money though as I'm just going to be playing it for about a month..

"I know people here will respond with shock to these instructions, and say that only a technician should do this. But I say, if you do this with care, it is one of the most straight forward adjustments on a flute. And in the sax forum, players' problems are solved every day, much to their delight, by technicians providing instructions such as these in the forum. Not all flute players have to be scared of such adjustments. I would never suggest you do a DIY on the challenging stuff though."

Micro is right. Flutists should be familiar enough with their instrument to take care of minor problems such as this. Boehm himself said essentially the same in his book "The Flute and Flute Playing".

My personal take on this problem: the alto flute belongs to someone else. I would encourage the original poster to contact the owner before doing anything to the flute besides play it, even if it is a very simple fix. I also think that the flute teacher might be able to confirm the problem. If it IS a simple fix, and the flute's owner agrees to it, bending the keys back to their appropriate/original place could be done without a trip to the flute technician.

I do agree completely with Micron, that one's flute should NOT be a mystery. If we know more how our flutes work, what a minor problem looks like before it becomes a major problem, etc, we will learn faster and take better care of our instruments.

This is a link to a flute repair guide geared toward the teacher and player, rather than the professional flute tech:
http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?acc_num=osu1211871566

I agree with Tibbiecow.
The flute is not yours don't mess with it, yet.

If you are renting an instrument you should contact the party immediately and let them make the deciision to fix it or allow you to go to a technician and get it repaired.

I think you mentioned the alto flute was being borrowed from a school. It may have needed adjustment for along time. Some schools don't have the budget to have all the instruments gone through each year. If you are borrowing it at no charge then you should let the lending party know of the issue and see if they don't mind you taking care of it. You can take it to a technician and pay very little for the repair (I would not expect the lender to pay you back, think of it as your small rental fee, or honoraium for borrowing it). If your teacher knows the quick fix and feels it will not cause damamge to the intrument then let him or her do it. But don't you do it. They will probably appreciate your noticing the problem and thank you for taking care of it.

Some of my students use school instruments. I always get permission from the teacher to do any repairs to the instrument. Almost always they approve it as they trust me and want to save money on their budget. I never charges the school for the repair service. However, sometimes they refuse as they have a specific procedure to have ALL repairs done by a certain shop. Should anything ever go wrong they can always fall back on the repair shop because they are the only ones to ever do any repairs.

And although it sounds wierd there are somethings I will do to my instruments that I would be very upset if some else did the same thing. It might not sound fair but it is the way it is. I am not a big fan of bending metal. You are damageing it everytime you do. You are weakening an already weak spot. There are ways to do this and retemper the metal to make it strong again.

Also, if you are borrowing an instrument and your performance has a program be sure to include in the progrma that the instrument is on loan from "123 middle school". Either in a way like, "we want to thank Mrs SMith at 123 middle school for the loan of thier alto flute". Or, "Alto flute on loan from 123 middle school".

I fixed it. Its still not closing 100% of the way.. just have to press it a little harder. It does work though

If I would have shown my teacher, she would have done the exact same thing and if I hadn't felt ok doing that to it, I wouldn't have.