Complete beginner, having trouble producing notes on a wooden flute.

[Sil]

Hi guys,

I'm a complete beginner to both flutes and just music as a whole.

Basically what I have is this wooden Kaval that is in the form of a blockflute (looks kind of like a wooden recorder).

It's this one here.

Not shown in the picture, it also has a hole at the bottom where the thumb goes, I have no idea what purpose that serves but feel like it makes it potentially harder to play. When I try to play it, I have to put quite a bit of effort positioning my fingers just right to get the sound it's supposed to make. I use my left hand for the three holes closest to my mouth (with left thumb blocking hole at the bottom), right hand for the three holes further down. Usually what happens is that it sort of devolves into windy high pitched raspy sounds and I have to keep adjusting my fingers till all the holes are plugged the right way, which seems to be not too tight but not too loose either.

I just find that it's like a delicate balancing act. Kind of wondering if what I'm experiencing is normal because I'm a complete beginner, and if it gets easier to just naturally hold it and play without going through a lengthy sort of tuning act.