classical style headjoint on Irish flute?

[billcoulter]

Happy New Year all!

I was playing tunes with a 'classical' flutist and tried playing her silver flute with the lip plate and wow it seemed like it was so easy to get a great sound on it. Are there Irish flutes with that sort of headjoint?

Thanks!

[Henke]

Yes. There are quite a few makers today offering headjoints which are more Boehm like for the simple system flute. However, I don't think the difference is in the lip plate primarily, but in the shape of the embouchure hole. Boehm embouchures tend to be more rounded rectangles, or old style tv-screen embouchures. They are very easy to play loud and have a larger sweet spot; however, many players (me included) think that there is a major drawback, and that is that the range of tonal colours and expressiveness suffers.
If you want a Boehm-ish headjoint for your simple system flute, have a look here for instance:
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/heads.html (just scroll down)
http://woodenflutemaker.com/
http://www.noyflutes.com/index.html

Those makers came to mind on top of my head. There are others as well.
Now, I just need to take the dog for a walk, then I'm off home to some warming
whisky

[tin tin]

In addition to the makers Henke mentions, Dave Copley also makes a more squared embouchure, and Chris Abell offers headjoints in that style, too. http://abellflute.com/head-joint.html
I think Healy embouchures are also more squared, George Ormiston does or did offer that cut as an option, and I think Windward flutes (Forbes Christie) can deliver such a cut, as well.

[AaronMalcomb]

Yes, Copley does the rounded rectangle embouchure. I haven't found where it limits my tonal colors though.

If that cut is similar to Boehm, then Jazz flautists seem to do well on them in terms of tonal color.

[Denny]

well the blues & reds are okay,
the greens are a bit dodgy
don't ya think?

[AaronMalcomb]

I just try to avoid the brown note.

[Denny]

good idea, wouldn't do much for one's popularity!

[crookedtune]

All of which begs the question:

What can brown do for you?

[Henke]

Yes, Copley does the rounded rectangle embouchure. I haven't found where it limits my tonal colors though.

If that cut is similar to Boehm, then Jazz flautists seem to do well on them in terms of tonal color.

Well, the flute is still probably one of the most expressive instruments there is, right? But to me the silver flute feels less expressive and has a smaller range of tonal colours than the simple system flute. My impression have always been that the simple system flutes feel more living, more reactive to what one puts into it. It changes character depending on how I push it, the silver flute does too, but not at all to the same extent. All the simple system flutes with Boehm style embouchure cuts I've played have been reminicent of Boehm flutes. Very easy to play, very easy to push and easy to get the hang of, but in the end less rewarding because they react less to ones input. Of course that's just my opinion, and other people obviously have different opinions since Boehm style embouchure cuts are pretty popular. billcoulter obviously prefer this kind of cut, so maybe it was unnecessary for me to bring this up.

Anyway, just my 2cl of
whisky

[jemtheflute]

I wonder if the OP was only referring to embouchure cut? His wording referred to the whole head-joint...... and the answer to what I perceive his question to be is a straight "No".

A modern "classical" Boehm head-joint (whatever material it is constructed from, with or without lip-plate and riser if un-thinned wood.....) has an expanding (from the stopper end) "parabolic" bore and can only be used in conjunction with a cylindrical flute body. Simple System flutes as mostly used in ITM, with or without keys, have a tapering conoid body-bore and must have a cylindrical head-joint to have an in-tune scale. You cannot combine an expanding head with a contracting body, nor a cylindrical head with a cylindrical body, and get an in-tune scale. You must have one or the other combination of taper and cylinder. On either type of head you can have all manner of variation of embouchure construction and cut which will affect the response and tone-character, but at least as important is the different way in which the cylinder/taper combination affects the acoustic compression in the bore - and that affects the playing response as perceived by the player as well as the intonation possibilities of the complete tube. A modern cut embouchure in a cylindrical head on a conoid body will seem different to a traditional style one to the player, but won't seem the same as the same cut in a Boehm head on a cylindrical body............

By all means work to find out what seems an optimum combination for your tastes as a player, but you need to have at least some grasp of the inner workings and acoustic fundamentals to even begin to explore the viable possibilities.

[Denny]

Jem, yer thinking too much!

Let's just assume that the OP meant embouchure cut, okay?

[jemtheflute]

Don't think that's a safe assumption! The differences he noticed would at least 50% have been to do with the different bore rather than just the embouchure cut - Boehm tubes have a much readier, easier "speech" and response than do Simple System and other conoid bodied flutes because of the bore and the way it works, no matter what embouchure cut you combine that with. So what he noticed and liked about it won't just have been to do with the lip-plate, riser and hole configuration.........

[Denny]

well, they're not bloody clarinets are they!

[greenspiderweb]

My take (like Jem) is that Bill was looking for a Boehm type metal headjoint for his Irish flute, or at least one very like it in wood to give him the same result.

Sounds to me like Bill was really digging the sound he and the Boehm made so easily, so it may be what he likes best. Though if he just wants an easier blow for his wooden flute he could take the gamble (to see if he would like it on his flute) and get a new headjoint, or just buy another makers (Irish) flute that is easier to play for him-he could still find that with the right cut for him through some trials. But yeah, it will sound much different than that particular Boehm he liked so well too. Of course, he can always form an embouchure to sound more Boehm-ish on his flute too, but it might take some work.

Seems no easy choice to get that sound he liked, unless he does a lot of flute shopping, or instead just goes out and buys the same Boehm flute to play.

I wish you luck Bill!
Barry

[TheSpoonMan]

Seems no easy choice to get that sound he liked, unless he does a lot of flute shopping, or instead just goes out and buys the same Boehm flute to play.

A Gemeinhardt 2SP is $400 right now, and it plays decent enough (I've had one for a few years), not too shabby...