curved headjoint

mattyacht · Post by **mattyacht** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:43 am

I noticed that some of the flute makers are offering curved headjoints.
What is the purpose for them?

Thanks,

Mattyacht

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:07 am

Players with short arms, generally smaller children. I have an adult friend who had one when she was playing in a small church ensemble that had very little room. It worked well for that as well.

MeLizzard · Post by **MeLizzard** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:36 am

I've started young, SMALL, students on these when their reach was inadequate, so they didn't stretch themselves into an awkward posture and develop bad habits.

FLflutist · Post by **FLflutist** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:25 pm

They also have (correct me if I'm wrong) an Eb flute that is smaller than a concert flute but bigger than a piccolo for very small children who's arms can't reach.

That's all it's for. They're usually made for Bass and sometimes alto flutes.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:35 pm

FLflutist wrote:They also have (correct me if I'm wrong) an Eb flute that is smaller than a concert flute but bigger than a piccolo for very small children who's arms can't reach.

That's all it's for. They're usually made for Bass and sometimes alto flutes.

Eb flutes were once made for that reason (some say as a cheaper replacement for Eb clarinets), but are very difficult to find, particularly in playing condition today. I managed to get one (as more of a curiosity than anything), but if you were seriously looking for an instrument to get a smaller player started with, a curved head C flute would be a much more reasonable purchase.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:38 pm

FLflutist wrote:They also have (correct me if I'm wrong) an Eb flute that is smaller than a concert flute but bigger than a piccolo for very small children who's arms can't reach.

That's all it's for. They're usually made for Bass and sometimes alto flutes.

Even though this isnt very pertinent to the thread, I just had to share this little oddity. In my studio, we have an Eb flute, and we like to call it the "Fliccolo".

Sorry to get off topic, but I like odd words and unusual names, and your post just reminded me of the name we have for it.

FLflutist · Post by **FLflutist** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:20 pm

Ha, we call the Bass flute at our school a "Fluba"

concertino · Post by **concertino** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:09 am

I started out with one of those...It was perfectly dreadful. Even with the curved head, it was still too long for me...lol