Finding Your Tone with a New Headjoint

If you have recently purchased or flute or are having a flute trial, you will be trying out a couple of different flutes and on these flutes, you will need to find your own tone. Each new headjoint will have a different color for tone and it is your job to find that tone. It can be daunting!

I have written blogs on how to find a new flute and choose a headjoint so I’m not talking about that here. Right now, I want to talk specifically about how to adjust to a new headjoint and find your best tone.

When you have taken your new flute out of its case and put that headjoint up to your lip, how do you find whether that is the flute for you? I think the common mistake is when you put that flute up to your lip, you place it where it always goes. That’s where it’s comfortable. You compare those flutes or headjoints with that embouchure. It seems reasonable right? But I don’t think you’re doing justice either to you or the flute that you are trying out, because I think that you need to adjust your embouchure to that headjoint.

That headjoint probably has a different cut than your current headjoint. Most likely every flute/headjoint that you are trying has a slightly different cut. Because of that, you need to play them a little bit differently. I want to think about where I am aiming my air first as each lip plate and embouchure hole are different. If I experiment with my angle of air, then I might find a better tone – or as some might say the sweet spot where a new and wondrous tone was hiding.

I also might want to move it up (or down) on my lip a little bit. When I have experimented with new headjoints moving it to a different spot on my lip, it has definitely shown me that my favorite spot where it feels most comfortable is NOT the best spot for ALL headjoints.

I do love experimenting with different headjoints. It is very exciting to find what a different head can do for you. Only by changing up the normal embouchure, can I know what this head will do for me.

So, when you are looking for a flute or you’re trialing a flute or headjoint, find the sound that that flute can give you. Don’t just use your normal embouchure, the one that you feel most comfortable with. Because you know, you can change your embouchure and you can get comfortable playing with it a little higher on your lip or a little bit lower on your lip. It doesn’t have to stay in one spot for the rest of your entire flute life. It can move and you want to find what gives you the best tone with that headjoint and not be stuck with one spot because maybe a whole new world of tone could be opened up to you with the right headjoint playing with it in the right spot.

Enjoy experimenting with your new headjoint or flute.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

Finding Your Tone with a New Headjoint – FluteTips 158