Is it a FLISTLE or a WHUTE?

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JessieK
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Post by JessieK »

A couple of days ago, my new Uprite Drelinger Boehm flute headjoint arrived. It takes some getting used to. The accessories make holding the flute incredibly easy and painless. A low whistle is harder to hold because it doesn't have anything to hold your hands in place, so you grip harder on a Low whistle. Anyway, this headjoint and the accessories that came with it turn a regular Boehm flute into a vertical flute. The comfort is amazing. The bit that takes some getting used to is the embouchure. I find that unless I put my lips in place before I put my fingers in place, I mess up and get virtually no sound from the bottom notes. Even when I place my lips first, there is sometimes inconsistency. But when I do get it right, it plays nicely and is incredibly comfortable (I know I have over-used that word.). It even has a plastic landing gear thing at the bottom to lean the whole thing on one's knee. Here are some pictures.

<img src=http://members.aol.com/thecutelet/Uprite1.jpg>

<img src=http://members.aol.com/thecutelet/Uprite2.jpg>

<img src=http://members.aol.com/thecutelet/Uprite3.jpg>

<img src=http://members.aol.com/thecutelet/Uprite4.jpg>

:smile: Jessie
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Dana
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Post by Dana »

Wow, Jessie:

I've always wanted to try one of these, but haven't yet had the opportunity. I'd be really curious to know how this affects the tone of the instrument. I have a hard time visualizing how this must change the acoustic response of the flute. Has anyone studied this?
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JessieK
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Post by JessieK »

Yes, the guy who makes it studies it. I tried the headjoint today on the straight adapter that came with it (to make it a regular transverse headjoint - the part with the lip plate comes out) and it sounded good. Then I put it on the Uprite adapter and when my lip is in the right place, it sounds the same. It has very easy response in the upper register(s). It also came with a video in which he talks about his "groundbreaking innovation." Hee hee. Sandy Drelinger is a really nice guy.

:smile: Jessie
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clark
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Post by clark »

Ummm... Very interesting piece of plumbing. But refresh my memory, what is the reason for doing this?

Clark
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JessieK
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Post by JessieK »

Well, Clark, for me, the reason is chronic back pain. When I play flute sideways for a while, raising my arms and tilting my neck slightly, my back hurts for days. This headjoint allows my arms and neck to rest comfortably while playing, and the back pain stays away.

Jessie
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gcollins
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Post by gcollins »

What a funky flute? It does in fact look like sterling silver plumbing. Cool.

But if the reason you got that headjoint was becuase of back pain, then is Copley working on a wood joint for your blackwood flute?
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JessieK
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Post by JessieK »

Nope, G. I can practice Irish flute fingerings on a whistle. It's the long practice that bothers my back, not so much the actual playing in public. With this new headjoint, I can pratice the fingerings and then switch to a regular one for playing in public.

:smile: Jessie
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RudallRose
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Post by RudallRose »

Not a funky flute at all!
In fact, not even a novel idea.
This vertical flute concept was first designed by Signor Giorgi, of Florence, Italy, in about 1896, although his initial vertical flute (it did not have a fipple such as a recorder of the time, but a blow hole and lip plate) was more like a whistle in that it had no keys. He wanted to use Boehm's theories on cylindrical bores and retain the principle of one hole for each note on the chromatic scale. So, his flute had 11 holes (12 notes in our chromatic scale and the foot hole is already one, ergo 11) -- one for each finger and an additional one for LH1, right near the palm. To play this kind of flute traversely would be virtually impossible, so he placed the embouchure in a T-head at the top of the flute.
As time wore on, Giorgi started to add a key here and there to make it easier to play, which eventually defeated the entire purpose of his flute in the first place! Still his flutes were very popular. They were made of ebonite and sold in large numbers by Joseph Wallis & Son.
Now....the flute you show above -- a Boehm-style key system with vertical piping, but still a traverse blower -- came into being around 1910 or so by another Italian, this time Aberlardo Albisi of Milan. He believed the only way to play a bass flute (low B) of the Boehm system was vertically, with the support of a neck strap since it was so heavy. So his looks much more like what you show here, but the idea was still first Giorgi's.
Ain't history fun? :smile:
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