Severely turned in headjoint - June McCormack

[mariajeff]

Is it my imagination or does June McCormack severely turn in the head joint (and thus significantly turn out the lower finger hole joints). I was just watching this 2004 video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae2867YU62E&feature=fvw

The section from 2:53 to 3:05 caught my eye. I took classes with her at Irish Arts Week, and have seen her play live on more than one occasion, and never noticed this. Is this a trick of the camera, or is she really turning the head joint in to a dramatic degree.

Jeff

[Akiba]

I know two excellent flute players in the Bay Area that turn in their headjoints in a similar way.

[ImNotIrish]

I play that way! Wish I sounded that way!
arbo

[jim stone]

What flute is she playing? Anyone know?

[Rob Sharer]

What flute is she playing? Anyone know?

Made by some Yank called Oil-Well, or something like that....


I turn my headjoint in that far as well. Note the position of June's right arm; she's almost reaching over the flute to reach the RH holes. Not a bother on her!


Rob

[MarkP]

so do I, but not that much I think. Maybe the hand position is accentuating the visual effect but it's quite a common approach isn't it?

[jim stone]

To Rob--Thanks. I thought so, but it doesn't much sound like one to me on that video.
This is not a style of playing I'm used to.

[Julia Delaney]

No long F key....

[radcliff]

she, as many other, turn off the EB key...

[lingpupa]

I've recently started to see the benefits of moving towards that sort of angle. It's easier on a flute with the extra joint between the left and right hands - you can get your right hand much further over without making things awkard for the left hand, so in that case you might think of it as turning the bottom part out rather than turning the head in.
The advantage is that with the left thumb coming up so much higher, you get a triple support between left thumb, right forefinger base and jaw - the playing fingers are then released from flute-support duties, and are left to hole-opening and closing duties.
As I understand it these sort of angles - or even much more acute versions of them - were standard in the early 19th century. The estimable Terry McGee is one of the experts who can tell you more about this. (There may be stuff on his site, I can't quite recall).

[Terry McGee]

June certainly demonstrates the advantages of the 19th century grip - right hand fingers well extended where they can be much more flexible in operation.

Is the light playing tricks, or can I imagine a bit of flattening, a la Nicholson, around the R1 and R2 area?

There's another video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsmdpI-VEQM&NR=1

which starts unaccompanied, and has a few clear low D notes. I zoomed in on one of them and analysed it:

D4 -35.7
D5 -26.7
A5 -31.1
D6 -26.2
other harmonics below -45.

So, again, we are seeing the energy steered firmly away from the low D (D4) and into its harmonics. Again it's the even numbered harmonics that are the beneficiaries (D5 and D6, 9dB and 9.5dB higher respectively), although even the third harmonic, A5, does better than the nominal note by 4.6dB. Higher harmonics are severely attenuated by the flute's cut-off frequency; none are higher than about 10dB below the fundamental, and therefore about 25dB below the sum of all the energy.

All of which suggests the blowing-down-toward-the-centre-of-the-flute approach talked about at http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Getting_the ... k_tone.htm, and which seems to be visible in the videos.

Terry

[m31]

Just finished listening to Land's End. Superb playing by both. Her tone is simply beautiful.

[Rob Sharer]

There's another video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsmdpI-VEQM&NR=1

which starts unaccompanied, and has a few clear low D notes. I zoomed in on one of them and analysed it:

D4 -35.7
D5 -26.7
A5 -31.1
D6 -26.2
other harmonics below -45.

So, again, we are seeing the energy steered firmly away from the low D (D4) and into its harmonics. Again it's the even numbered harmonics that are the beneficiaries (D5 and D6, 9dB and 9.5dB higher respectively), although even the third harmonic, A5, does better than the nominal note by 4.6dB. Higher harmonics are severely attenuated by the flute's cut-off frequency; none are higher than about 10dB below the fundamental, and therefore about 25dB below the sum of all the energy.

All of which suggests the blowing-down-toward-the-centre-of-the-flute approach talked about at http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Getting_the ... k_tone.htm, and which seems to be visible in the videos.

Terry

You know, I reached the same conclusion using a startling piece of investigative equipment I possess a pair of.


Rob

[MarkP]

lol, just so Rob

The advantage is that with the left thumb coming up so much higher, you get a triple support between left thumb, right forefinger base and jaw

You might be right that you get a little more support from the left index finger base (not so much the thumb) using that grip in that sort of position (which I do) but you'll also see plenty of people rolling the head inwards and using a very different, sometimes very awkward, thumb position. The advantage is in the tone from the rotated angle of the embouchure, the hands just have to make do around it I think?

PS. my humble learner's tip, if you can get a clean tone blowing a standard (pastic fipple) C whistle in 'flute' position then the focus and downward direction of embouchure seems about the same as getting a nice reedy tone on my Grinter R&R

[radcliff]

Severely turned in headjoint...so that the blowing hole is lined with the C key??