Straight or Curved Headjoint

Up until recently flutes only came in one size. This is because of the physics behind how the instrument works. Unlike a violin or cello, if you were to change the size of a flute you would end up turning it into a different instrument like a piccolo or on the opposite end of the spectrum a bass flute.

The Curved Headjoint

There is, however, a special headjoint that has been developed to help smaller enthusiastic flautists start there ‘fluting’ journey. This allows students to start learning at a slightly younger age. Typically, in order to be able to comfortably hold a flute, you need to be in approximately grade five or roughly ten years old. By this time most children have reached a point where they are physically big enough to comfortably play the flute.

But to make the flute easier for little hands to reach we can get a curved headjoint. (We refer to ‘normal’ headjoints as straight headjoints.) The beautiful thing about the curved headjoint is even though the size of the flute doesn’t change our arms no longer have to stretch as far. This means that children as young as seven can start learning flute. I personally would not recommend pushing it any younger than seven unless you were goin to use a Tute. Another option would be to start on recorder. There is a lot of overlap between flute and recorder and it is easy to transition from one to the other.

Valuing More Than Money

Unfortunately, curved headjoints do cost more than straight headjoints but they are well worth there wait in gold. There can be a number of unwanted health complication that can surface from using a straight headjoint when you would be better suited to a curved headjoint; mainly neck and back pain. It can also result in bad playing posture which can then take quite a few years to correct.

If your child requires a curved headjoint you do have a couple of options when it comes to acquiring an instrument for them to practise on.

Options

1. Hire an instrument, until your child grows enough to manage a straight headjoint. Financially this is probably one of the better options. A curved headjoint can add several hundred dollars to the price of the instrument. Usually hiring turns out to be marginally cheaper in the long run. Curved headjoint flutes are also harder to sell second hand.
2. If you really wanted to buy a flute I would recommend purchasing one that comes with both a curved and straight headjoint.
3. Finally, you can buy a curved headjoint flute knowing that within a year/s you will need to purchase a straight headjoint flute. Buying a curved or straight headjoint separate to the rest of the flute is not really an option. This is because each headjoint needs to be specially fitted to the flute and many times aren’t interchangeable.

If you’re interested in hiring a flute please get in touch to check the availability of my current stock and to arrange a quote.

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below and I shall endeavour to get back to you.

Related Articles:

• Purchasing Your Child’s First Flute
• To Hire or Purchase a Flute