I have ordered my so much dreamt of Nagahara HJ. Silver .950, 14K extended riser DA cut.

I will travel to London, try it and most probably fetch it in 11 days.

That, if I can survive so long to my own anxiety.

That is wonderful news!! I am excited for you. Tell me what you think of it as I will be dying to know. That is the exact one I have except in heavy wall. I have had it for two years and still love it.

I am happy for very happy for you. I hope it is the perfect head joint for you.

Congrats, Jose Luis.
I hope that this head joint is a joy for you to play.

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Thank you all.

I needed a little support from you, as a little voice inside me keeps saying that I should not be doing this at this moment. So much, I did not tell my teacher yet, may be today or after the fait accompli

But I did it and I am happy that I did it now and not later in life. I feel that I should not and cannot wait.

Jose Luis,
Enjoy, I have tried to explain that playing on different equipment is a different sort of flute education. you get to see differences and similarities. So, it'doesn't hurt to try.....unless you are like I am. -less inclined to sell any from the collection and always willing to buy more.

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Update:

Just returned from London, with my new Nagahara HJ in my bag.

It was surprisingly difficult to choose the best, although I was only trying four HJs. I spent many hours on this, abusing a little on the patience of the ALL Flutes Plus very kind staff. Finally (and with the valuable help from a friend), I chose a Silver .950, DA cut with white-gold riser.

I still have to adapt to it and I know I face lot of work and practice. But from the very beginning many things improved so much that I was surprised. Suddenly the 3rd F# and G# became so easy to play... The quality of the notes in all the ranges are much similar and better. No more problems with 2nd D#, for example. And the dynamics also improved so much! I can now go from forte to pianissimo easily and in tune. Or almost.

Some notes are too high in tune, however. I was explained that I have some issues with my current embouchure and that I should change it, something more easily said than done. But I am already working on it.

In summary, I already enjoy big improvements and feel I now have an open horizon to progress quicker and to higher levels.

I am very happy with my decision and with the investment I made!

The riser is 18K white gold and the HJ is thin wall. It was too loose so it had to be fit a little on my Yamaha 674, This was done on the spot and just with a few minute wait.

Congratulations and good luck Jose Luis! That sounds exciting. I'll bet you will be playing overtime this week!

Hi Jose Luis,
I'm glad that you were able to find something appealing for you.
Much fun "work" ahead fr sure.

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Thank you all for your support and good wishes.

Today I had my first lesson with my new HJ. It was a deep pleasure to play a couple of simple, slow Mozart duets with my teacher (taken from the Zauber Flöte).

She said that I now sound much closer to her playing and the instruments blend in a much higher degree. I noted that too and really enjoyed the change, I felt deep emotions once more.

The sound is so much richer in harmonics and in the chords they interact in a way that I felt like receiving a kind massage to my soul. Well, again a metaphoric license, but how could I describe these nice feelings?

In summary, I am very happy.

There were new tuning issues (not serious) and I have to work on this and many other details. But now I have to take out about 3/4" of the Nagahara HJ instead of the 1/8" I had with the Yamaha.

Considering the two HJs are almost exactly the same length and the blowing hole is at the same position, I am surprised about such a big difference. Anybody has an explanation?.

Is it that my embouchure is changing so much I have to compensate with a couple of centimetres longer tube?

It may just be me, but I really don't need to pull my hj out much on my yamaha. Could just be me though.

Are you also using a Yamaha body with a Nagahara headjoint?

Congratulations! You excitement is really coming through the posts! Enjoy!

I love the magic flute! It's wonderful music, and I look forward to the Papageno's piece in one of my music books when I'm ready.

I have the complete book of themes and songs from that Opera. I suppose the Papageno's song you mention is "Der Volgelfänger bin ich ja"; I had begun to study it and the first part is easy and beautiful. But then the first flute becomes the accompaniment of the second, with fast and (for me) difficult runs with jumps G-D-B-D-F-D etc. Also jumps greater than octave, as 2nd G to 1st D (though only on 1/8s). It is a good excercise for the RH fingers and embouchure control, I guess, but I prefered something easier as "Das klinget so herrlich" which can be played faster without much difficulty.

The two slow pieces I mentioned before are: "Marsch der Priester" and specially "O Isis und Osiris", which sounds very beautiful and moving with two flutes. In an inspired and well-tuned day, that is.