I have just spent my first hour with this beautiful, smart, sweet and incredible voice-gifted baby.
At the beginning we did not get on too well; she refused to sing even the simplest notes. Then I plug the G hole and whoh! what a surprise.

I did not follow the counsel from my teacher "play long notes, go back to book #1" How could I?

I tried playing directly with 4 holes open. Fine, a little difficult with the D hole. Plug it! and direct to the Stamitz duet I have been working for several weeks. What a difference!. Those difficult and frustrating parts now seem almost easy.

I think with a little more training this baby can play all alone.

Just a little blowing , pushing keys here and there and that's it. Well I exaggerate, yes. I try to explain the feelings I had with this first experience with my new Yamaha 674H.

And dynamics! this was a nightmare with the old Gemeinhardt, everything sounded equal, no pianos, no fortes.

Never more so! Now the difference is so big I can't believe it.

The endorphine jump that was predicted did happen. And it changed a grey dully day, trying to adapt to normal work and life after an intense weekend into a brilliant experience.

Thank to all of you that helped me in the difficult selection of a new instrument and supported me in my hesitations.

I promise I will comment moe technically and less emphatically in my next progresses.

congrats! I love getting a new flute. I forget about everything in the world for about two weeks!

-Dennis

I am glad you like your new partner! I sometimes forget what it's like to work with a new instrument; very exciting!!!

Congrats! I am really happy for you. You certainly deserve this. It is so much fun getting a new flute. If I were rich, I would get a new one every year. Keep up the good work!

Congratulations on the new instrument! IMHO the 674H is an excellent flute! Enjoy!!!!

mazel tov

Glad that you are loving your new partner. Keep on blowing baby.

jose_luis,
Finally! Congrats on the new instrument. I hope this going to be a long affair.
Now begin to feel the holes with the fingers. Play some slow things. Touch the keys and practice carefully to develop the control that you want.

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Thanks you all for your warm, nice and supporting responses.

As Bilbo has pointed out, the open hole system has added a new sense to the enjoyment of playing. That is, the sense of touch. Because I now feel the music at my fingertips, as it travels through the tube. It's another nice and rewarding feeling.

But the imperfect positions of my RH fingers are now more evident; too much difficulty for low D and -I hope- a smaller difficulty for the low E.

I had to plug the rightmost hole to play the D, but for the moment I keep open the other 3 (also the G is plugged). Correcting this positions must be important and was one of the reasons I decided to try open holes at the very beginning, some months ago.

I plan, with the help of my teacher, to work gradually until I can unplug those holes, or at least the D hole. For the G, right now I am too far from and adequate covering of the hole and If I try, find it too stressing for the LH. My fingers are very long but it does not help, as also the thumb is also long and the annular push the G key off center.

Fast downward octave changes (for example D2 to Dlow) are now gratifyingly easier.

I'm still lost with the B foot. I do not understand the keying for this foot. Not extremely important right now, of course I have to learn it and will start the next class on coming Tuesday.

The E split mechanism is also a mystery. Will try to clarify it next class or otherwise I will post here for some help.

So far, my teacher she has not met the new partner. I'm sure she will share my enthusiasm. Or so I hope...

jose_luis,

Issues with finding the open holes are nothing unusual. As I said feel for them. Become aware of their location underneath your fingers. Play slow things and listen. If the notes sound unusually fuzzy for a particular fingering like a low D, ANY ONE of the 5 holes may be a bit open. Usually, the lower notes like low C are hard to get out clearly because you have to reach for the roller with the pinkey and then the Rh 3 finger moves off the hole as well. Remember that the holes become progressively farther apart as you go down the tube. This makes the right hand fingers unevenly spaced. The first two fingers are closer than the 2nd and 3rd fingers.

In the right hand, place the thumb underneath the 1st F finger. Underneath or even back a bit and pointed at the tube so that it's actually slightly behind the F key but still in line with it. Then if the fingers are placed in a relaxed hand position, slightly arched but not tight, and the hand knuckles are parallel to the tube, things should fall into place.

An offset G mechanism does not cure a bad left hand position. People can still miss the G key even if they were brought up with that system from the beginner flute. If so, the left wrist may not be bent back enough, rotated correctly and consequently the left hand not underneath the flute enough for proper support. This usually is accompanied by a flute grip that pushes fairly hard against the chin, the base of the left index has the joint pain and the red spot after a good practice session. If so, lighten up and support the flute from underneath.


The B foot is logical.
It is a continuation of the C foot principle. the pad is C#, the next roller is the low C, and pushing both rollers gets the low B. For the low B I push with my finger on all three as a safeguard agains an out of adjusted mechanism. This setup gives us issues with low B to C# slurs but how often do we do that anyway?

I don't use the split E myself but I don't think that you need to even think about it. It is automatic in function. It just makes the slurs up to the E3 easier. Slurs such as B2, C3, or C#3 up to E3.

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Patrick,

Mazel tov... that was nor easy to identify.

Thanks Google for providing its translation from... Yddish!

"may your planetary influences be favorable" (taken,it looks like, from ancient astrology).

Well yes, I need that too.

Thank you for this special good wish.

Micron, I share that feeling with you. There is nothing like being able put a finely tuned flute into that hands of a customer. With me, I can't see there face as I sell on line, but I love hearing the comments and pictures of them with the flute after they do receive it. I am very grateful to have met so many wonderful people from all over the world. That is what makes it that much more fun.

It's nice to see, confirmed by yourselves, something that was already evident from many of your posts: that you get so much satisfaction from a well done job.

"Customer satisfaction" in marketing campaigns usually are just empty words; but obviously you really enjoy that feeling.

I have so much to explore in my new instrument and I must advance slowly. The EC cut seems to require a different embouchure and I must adapt to it.

My confusion with the new B foot is because it has one key, two rollers and one more small key, that closes only the last foot hole (looks like a trill). Of course the old C foot has just one key and one roller.

The A to E3 slur was very difficult for me; now it's easier, but still something I must continue working on.

So far, I am not able to get the same quality of sound for all notes and in some cases I do not understand why. I believe it is not related to my incorrect hole covering.

For example, C2 sings beautiful, strong and with a full body. The next C#2, in comparison, sounds more airy and weaker. Going down from C# to C (keying with the LH index) creates a noticeable "jump" in the loudness of the note and also in the quality of the sound.

I have tried to fit the old GNH M2 on the YFL body, as I am used to the old blowing hole, but it is too wide.

But I can fit the YFL headjoint on the GMH body, though it's too loose and will tend to rotate. I have tried the C-C# issue with the YFL H.J. mounted on the GMH body and this difference is not evident. THe YFL HJ greatly improves makes the sound of the Gemeinhardt, but of course it cannot approach what I can get with the complete YFL674H.

As C# is blown with all keys open, it should be related to my embouchure. But hen, why it does not happen with the GMH body?

Have you any hint concerning this difference C - C#?

<Added>

Sorry, I meant "THe YFL HJ greatly improves the sound..."

jose_luis,
"My confusion with the new B foot is because it has one key, two rollers and one more small key, that closes only the last foot hole (looks like a trill). Of course the old C foot has just one key and one roller."

THe only difference in the control levers with the B foot is the added b roller. To get a low B, you need to push the B roller and the C roller at the same time. I push B, C, and C# as a safeguard to insuring that the three low keys are closed on the foot joint. The little key on the B roller is called a High C facilitator or a Gizmo. It aids in producing some of the very high notes like C4 and above.

"...C2 sings beautiful, strong and with a full body. The next C#2, in comparison, sounds more airy and weaker. Going down from C# to C (keying with the LH index) creates a noticeable "jump" in the loudness of the note and also in the quality of the sound."

This is a touchy area of the flute for tone quality differences because the open holes are closest to the right ear. It may take some getting used to since to some extent we fall into some habits while playing a flute. Kind of like driving a car where some of our responses become automatic to that particular machine. Get into a different machine and it's a whole different "feel".

The other combined issue is tuning on these notes. Generally, on the Gemeinhardts, the C# has a tendancy to be a bit higher than the C in tuning and in tone, and you may be used to moderating that with your embouchure. Now with this flute, it is built different (either in the size, placement of the C# hole or both) and this C# does not need to be favored in the same way any more although you may still be doing it resulting in a lower or more covered C# than the flute needs.

Changing heads can change the sound of any flute but not the relative tuning between the pitches. That is left to key hole placement, hole size, riser shape on the holes, pad location and pad adjustment.

I have seen where some use teflon tape to tighten up a head joint that is a bit loose. However, I would not try to force a tight head into another body as you may change the diameter of the head in relation to it's correct body. The head joint should fit fairly snuggly or the tone production is compromised.


The other thing that you should notice is that the pitch of the YFl is generally made a bit higher. This means that you may need to pull out a bit more to play in tune with other instruments unless they are also sharp. FOr tuning, you need to pull out until your octaves are in tune. I recommend tuning the three Fs as a starter and then going around the scale a bit with other octaves. Once they are in tune, adjust your pitch by generally rolling in or out the same way for the most part on all your notes. For tuning to A=440, you may find that the head joint is easily pulled out to about 10mm or more on the YFL.

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

congratz!im glad your hapy with "beautiful, smart, sweet and incredible voice-gifted baby"