I win.

I finally got a new headjoint. My teachers had been bugging me about it since middle school. I'd always tried to go along with it, trying out new headjoints at various festivals, but I never really felt a difference with any of them. Despite what everyone says, I kind of thought that the importance of the headjoint was a load of crap.

Then, when I was at Gary Schocker's masterclass in upstate New York this summer, Dave Williams came with a new batch of Foster Headjoints--there are only about nine of them, and they aren't up on his website yet since they're so new. The cut of the hole is slightly squarer than that on my Brannen headjoint. Anyway, I tried it out and I was in love! It made my D7 so much easier to get out, and it just tweaked my sound enough so I was able to just soar more on phrases, and relax my lips when I play.

Again, I can't find a picture. In fact, Google image search "williams foster headjoint". The combination of images that come up are bizarre and somewhat unsettling.

One month later, that exact same headjoint--not just the model, but physically the exact same one--is mine. And it's like I'm in love with playing again! I didn't practice a lot this summer, but the past couple days, I've just been playing and playing! Also, I went to Flute Arts and they repaired three ripped pads--I didn't even know anything was wrong. So I sound better than I've ever sounded and I'm just ready as can be to go back to school.

Also, yesterday I found out that for my 20th Century Musical Lit class, I already have the main textbook--Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise--and already read it for fun two years ago. (Mr. Ross's blog is on the blogroll to your right! Check it.)

So I win.