I’ve been quietly making piccolo headjoints for just over twenty years and I’ve been very pleased to have heard them in a number of major orchestras. Requests for my headjoints have, in the past, usually been a result of word of mouth, but now, in this “high tech” age of computers and websites, I have a more efficient manner in which to make myself available. Over the years, I have been the subject of some interesting rumors: You have to beg for an Eldred Spell headjoint, or He doesn’t make them anymore, etc. The web offers a chance to communicate a bit about what I do. I hope you’ll find the following information interesting.

Well, first of all, I’m not a full-time flutemaker. Most of the time, I’m a college professor. Here’s the generic biography:

Eldred Spell is Professor of Flute at Western Carolina University.  Center. A popular recitalist and clinician, he has appeared throughout the United States, Canada, and England. For many years he served as principal flute of the Sewanee Summer Music Center.  Dr. Spell has recorded for the CRS, Early Light, and Sonus record labels and many editions of his music are available through ALRY Publications. Spell has been a member of the Board of Directors of the National Flute Association, the Performance Health Care Committee, and an editorial adviser for the Flutist's Quarterly. He maintains a substantial collection of historic flutes and performs primarily on a nineteenth-century instrument by famed French maker Louis Lot. Spell holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. His teachers include Clement Barone, William Bennett, Israel Borouchoff, Geoffrey Gilbert, and Stephen Preston. Also trained as a flutemaker, Spell has done considerable research into the practical acoustics and tuning of the flute and has been a consultant to numerous flute companies. As a teacher, Eldred Spell offers a unique blend of personal warmth and musical expression, combined with a thoro