John Crawford reflects on the Aberdeen FluteFling 2024, Ruthrieston Community Centre early November
The Aberdeen FluteFling took place 1-3 November 2024 and featured workshops with Claire Mann, Freya Rae and Laura MacKenzie, plus Dougie Pincock in conversation with flute maker George Ormiston.
Aberdeen FluteFling musicians celebrating a fine day of music together. Photo (c) Linda Harkness
Thanks to all participants, guests, tutors, organisers and venues including Ruthrieston Community Centre, the Blue Lamp and Rishi’s Indian Aroma! FluteFling will return to Aberdeen in November 2025.
Friday
The weekend opened with a lively session in the upstairs lounge of The Blue Lamp in the Gallowgate. Thanks to Lewis Brown for providing the venue and continuing to support live music in Aberdeen.
The Friday night session at the Blue Lamp (c) John Crawford
It was interesting to find ourselves sharing the facilities with a Halloween party; some of revellers in fancy dress got lost on their way to the big downstairs lounge. Re-directing them Claire Mann said:
Saturday
The Saturday workshops at Ruthrieston Community Centre this year were something very special with all three of our first all-female tutor line up teaching in Aberdeen for the first time.
The teaching resources provided by the tutors delivered an intriguing mix of traditional and contemporary music from Scotland, Ireland and Sweden for participants including some wonderful and mesmeric countermelodies.
During the day Flute-maker George Ormiston had a pop-up space that allowed people to try out various models of his instruments and there was a constant flow of people in and out all day.
Dougie Pincock demonstrated the importance relaxation in a flute player’s daily regime.
Dougie Pincock finds a quiet moment to rest during the Saturday workshops (c) John Crawford
In Rishi’s Indian Aroma Freya provided an important lesson in nutrition for flute and whistle players and made sure she had a snack for the train journey home. (c) John Crawford
Saturday evening saw a return to The Blue Lamp for some essential rehydration and work on what had been learned during the day.
Flutes in full flow (c) John Crawford
The session warms up… (c) John Crawford
Laura MacKenzie (left) introduces a Stateside tradition to Scotland — of flute players linking arms to make a chain. (c) John Crawford
Pipe tunes on the whistle (c) John Crawford
Three flute players on their other instruments: L-R Rachel (clarsach), Claire Mann (fiddle), Freya Rae (fiddle) (c) Kenny Hadden
The Saturday session in full flight (c) John Crawford
Whistle and flute from Claire and Freya (c) John Crawford
Sunday
A fine brunch at “Cup”, in little Belmont Street, delivered on Laura’s need to sample the vegan breakfast including haggis and restored the remainder of the survivor’s for the Sunday session. Altogether a more sedate outing than Friday and Saturday but still good craic and tunes!
The Sunday session always has a more relaxed vibe (c) John Crawford
More pipe tunes flying off the whistles (c) John Crawford
More photos from the weekend can be found here.
What people enjoyed
What did people say they enjoyed about the weekend? This is some of the feedback we had.
Loved the mix of ornamentation, technique and tunes. Every tutor had a very different approach and I took a lot which I’m excited to use to go further with my playing in future.
Another well organised and valuable weekend. Thanks to all concerned. Oh and thanks for the rain free weather!
Inspiring… Will always recommend
Enjoyed it lots. Would certainly recommend it to others, and look forward to the next one! Thank you!
[I learned] that the flute playing world takes on many shapes and styles and no one should turn their back on new forms and ideas. The sharing of knowledge is a great aspect of the flute playing fraternity.
Next Event: Edinburgh 4-6 April 2025
After drawing breath, the team are now looking towards making the 2025 Edinburgh event a success. The event will take place 4-6 April 2025, so look out for news of tickets going on sale. We’re also making early plans for Aberdeen 2025.
Please let us know if you have any specific ideas or suggestions for future events. As always, make sure you are signed up to the mailing list to hear about it all first before tickets go on general sale.
About the author: John Crawford is a long-co-organiser with FluteFling. John enjoys exploring the forgotten pre-revival Scottish flute manuscripts that reside in online libraries and collections, such as this Scottish fife player’s manuscript from 1799.