Early March update

A quick round up of the many things that have been going on with FluteFling

The Edinburgh FluteFling Weekend is taking shape nicely. Firstly, we welcome Munro Gauld, who brings his studies into strathspey playing to the day of workshops on Saturday 27 April alongside Rebecca Knorr and Claire Mann.

In addition, we are really excited that The Cathal McConnell Trio will be performing an early evening concert after the workshops and before the evening session. The acoustic concert takes place in the same building as the workshops, will have a bar and takes advantage of the magnificent old church hall at Bellfield — essentially similar to the Queen’s Hall in central Edinburgh. It should be a real treat.

Further details, including links to tickets for both events, can be found on the Weekend web page.

Resources update

I have also been able to record tunes for the February Edinburgh workshop and update the Repertoire page for 2019 properly. Irish, Scottish, Breton, Swedish? Lots of tune types covered so far this year and the recordings for March have also been updated. Have fun!

Aberdeen weekend report

The farewell session at Ma Cameron’s. (c) John Crawford

Well, what a weekend we had in Aberdeen in November! This was the second annual event in the Granite City and was again based upon a day of flute and whistle workshops. This year we had three tutors — Dougie Pincock, Sharon Creasey and Gordon Turnbull — with a very strong turn-out to the classes and sessions and lots of positive feedback.

Sharon Creasey and Kenny Hadden on whistles. (c) John Crawford

Thanks to everyone who attended and to Kenny Hadden and the supporters for helping it run so well on the ground. A big thank you too to Inchgarth Community Centre for looking after us and to the Blue Lamp and Ma Cameron’s for their hospitality with the sessions.

Dougie’s workshop (c) John Crawford

One pleasing comment that stood out referred to the unified thread of musicality running through the workshops, of going beyond the notes and into phrasing and rhythm. While this wasn’t consciously planned, all of the tutors and those involved in organising FluteFling events do have a clear idea of what good traditional flute and whistle playing sounds like and there are many ways to achieve this.

Gordon’s workshop (c) John Crawford

By having different tutors with different approaches and experiences, we do hope that this opens up possibilities for others. And let’s face it, we are all learning and continue to learn from each other — tutors included — which is why these events are always a joy and an inspiration to everyone involved.

Tunes taught on the day included repertoire from Aberdeen, highland pipe tunes and others with technical challenges, and port-a-beul.

Sharon Creasey and Kenny Hadden listen to Dougie Pincock talk about his experiences and thoughts on playing the flute and whistle. (c) John Crawford

The Saturday afternoon ended with Dougie Pincock in conversation with Kenny Hadden. Dougie is full of entertaining anecdotes about his early experiences learning the pipes, entering the Glasgow folk and session scene and learning to play the flute. It was an hour but it flew by and we could have all listened to many more.

The weekend sessions featured strathspeys, marches, slow airs, jigs, reels, Border hornpipes and tunes old and new. One particularly memorable moment was Sharon and Dougie duetting on piccolos, which is not something you see every day!

Upcoming in 2019

Participants and tutors continue to have ideas to develop our weekends together and we will try an implement them as and when we can. The Aberdeen weekend will return in November 2019.

The next weekend will be in Edinburgh April 26-28th. Dates and details for other events will appear on the website very shortly, so look out for those.

Autumn workshop dates confirmed

FluteFling flutes and whistles in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen

Traditional flute workshop with Sharon Creasey at FluteFling Edinburgh Weekend 2018 (c) Gordon Turnbull

If you’ve signed up to the newsletter, you will probably know that the dates and tickets for workshops in Glasgow with Sharon Creasey and in Edinburgh with Gordon Turnbull are up and running.

Be sure to book in advance as spaces are limited and the September events are just a week and two weeks away respectively.

If you’re coming to the Edinburgh events, remember you can get a discount by booking all three in advance.

The 2nd FluteFling Aberdeen Weekend will now take place 16-18 November, with three tutors, including a special guest now confirmed, plus an expanded format that includes whistles. The event last year was very well attended and those on the mailing list will get the details and ticketing opportunity first. There is now a dedicated page for the event, so be sure to check back there for updates.

Whichever events you are interested in, we hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you.

Flutes and whistles in the Autumn

Autumn dates and plans for FluteFling to be announced

The rain may have returned, but it’s still the Summer and the Edinburgh Festival is about to kick off. However, it is a timely nudge for organising Autumn events and I am pleased to say that there will be a few FluteFling things happening. Dates and tickets are still being finalised, but here’s a quick look at what is coming up.

New monthly workshops in Partick

Sharon Creasey begins FluteFling West, a monthly trad flute and whistle workshops in Partick Burgh Hall Lesser Hall on Saturday afternoons 2-4pm. Sharon is still putting together ticketing details but her dates are:

  • 15 September
  • 20 October
  • 10 November

This looks to be is the first workshop of its kind in the Glasgow area and is a great opportunity for anyone in the west looking to work on their music. Sharon’s dates won’t clash with the Edinburgh ones either, so it would be possible to maximise your flute and whistle time and attend both or pick and choose. As soon tickets etc are set up, we will let you know.

Monthly FluteFling workshops in Edinburgh from September

Gordon Turnbull’s monthly Saturday afternoon workshops resume in Portobello, Edinburgh on 22 September, remaining dates tbc at this stage but they will not be the same dates as Sharon’s. These will take place once more on Saturday afternoons 1-4pm at Tribe Porty. Dates so far:

  • 22 September
  • October date tbc
  • November date tbc
  • December date tbc

Tickets to be arranged very soon, once the Aberdeen weekend is finalised. Talking of which…

FluteFling Aberdeen weekend 2018

Aberdeen FluteFling weekend will return for second year, with added whistles. Details to be confirmed at this stage but hopefully early November. Again, an announcement will be made as soon as we have things in place.

Watch out for updates on these events and also more going into 2019. If you haven’t already, sign up for the newsletter to hear the announcements directly. There’s a lot to look forward to. Until then, enjoy your music and the rest of the Summer.

Into the Summer

Flutes and whistles in the Boda Bar during FluteFling Edinburgh 2018

Summer in Scotland is an exceptionally busy time, particularly so in the traditional and folk music calendar. Every weekend from May onwards there is a festival of some sort and the longer days and better weather rightly draw everyone to Shetland, Ullapool, Orkney, Moniaive, Girvan and everywhere in between. And that’s just for the music.

So it’s no surprise that numbers regularly tail off in May and June and for that reason the end of term session on Saturday 16th June is cancelled. My apologies if you had intended to come, but it makes the most sense. Once workshops resume after the summer I will look to put on something to replace it, but clearly now is not the right time.

I hope everyone has a great summer, with as much enjoyable music as they could wish for. I’m meeting Sharon Creasey, Kenny Hadden and Munro Gauld over the weekend to share ideas and explore dates for future gatherings over the next year, which promises to be an exciting one for fluters and whistlers in Scotland.

Regular FluteFling workshops in Edinburgh will resume in the Autumn, so look out for news of these and the other weekends over the coming weeks.