Tag Archives: low whistle

FluteFling online with Claire Mann

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The first FluteFling Online event took place in December with a mini-series of workshops led by Claire Mann. The event marked what would have been a weekend event in Aberdeen and attracted a great turn-out, with participants from across the world.

When John Crawford approached me in September and asked what the plans were for the FluteFling Aberdeen Weekend, which usually takes place every November, I confess that my heart sank a little. It was a good question and needed addressing in some way, but it meant that we had to bite the bullet as so many have done and dive into the Online experience.

What did we know about putting on such things? Had we attended any? I personally had shied away from teaching online so didn’t really know what was involved. In addition, so much our working and personal lives are lived online during the pandemic, did we want to spend our spare time wrangling with setups, links and connections? And each of these questions seemed to have others lining up behind them. Wasn’t there online fatigue? Or was that just me?

John has been involved in the FluteFling weekends for many years and has been active in the Aberdeen event too and links up the Aberdeen flute community. He brought in fellow FluteFling supporter Pete Saunders, who has been running the SCaT flute and whistle classes in Aberdeen online this autumn and the technical experience and confidence that was needed. John had also attended a number of online workshops over the summer and had been taking plenty of notes of what worked well.

Over Zoom calls and emails with Sharon Creasey and Kenny Hadden, we realised that it was doable with manageable risks. We quickly identified Claire Mann as a tutor we wanted to involve and with her we were able to shape an event. We all wanted it to be a little different and supportive of those facing the common experience of not being able to meet and play music with others, having to dig deep for inspiration and motivation.

The result was a two-weekend event just towards Christmas. People were unlikely to be going anywhere during the pandemic and we felt that a week between the two workshop days gave people time to work on the material and learning, whatever their commitments. Providing the music and recordings from Claire a week in advance extended the learning focus and we extended it further by including a joint recording project for a video that will be completed soon.

The workshops were timed to be short and focused to avoid fatigue, which meant that they flew by an a lot was packed in as Claire took us through some choices from the online archive of the William Gunn Collection and Shetland reels. The Q&A session became highly technical as Claire responded to questions about rolls, cuts, strikes and alternatives with ease and clarity.

An unexpected development came from those looking to attend from USA and Canada. We had timed the workshops to be either side of lunchtime here in Scotland, but this was still 4 in the morning for some people, or even earlier. To attend at that time was a level of commitment that we hadn’t expected and we responded by recording the workshops and making them available to attendees for several weeks afterwards.

The implication for data protection was a concern and we had to seek consent. However, the way we ran the workshops helped enormously. Pete was a co-host and managed all of the running technical concerns — anchoring the workshops, muting participants and fielding questions through the chat facility. It meant that Claire could focus on the teaching, which was new to her in this setting too. The format was a success and was raised by a few as such in the feedback.

Claire Mann teaching online. Photo: (c) Gordon Turnbull

We were quite unprepared for the response, which was overwhelming. With over 70 participants, this was by far and away our biggest event and has caused us all to positively review future plans, including when we all get back together in person.

As participants began joining in the online session, people recognised each other and began chatting and creating a buzz. We have all seen each other on social media, but here we were again, with new faces coming in, some familiar names that are on our mailing lists but are never able attend. People spoke about the friendliness, as visitors from around the world logged in — from a chilly Niagara Falls to Spain, France and Germany. Meanwhile, Claire was in Newton Stewart, Pete was in Aberdeenshire and I was in Edinburgh. There was a definite community feel that spanned the globe.

The recordings enabled people to revisit the workshops and review the learning but also enabled those in California and Japan to be part of the event. Additionally, some people couldn’t attend all of the workshops or had to change plans at short notice, but didn’t miss out. In a non-online situation (IRL – in real life), these people couldn’t have attended or would have lost money or needed a refund.

Our eyes have been opened and while there is no substitute for an IRL experience, this has proved to be a decent substitute with a lot of potential. We are already in the process of organising our next event and what we continue to learn we will be taking into the regular workshops when they are able to resume. Can they be live-streamed or recorded? Or can they be sit alongside our regular events diary? Maybe, maybe.

In the meantime, look out for the video and also for news of our next event.

 

FluteFling Online December 2020 Roundup

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FluteFling Online December 2020 Roundup

It was wonderful to see such a great turn-out for our first ever FluteFling Online event.

Claire Mann took us through some fine tunes over four workshops on two consecutive Saturdays and there is a group recording of everyone playing together to look forward to as well.

Claire herself was in Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway, Pete Saunders did a great job controlling the technology from Aberdeenshire, while Sharon Creasey in Dumbarton, John Crawford in Aberdeen and myself in Edinburgh were also on hand to support. We had much of the country covered and then people attended live from Canada (a 5.30 am start!), USA, Germany, Sweden, France, Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Spain — apologies if I have missed anywhere — and more people accessing it through recordings afterwards, including one person from Japan.

We are already thinking of when we will do our next one, so make sure you are signed up to the newsletter to hear about it first.

Event Resources

The Event Resources archive, including recordings of the workshops themselves, will remain accessible to all ticket holders until 9 January, which is also the date for submitting videos for the group video. Once this is edited it will become available in January.

Most questions were answered either in the workshop or by chat in the messages, which have also been archived in the Event Resources.

Someone new to Scottish traditional music asked for some useful tune collections. It’s something we should maybe address more fully, but here are a few, plus some others:

 

Flutes face potential problems post Covid-19

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One of the questions that has cropped up in Covid-19 conversations amongst flute players and their friends is — how safe are we? As we begin to learn more about this aerosol-borne virus, singers and wind instrument players — flutes, whistles and bagpipes included — are being seen in a new light. Could a wind musician potentially spread the virus more widely than other musicians?

We don’t yet know the answer, but for flutes and whistles, splitting the airway through the far edge of the embouchure or the fipple is how the sound is generated. Air also escapes at the tone holes and at the end of the instrument. How fast is the air and how far is the air projected? Studies are ongoing but this is what is understood at present.

There is still much to be understood and my gut feeling is that the majority of the concerns at the moment relate to the flute and not necessarily the whistle. One speculated thought on the Facebook group is that blowing across the embouchure with force and direction may be an issue. If so, there may be a solution that has the added benefit of being a wind shield AND tone reflector. It’s the Win-D-Fender developed in the USA and carried in a few places in Europe and across the world.

Personally, I hope some additional thought goes into the name and the colour options as it seems functional and clinical (although in a world of PPE and face masks, maybe that is less of an issue). So here are a couple of videos endorsing the product (caveat: I’ve no idea if this works on wooden flutes).

Relating this to sessions, if this is helpful, then the airflow coming from out of the flute may then be the big issue. Sessions are often sight spaces and flutes tend to need more room than others. In a session with increased distancing, that may be a bigger issue. On the other hand, whistles are more self-contained and that may be an advantage.

Finally, on a more upbeat note, my own Lockdown tunes project on YouTube continues. Mostly Scottish repertoire, but not entirely. I hope you enjoy them.

 

April update: a celebration of community

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With events cancelled and many of us in lockdown, a look ahead to what this means for FluteFling.

The Magic Flute! FluteFling Edinburgh Weekend 2019 (c) Gordon Turnbull

It’s a sunny Wednesday in Edinburgh, the windows are open and birds are busy outside. Spring is upon us and all would seem well if it wasn’t for the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic and most people are in some form of lockdown or restricted movement. It is an uncertain and worrying time for everyone, with various concerns for health, loved ones, neighbours and colleagues, physical and mental well-being, work and finances.

It has been heartening to witness many examples of people supporting each other in the community, both locally and across the world. And there has also been much celebrating and sharing of music and song to help unite people and raise spirits in these strange and difficult times.

Traditional music connects people, places and histories and celebrates what is common to us all and the festival season would be fast approaching, when musicians, dancers and lovers of music reunite, share tunes, stories and good times together.

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

We would have seen some of that last weekend too, with what was promising to be an amazing FluteFling Edinburgh Weekend, our seventh no less. In previous years, people have travelled far for the events in Edinburgh and Aberdeen to meet, play and learn more about traditional flute playing in Scotland and to be part of a revival. As an organiser and sometimes tutor, it is both humbling and inspiring to be part of this and to witness it take on a life of its own, fuelled by the energy, enthusiasm and support of the community that has grown up around FluteFling.

It is a particularly difficult time for those freelance musicians and performers who rely on performances and audiences for an income. Please do what you can to support them — if you buy their music, follow them on social media, share their work or reach out to them, it all helps. And look out for performances from home via various streaming apps. Facebook seems to be popular for this, but there will be other outlets too, such as Youtube.

For some of us in lockdown and not key workers on the front line, events force us to slow down, restrict our movements and reflect. For me, this slower pace and gifted time has allowed me to get the flute out more, to begin thinking about ideas for future FluteFling activities, to begin tweaking and tidying up the website. The various people who are involved in running FluteFling events will also be exploring ideas together.

On a personal note, I have found it difficult in recent months, maybe years if truth be told, to focus on some parts of my own music-making. It is true I am sure for many of us with busy lives and commitments and so maybe this is an opportunity for us all to reconnect with our own music, be in less of a hurry to learn that tune for this session, to maybe explore existing repertoire. Time to to reexamine tone and tuning, revisit ornaments and articulation, to slow down and rediscover the joys and consider what our music means to us.

I have begun to take inspiration from something Paul McGrattan shared at Cruinniú na bhFliúit -The Flute Meeting in Ballyvourney a couple of years ago. Alongside many other ideas, he suggested recording yourself once a week to monitor progress and focus your practice. So my underused YouTube channel is now going to have a new tune or set of tunes posted every Friday during the lockdown period.

To begin with at least, this will focus on tunes that I have taught or might otherwise already be found in the Resources section or on my Soundcloud account, where they are slowed down for playing. I expect other tunes, recalled, revived, relearned or newly discovered for me, will also feature on that YouTube channel.

A flute session in Sandy Bell's Bar, Edinburgh (c) Gordon Turnbull

A flute session in Sandy Bell’s Bar, Edinburgh (c) Gordon Turnbull

There will be some other posts on this website, certainly more regularly than in recent months. But in the meantime, thank you everyone, for being involved, for playing and sharing your music and for being part of the traditional flute and whistle community in Scotland.

Stay safe and stay well and we will see each other on the other side when this is all over. The next FluteFling Weekend, whenever that may happen, will be quite some celebration, for sure.

September polkas, singing, breath

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Anascaul Lake - geograph.org.uk - 919995

Photo of Anascaul Lake, County Kerry by Peter Church

The Autumn workshops got off to a fine start with a look at a pair of Irish polkas that I have been teaching for many years that make a great way to warm up.

Tune background

I learned Patrick O’Connor’s Polkas from a cassette recording of a County Cork band called The Monks of the Screw, who took their name from a drinking club (the screw in their name is a corkscrew). There’s an old web page on them here and you can hear snippets of the recording at Irishtune.info.

I have also recorded the version I wrote and will add sheet music to the Repertoire page. Polkas have an interesting history as a dance form and can found around the world. In Ireland, a distinction can be drawn between the polkas of the south west, in particular Cork and Kerry and the area around Sliabh Luachra, and those of the Connaught area (Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon) further north.

The Cork and Kerry polkas are played very briskly and often have an off-beat emphasis, while those of the Connaught area are more like marches in many ways. Indeed, some of the Irish polkas can be traced to Scottish 2/4 marches. Farewell to Whiskey and The Barren Rocks of Aden are two obvious examples. For this latter reason, I find the way of playing Irish polkas on the flute and whistle a useful in road to playing Scottish marches on those instruments.

Patrick O’Connor’s Polkas were originally collected in Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol 2 as untitled tunes and I reversed the order that they appeared there and in the recording as I preferred the contrast between the runs of the first and the more punchy jumps in the second. It turns out that the one we learned first is better known as the Anascaul Polka (notation and discussion on The Session), named after a village on the Dingle peninsular, whereas the other one has no other name of its own (notation and discussion on The Session).

Caution: The Session is a very useful website that I often refer to, but the notation and information can sometimes contain errors, so please refer to it with a pinch of salt

To my knowledge the tunes are not as widely known as they maybe should be. Perhaps their relative simplicity puts people off, but this also creates an opportunity to concentrate on playing techniques.

Techniques

We began by listening to the Annascaul Polka, which is constructed on simple runs up and down. In A Dorian (see here for some ready modes information) with A as the top note and G at the bottom, it sits within the bagpipe scale, hinting that it may even have been a bagpipe tune at one point. There is a C natural as it ascends, but this and the F# are missed on the descent, making it a little ambiguous. Patrick O’Connor’s No. 1 is more punchy within the same scale.

We then alternately sang and played that part of the tune to help root it and connect it to our breathing more directly. Singing the tune, no matter how quietly, helps to develop the ear and to find places to breathe. We also naturally articulate parts of the melody in diddling that can be referenced when playing our instruments, particularly the whistle or low whistle.

It is arguably present in Gaelic puirt à beul, here’s a direct Irish example:

On the flute, glottal stops are more common in Ireland for rhythm and articulation, but tonguing is sometimes subtly used and is generally associated with whistle playing.

We looked at generating pulse with breath and on the low whistle this proved to be subtle but effective.

We discussed cuts, strikes, rolls and crans and also what I call The Sylvain Barou Method for learning and developing them, which is described in this post from 2017.

Finally, we looked at some books to support our learning. Some of the stand-out ones are discussed in this post, to which I would add Steph Geremia’s Up She Flew, a CD with her accompanying book of transcriptions and notes. To date, the only book on the low whistle I am aware of is The Low Whistle Book by Steáfán Hannigan and David Ledsam.

Upcoming events

The next Edinburgh workshop will be 23 November, while the Aberdeen Weekend takes place 1-3 November.