FluteFling Autumn Workshops

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Gordon

Gordon Turnbull teaching flute (c) Ros Gasson

FluteFling returns to Edinburgh this Autumn with a series of three workshops on traditional flute and whistle playing led by Gordon Turnbull. The afternoon workshops will take place at Tribe Porty in Portobello and evolve out of both the successful regular fortnightly classes that had previously taken place up to 2015 and the popular ongoing all-day annual Scottish Flute Day events that will return in 2017.

The workshops will take place on:

Saturday 8 October
Saturday 19 November
Saturday 17 December

There will continue to be a relaxed, supportive and informal style to the teaching, which will not only help develop repertoire from Scotland, Ireland and beyond, but also focus on aspects of technique. As before, the workshops are open to adults already playing whistle, low whistle or wooden flute in D as well as metal classical flutes (Boehm sytem).

Musicians returning to the instrument after a break are most welcome, but the workshops are unfortunately not suitable for complete beginners at this stage.

You can find out more about the workshops on the dedicated page of the reorganised web site, including online booking details.

I hope to be able to accommodate beginners in the near future; if interested, please get in touch and also sign up to the FluteFling Newsletter

Classes, workshops and tuition Autumn 2016

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Gordon

Classes for traditional flute and whistle in Portobello, Edinburgh are set to return this Autumn but details are currently on hold until September.

I am looking into options for resuming flute and whistle classes in Portobello, Edinburgh this coming Autumn but this continues to be tricky due to personal circumstances, albeit different ones from the past year. I expect this to become clearer over the coming few weeks so will have more news in September.

Regular group sessions

I am currently considering monthly Saturday workshops or fortnightly evening classes (as before) and while I have a venue in mind, will need to confirm this.

Individual tuition

Unfortunately I am unable to offer individual tuition at this stage. This is purely due to time.

Announcements

If you are signed up to the FluteFling Newsletter, then details will be announced there first.

Image: Musical mural at Ormeau Park, Belfast (c) Gordon Turnbull 2016

FluteFling 3rd Scottish Flute Day: Tom Oakes joins tutors

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Gordon

I am delighted to confirm that Tom Oakes will join Sharon Creasey and Kenny Hadden as a tutor at this year’s FluteFling Scottish Flute Day on Saturday 7th May.

Tom is currently principle Flute and DADGAD guitar teacher at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and plays with his own trio ‘The Tom Oakes Experiment’ as well as the much in demand duo ‘Ross Couper and Tom Oakes’ The latter gained a Scots trad award nomination in 2011 and have performed sell out tours of the UK, Norway, Denmark and Australia.

Tom is a dynamic and accomplished flute player, performer and composer based in Edinburgh. He performs in many settings and genres and brings nimble keywork and a rich tone to his music.

More about Tom and links to his music and videos at his website: http://www.tomoakesmusic.co.uk/

This is the third annual event, following on from the successes of previous years. Look out for more information as details of the day and related events become firmed up.

Photo: (c) Tom Oakes

Autumn term update

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Gordon

FluteFling classes are taking a break this term, but will aim to be back in the New Year.

In the mean time there is always the archive to explore or revisit and I am exploring other flute and whistle playing opportunities for the group. Please check back for any updates, sign up to the newsletter or drop me an email.

Photo: David Begg (flute) playing in Sandy Bell’s Monday night session, Edinburgh (c) Gordon Turnbull

An impromptu reel: Jenny Picking Cockles

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Gordon

So there I was ready with a couple of reels for the week’s class and this reel popped into my head instead. Inspired by Rieke’s trip to Barra to pick cockles, we did Jenny Picking Cockles — I hope that the weather was good!

Jenny Picking Cockles is an Irish reel with a few variants and titles. In D mixolydian (it has C naturals instead of sharps), some versions have F naturals in the second part, which possibly borrows from a very similar three part reel called Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie. The version we did lifts and slides the C naturals in the second part through what was once termed “C supernatural” in online message boards to C# as it the tune transitions from C natural to D.

There is a suggestion that this reel may be associated with the north of Ireland and my own personal feeling is that “Jenny” tune titles also betray a Scottish connection, both Jenny and Jock(y) appearing in many earlier Scottish tune titles as generic female and male names.

It’s just an observation however and I have no other evidence for this wild assertion. More information on the origins over at Tune Archive. Different settings of the tune can be found over on The Session website. Our version can be found on the Resources page.

Here’s Eric, Hugh and Colm Healy, Noel O’Donoghue, Seán McGrath playing Jenny Picking Cockles, George Whites, Jenny’s Wedding:

Photo: Barra Cockle Beach by Fiona Cownie, some rights reserved.

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traditional flutes and whistles in Scotland

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