Tag Archives: workshop

Flute and whistle workshops in Callendar

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I’m just putting together material for this weekend’s Fèis Fhoirt Adult flute and whistle workshops, which will take place 24-25 October in Callendar.

There are two single day-long workshops and there are still some spaces available in both:

  • Saturday 24 Oct: improver/ lower intermediate whistle. Low whistles are welcome to the whistle workshop.
  • Sunday 25 Oct: upper intermediate/ advanced flute. Boehm system (silver) flutes are welcome to the flute workshop, as well as the keyed or unkeyed wooden flutes that are more commonly associated with traditional music.

Both workshops will include a mix of repertoire and technique for the respective instruments. I will aim to cover a few bases, including some different tune types and probably repertoire from both Scotland and Ireland.

There are a number of other workshops also taking place, including Complete Beginners Whistle, led by Chris Ferrie. A tutors’ concert is planned and I expect some informal music sessions too.

All details, including booking, can be found on the Fèis Fhoirt web site.

More reels and October workshops

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For the next couple of weeks both Flute and Whistle classes are looking at a pair of Irish single reels with Scottish origins: The Glentown Reel and The Boyne Hunt. For most, these will be new tunes, but for everyone there will be a chance to explore some more advanced techniques with them.

I have written on The Glentown Reel previously on The Flow Music Workshops web site and also The Boyne Hunt, originally entitled The Perthshire Hunt.

With a number of people being away, it’s good to remember that it is possible to catch up on a missed class by attending one of the other ones. There is no problem with this but if you let me know that you intend to do this, I can make sure that your needs are met within the class.

Fèis Fhoirt Adult flute and whistle workshops 24-25 October

I will be leading two day-long workshops in Callendar this October as part of Fèis Fhoirt.

  • Saturday 24 Oct: improver/ lower intermediate whistle.
  • Sunday 25 Oct: upper intermediate/ advanced flute

Both workshops will include a mix of repertoire and technique for the respective instruments. Low whistles are welcome to the whistle workshop. Boehm system (silver) flutes are welcome to the flute workshop, as well as keyed or unkeyed wooden flutes that are associated with traditional music.

There are a number of other workshops also taking place, including Complete Beginners Whistle, led by Chris Ferrie.

All details, including booking, can be found on the Fèis Fhoirt web site.

Callander is situated at the edge of the Trossachs National Park and is particularly beautiful in the Autumn when the leaves turn. There is accommodation and the town is a good base for exploring the area.

Photo of Callander by Keith Yahl, some rights reserved.

A rare Scottish Jig: The House of Gray

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After the flute activities of last weekend, it was back to normal this week with the regular FluteFling classes in Portobello. After putting some of the finishing touches to The Braes of Mar (to be revisited), we moved on to a tune that I had in reserve on the FluteFling Scottish Flute Day workshop.

The House of Gray is a tune in A minor that I came across in Kerr’s Merry Melodies some years back and appears to have been largely overlooked in my experience. A quick look online shows no recordings of it, for example.

Besides being a good tune, The House of Gray is useful for developing a few techniques:

  • The A to C’ natural transition at speed, found in many tunes, both Scottish and Irish
  • A decent-sounding C’ natural, which is generally weak and problematic on a simple system flute
  • Playing three C’ naturals at speed together in a tune and what can be done about this (tonguing or gracing for example).
  • Handling syncopation within a tune, a feature of many Scottish tunes

The tune itself leaps about a fair amount and can be regarded as typically Scottish in that regard. Very chordal in structure, some of the phrases are built directly upon arpeggios (broken chords).

The music for the tune can be found on the new Workshops resources page. A recording is on Soundcloud, found via the Resources page for the classes.

I was intrigued to see on Tune Archive that the jig is older than I thought, being first published in Aird’s collection of 1788. Gray House appears to be near Dundee and is currently abandoned and in need of its own revival.

Photo: Gray House © Copyright James Allan and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

February Break News

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Sandy Bell's music session

A couple of quick news points at the end of this February Break.

Firstly, check out the recent  Fragments Project post to learn more about our composition project inspired by a piece of Medieval music from Hawick.

Secondly, top Scottish flute player Calum Stewart is playing at Smailholm Village Hall on Friday 21st March. If you can go, you won’t forget it as his music is extraordinary. A good excuse for a FluteFling trip!

Next, things are in motion for a FluteFling Scottish Flute Day on Saturday 10th May as part of Tradfest Edinburgh. Tutors Kenny Hadden (Aberdeen) and Sharon Creasey (Glasgow) will be teaching, as well as myself. There will be a new page with updates and information on this site very soon.

Finally, be sure to check the Diary page as classes skip a week due to the February break.

Photo: Sandy Bell’s music session (c) Gordon Turnbull. Flute player is David Begg, Pete McClements plays fiddle, Robert Chalmers concertina.

Flute Fling thanks and watch out for more

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Thanks to everyone who came to the Flute Fling workshop — it was good to see you and I hope you got plenty from it. Thanks to Catriona Patience for her help and support and to Nick for coming all the way from the Isle of Arran for the afternoon and evening music session.

The music for the workshop (with corrections) can be found here (PDF) on the workshops page of The Flow.

This was the first such Flute Fling event and it won’t be the last. My next big workshop will be on Sunday 3rd June at The Border Gaitherin in Coldstream.

Ceilidh Culture has only just begun, so be sure to check out other events. This week I’ll be at the Scots Music Group fund-raising gig on Friday 30th and then with Fun Fluters at Portobello Community Centre with Fun Fiddle and Linten Adie choir on Saturday 31st. I’ll be relaxing later on playing in The Captain’s Bar with Cauldstane Slap.

Cauldstane Slap in session at Sandy Bell’s