Flute techniques for non-Irish dance tunes?

[david_h]

My technique is influenced mainly by Irish tutor books and a few workshops. Over the last few years I have mainly learned tunes from other traditions - Scottish, English, Welsh, Breton, and I keep hearing Scandinavian (and Shetland) tunes and rhythms that I fancy.

So my question to those who play tunes from these places on simple system flute is - are there techniques not much used in Irish music that I need to work on or 'Irish' techniques that I should avoid as not helping me achieve an idiomatic sound?

[s1m0n]

The answer is "probably", but, for European trad music at least, no one knows what they might be. ITM is the only flute-based TM that had a living tradition survive into the present day with enough vigour that style-based generalizations could be made. We know other musics played the flute, and sometimes we have transcriptions of the melodies they played. There might even be a recording or two of individual players. But there isn't enough data, and no living tradition, in any particular genre to make firm observations about what was or wasn't part of the style. All we have is conjecture.

Edited: Breton music, at least, has a living wind (but not flute) based tradition that can provide examples you can adapt, but the flute itself is fairly new to breton music. It's earliest adoptees were likely inspired by Matt Malloy, not by anyone in Brittany.

[david_h]

Thanks. To clarify - I am happy with suggestions related to an idiom as expressed by current musicians and by current flute players in traditions that are not flute-based.

[Peter Duggan]

and I keep hearing Scandinavian (and Shetland) tunes and rhythms that I fancy.

I play lots of Shetland stuff and find it to sit well on the flute. I'd suggest studying the distinctive fiddle bowings and taking your lead for which notes to rearticulate with tongue or breath (as opposed to just cuts, strikes etc.) from there.

[jim stone]

My definite impression is that the techniques used in playing ITM on the flute give one what one needs to play in other traditions. The Irish tradition gives one a serious arsenal of ways to ornament, emphasize, attack notes and it transfers to other traditions, perhaps not exactly, but one has what one needs to play them and do them justice. For example it works quite well with Old Time Music (American fiddle tunes), Cape Breton music--but also one has enough of the universal language of the flute to play further out, e.g. show tunes, Classical tunes played as folk tunes, Beatles tunes, even some jazz. I think ITM is a swell place to learn to play the flute in general.

[Cab]

When not playing Irish music, I use flute in an English village band playing mostly English but also assorted other (Scots, French, Scandinavian) stuff. The main difference for me is that I'm far more likely to tongue. Playing up an octave also happens quite a bit as tunes are often in non-Irish keys and cover different ranges.

[Casey Burns]

Tonguing.

[chas]

Other folk traditions ornament very differently from Irish music, and most more sparingly (if at all).

I listen to Chris Norman quite a bit. He plays a lot of different styles, some traditional, some artistic, all his own. My favorite stuff of his has generally been the Quebecois stuff. A teacher of mine once listened to a bunch of it with me and pointed out that it's really difficult to play WELL because it's all played totally straight. You're not putting in your own ornaments, you have to put in your own phrasing.

[Gromit]

At a Jean-Michel Veillon flute workshop a few years ago he was talking about the differences between ITM and Breton flute playing techniques and there were quite a few. I can't remember the details but did record it and could share the recordings but I'm not sure how helpful they'd be as I mainly recorded his playing not when he was talking.

This site may be interesting http://www.berkenhage.be

[david_h]

Thanks folks. I guess I have been doing more or less as Peter Duggan suggests for the Shetland style with the other traditions and their dominant instruments.

For example there is quite a lot of shared repertoire between Wales and England but the current playing styles are different - perhaps due the roles of the harp in one and the melodeon in the other. In England we have the staccato of the melodeon, often with quite big spaces between the notes, and the more 'even' staccato of the Northumbrian pipes (several recording of John Doonan playing with the pipes to get ideas from).

Yes, tonguing. I have started doing the converse of the Irish-style advice - trying to tongue all the time as an excercise. Some tunes really don't sound right to me with cuts and taps.

I will have another listen to the Berkenhage recordings.

It's interesting - but maybe more sociological than musical - that, whilst the playing of the Irish 'greats' is dissected on the forums with many "what is xxx doing here" post, for the other traditions people don't do that. Maybe it's to do with the numnber of participants.

[sfmans]

It's interesting - but maybe more sociological than musical - that, whilst the playing of the Irish 'greats' is dissected on the forums with many "what is xxx doing here" post, for the other traditions people don't do that. Maybe it's to do with the numnber of participants.

I agree and think that it's as much about the number of participants from those traditions active on C&F. Any stylistic and technique discussion tends to focus on ITM because that's the focus of the majority of the C&F community.

Jean-Michel Veillon has already been mentioned, but I can remember him talking about how he listened closely to the way the biniou and bombarde play Breton music, and consciously sought to recreate those specific ornaments and phrasing styles on the flute.