I love Grey Larsen’s playing. He’s the only Irish flute player that’s truly expressive, I think. Unfortunately I think alot of flute players cover too much of the embouchure hole so the sound is choked. Grey doesn’t make this mistake at all. He really sings on the flute. I used to like Matt Molloy, June McCormack and the like, but after hearing Grey for the first time all those guys sound kind of rushed and very pedestrian in their approach.
Before being introduced to Grey’s playing I covered about two thirds of the embouchure hole, and I REALLY struggled with getting a consistent sound. Now I cover slighlty less than a quarter of the hole, and look up at the ceiling. I have found that this gives a nice consistent sound, very pretty, not ugly and harsh like many player’s tones. Just thought I’d share this: If you want a nice tone, cover 1/4 of the embouchure hole or less.
look, i too, really like Grey’s tone, in fact, when i aim for a sound, it’s his tone that i try to achieve…i like his un-rushed way of expressing the tunes, but don’t be so quick to dismiss others work, not even Grey’s when you find a new mentor.
Jesus who? (Christ, the things some folk will believe!)
I’ve never heard Mr Larsen so far as I know, so I can’t make an informed comparison. (Is he on any of the WFO CDs? - that’s about the only place I’d be likely to have him… can’t be ar**d to go check). By reputation he’s a fine player - so? I do know that his books are controversial.
If you can’t hear expressive subtlety in Matt Molloy’s playing and tone, that’s your inadequacy, not his! Or maybe you just haven’t heard enough of his output or enough other trad players. Moreover, the couple of names you cite are genuine native exponents of their tradition, not “I like that so I’ll have a go” interlopers like Grey Larsen (and me, for that matter). Of course, there are many different “traditional” styles of playing within the broad tradition - maybe as many as there are players, within discernible regional style-trends, and there are many modern and cross-cultural influences on today’s trad players, plus the pressures on performance standards resulting form the recording industry. If you prefer the music interpreted in a non “pure drop” fashion with pseudo-classical influences, that’s fine - nowt wrong with it per se, but be aware of what it is you prefer and how it relates to the general context.
I don’t like Grey Larsen’s tone at all to be honest. I have nothing against him as his technique is fine and all and he’s probably a nice bloke, but for me his tone sounds boring and undifferentiated. I think that you, jcboydilis, should accept that others might have different preferences than you. Attesting to them that they’e making mistakes and are not expressive and not masters of their art (and pedestrian…gosh!) is unfair and unprofessional. I bet that you don’t even know about different regional styles of playing the flute, which are anchored in the region’s history for ages. You really can’t dismiss that for the sake of your own sense of right and wrong regarding flute technique.
This whole thread is such an “Epic Fail” that it almost crosses over into the category of “Epic Win”.
Truly it hearkens back to the good old days of Talbert St. Clair, Serpent Whistles, the Alba whistle wars, and the John McHaffie chronicles… those were legendary.
Someone should probably close this thread before it becomes a total fray and Groo gets involved.
I tend to agree with the OP… Grey is my favorite, too. I wouldn’t go so far as to say others aren’t expressive, I just think he is the most expressive. I also love his unhurried style - it always sounds like Matt Molloy and the other highly-recognized players are in a hurry to get to the next pint or something (which just MAY be true) or in some sort of a race.
BTW, Grey and Cindy do lots of workshops - I did a week-long one with them last summer (and may do it again this summer) at the Timber Flute Festival in Elkins, WV. It’s well worth the price of admission - we had people from both near and far attending. In fact, if you get tired of Irish diuring the week, you can pick up Baroque, Classical, or Native American fluting!
As I’ve already made clear, I haven’t heard Grey Larsen (and had never even heard of him before joining C&F a couple of years ago, despite over 30 years of interest in wooden fluting and ITM) so I can’t comment on his playing, but I really don’t understand this perspective on Matt Molloy in particular, nor on many other Irish players. Sure, MM and others can and do crack it on when they want to, and there are some players who do seem to all the time (I wouldn’t include MM among them) and that can be tedious and monochrome, especially if you haven’t an ear well educated in and attuned to the tradition. I do find myself wondering how much MM (especially his solo albums) Pat and the OP have actually listened to - and to the point of familiarity with them, not just cursorily. There’s plenty of moderately paced, even laid back stuff on those.
I think it also worth mentioning here the old point that, to unfamiliar listeners, good ITM often sounds very fast - and when such folk not brought up in the tradition set about trying to play the music, they frequently do play very fast (been there…! ). However, if you analyse the good trad players, the apparent speed is usually illusory and is a result of their superb rhythm and drive, not of actually high metronome speeds. When you get good enough to play along to such folk, you often find they’re playing slower than you would tend to yourself! That’s just the speed issue, though, and I do realise the OP was primarily making a point about embouchure technique and tone.
I think you need to modify your language to something more like “if you want to sound like Grey larsen, try this.” Different people have different natural embouchures, and different people are after different tones. The world would be a boring place if everyone sounded like Grey Larsen. I like Garry Shannon, but I don’t tall people to play lefty with the flute on their shoulder.
I like Chris Norman’s tone. He suggests covering half the embouchure hole. I want to be able to play like him, so I do my best to cover half the hole. Most days, I eventually slip back to my “normal” 1/3-1/4 covered. I like my “original” sound, but I also like the more focused sound that comes with more of the hole covered.
I love Grey Larsen’s playing. He’s the only Irish flute player that’s truly expressive, I think.
Yeah, you’re entitled to your opinion, and I have reasoned over your statement for probably longer than you have reasoned over ‘Matt Molloy, June McCormack and the like’ and have come to the conclusion that you are talking out of your arse.
all those guys sound kind of rushed and very pedestrian in their approach.
Mmmmm, rushed…and very pedestrian… all at the same time? So that’s what the intangible ‘it’ is that Matt Molloy has that I could never figure out, thanks friend!
C’mon, really, who is this? It’s a regular playing tricks on us isn’t it? You really can’t be serious.
If you are serious, then have at you!!
:lol:My sides hurt
)
). However, if you analyse the good trad players, the apparent speed is usually illusory and is a result of their superb rhythm and drive, not of actually high metronome speeds. When you get good enough to play along to such folk, you often find they’re playing slower than you would tend to yourself! That’s just the speed issue, though, and I do realise the OP was primarily making a point about embouchure technique and tone.
